How should I store 15h cooled and then 2h cooked at 65C white soybeans?

Question

I cooked a litre of soybeans for two hours and cooled them for 15*. I should put them in the refrigerator, but in what solution? My intuition says that an acidic liquid would work. Should I use one teaspoon of citric acid to make them acidic?

_{*Note (Jefromi): the title said "15h cooled and then 2h cooked" soybeans. I tried not to change the meaning, but I suspect that the OP may have actually meant that the soybeans were soaked for 15 hours, then cooked.}

Answer

Generally, cooked beans keep best frozen, at least if you're keeping them for more than a day or two. As for what you'd refrigerate them in to save the to use tomorrow, I'd suggest either their own liquid (if you're going to use it in the recipe) or drained (but tightly covered). Alternatively, if they're going to go into some sauce, you could let them marinate in it.

A teaspoon of citric acid (assuming anhydrous, i.e., dry) is a fair bit, especially for 1L. That will be very sour. ⅛ tsp citric acid into 1L water is notably sour.

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What does simmer slowly mean with white soybeans?

Question

The instructions in the soybeans say that parboil first and then simmer slowly for two hours.

Let's consider this in the scale of my plate. The power-scale of my plate is from 1 to 6. I put it first to 2, then to 3 and then to 4. It started to boil little with 4. Therefore, I consider that simmer slowly means no bubbles in the water i.e. 3.

I assume that parboil means "put the power of the plate to 6 and wait that everything bubbles vigorously".

Answer

I explain what the technical definition between a simmer, boil and roiling boil is here. A slow simmer would be a very thin but continuous stream of bubbles rising from the bottom of the pot.

Parboiling does not mean maximum heat. Parboiling means that you're only boiling until it's part of the way cooked, not completely cooked; so, you're cooking mostly at a full boil, then reducing heat to a simmer to finish them. This ensures they don't overcook.

You'll have to figure what setting a boil and a simmer are on your plate, as it depends on the power and size of your pot. On a stove, I'd expect 2 to be a simmer, and about 3 as a full boil, but it varies from one model to another.

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DIY Finishing Salt (Maldon, Fleur de Sel)

Question

I've found links here and here on making finishing salts, but this isn't the kind I'm talking about. These are just mixtures of salt and some flavoring.

I'm referring to salts like Maldon Sea Salt and Fleur de Sel. I know that these have (purportedly) minerals that make the salt taste richer. Back when I was working in a kitchen, I was taught that part of what makes these nicer is that they're large crystals that dissolve slowly on the tongue (instead of nearly-instantly like your run-of-the-mill Morton's).

So basically, I want to try making my own large salt crystal flakes. Maybe I'll use kosher salt instead of iodized salt, but the goal is to get large crystals that look like this, or even larger.

Finally, the questions:

• Has anyone done this before?
• What should I keep in mind?
• What should I look out for?
• How can I maximize crystal size?
• Is there any overlap with growing crystals in general?

Answer

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A simple way to get "more" out of your salt, is to start with BIG crystals, and coat them gently in oil before sprinkling them over the food. That way they do not melt on contact with the food as they are protected from the water by the film of oil , and add a awesome crunchy texture to the serving.

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Technically I think that your question is more chemistry related and not directly cooking related.

I can give you a few hints no what you can do to get crystals, but a chemist should be able to give you a lot better advice.

First, making the salt water solution:

1. Get distilled or at least demineralized water. You do not want to add random minerals that are dissolved in water to your salt :)
2. Make a saturated solution of salt-water at a high temperature ... something like 90-95C (~194-203F). The idea is that at higher temperatures you get more of the salt dissolved in the water more easily.
3. Keep the salt solution at that high temperature (well covered to reduce evaporation) for some time to make sure that any undissolved salt has settled to the bottom. You are interested only in the salt in the solution.
4. Take only the saltwater without any undissolved salt. Until and including this step, the solution should be best keep at the same temperature. If you have to move the solution, at least make sure that the thing that you are moving it into is not cold.

OK, now it is time to make the crystals:

1. Crystals grow. If they grow too fast or are disturbed (thermally or mechanically) they fall apart and end up being smaller. This is why when you make ice cream you churn the ice constantly (mechanical disturbing the formation of possibly ice crystals) or chill it with liquid nitrogen (thermally shocking the crystals and make them break apart). What you get are very small crystals if you disturb them.
2. Crystals grow when they are "forced out of solution" - that is, when the concentration of the salt in water is higher than the solubility of salt in water at that specific conditions. Pressure is one of the factors, but we will just ignore it completely. The factors that you can work with are Temperature and concentration (just remove water from the solution by evaporation)
3. To get BIG crystals, you have to let them grow slowly.
4. So, what you need to do is to cool the solution very slowly AND/OR
5. Evaporate the water out of solution very slowly (take care not to get dust in the solution during this procedure :) )

Unfortunately this is all the advice that I can give you now. Be aware that crystals are delicate and you might need a few attempts until you get the desired result. As a fun fact, there exist conditions where you will actually get a BIG salt Cube aka, a single salt Crystal by doing this :) . Cool indeed , but not very useful for cooking :)

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Cakes that can be cooked whilst camping?

Question

I love camping, and would like to expand my camping cooking repertoire. This got me wondering if I could cook cakes (other than pancakes) whilst camping where I won't have an oven, and will only have a dual burner camping stove. So are there ways of cooking cakes without an oven? Or are there cake like alternatives?

Answer

I'd look towards a dutch oven and cake-like items:

• upside-down cakes
• cobblers / crisps / grunts / bettys / slumps / etc.

In all of these, the fruit on the bottom helps to protect from the bottom of the cake-like-item cooking too quickly. You can either cook directly in the dutch oven, or drop another pan inside the dutch oven to speed on cleaning if you're going to be cooking a few of 'em.

You'll also want to look for dutch ovens that are made for baking -- they have a lip on the lid, so you can put coals on top and pull the lid without the ash falling into what you're cooking.

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How long can you store the bones of a chicken in the refrigerator?

Question

No odours can enter the place where I am keeping the bones in the refrigerator so contamination is minimized.

Answer

Rumtscho gives the answer in the comments:

No more than 4 hours spent between 5°C and 60°C, cumulative since purchase (assuming the butcher followed correct procedures). It is very restrictive, but most people think it is sensible to follow it (and American restaurants are legally obliged to)

And about freezing which I will use:

if you want to stockpile bones, freeze them. They will keep for months that way. This question was about a refrigerator.

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Trying to adjust a recipe to recreate Peruvian Tres Puntas rolls

Question

Having visited my family I fell in love with 'Pan de Trigo' that we call 'Tres Puntas'. This is a wheat bread that appears to be folded over to have three points. After baking it puffs up and a large hollow exists in the center. The bread "shell" itself is chewy and slightly sandy in texture. I believe the hollow exists due to the folding. It reminds me a bit of a focaccia-style roll flavor and texture. I found a recipe a while ago on a site that is no longer active and have copied it here for comparison. I'm sorry that it's partially in Spanish but I am posting it here as I found it. I did try to make it but it didn't resemble what I was hoping to create. It had more of a crumb than a "hole" (if that makes sense) but this may be due to my method more than anything. Having mentioned focaccia, I was thinking of reviewing the process and recipes for this style of bread and combining the two so maybe this is the trick? Could someone more knowledgeable in bread making review this recipe and see if I'm on track? Could this recipe create what I've described provided I adjusted my technique?

Here is the recipe. Note that this is not the wheat version that we prefer. I'm concerned that a wheat version would be even heavier if not done correctly.

PAN DE TRES PUNTAS

INGREDIENTES:

1 lb flour
1/4 C + 1 t sugar
3/4 t salt
2 packets active dry yeast
1 C water2 Kilos de Harina sin preparar
1/2 taza de azúcar
1 y 1/2 cucharadita de sal
70 grs. de levadura fresca
2 tazas de agua

PREPARACION:

• En 2 tazas de agua tibia disolver la levadura con una cucharadita de azúcar. Dejar fermentar en un sitio tibio por una hora.
• Agregar el resto de la harina hasta conseguir una masa que desprenda de las manos y la mesa. Dejar reposar por 1/2 hora en un lugar tibio y cubierta por un plastico.
• Aceitar la mesa de trabajo y comenzar a tomar pedazos de masa. Hacer bolitas de mas o menos 50m gramos.
• Sobre latas aceitadas darles la forma de 3 puntas y dejar levar por 1/2 hora mas.
• LLevar al horno de panaderia por 10 minutos con calor fuerte

Thanks for any help!

Answer

1. There is not enough water in your dough to form the hole you want (focaccia is a good point, look at focaccia hydration). You probably want at least 375 g water per 500 g flour, more is better if you can work with the dough.

2. Your conversion is off, your English recipe contains double the amount of sugar of the Spanish one. I would go with the smaller amount first, 25 g sugar for 500 g flour. Makes the dough easier to handle, and the taste isn't too sweet.

3. That's way too much yeast, both the Spanish version (21 g fresh yeast per lb flour) and the English version (a correct conversion from the Spanish would have had 7 g active dry yeast per lb, 2 packets is probably more than twice that). 21 g per 0.5 kg would be around the upper limit of yeast, used for richer breads like brioche. Use 10-12 g fresh yeast or 3-4 g active dry yeast per 0.5 kg flour. A bigger amount of yeast rises quicker, but the first cells die and start stinking of the waste products of their own fermentation (including acetic acid and ammonia). Don't rush the recipe, let it rise well in a not too warm place, you'll probably need more than 1/2 hour per rise.

4. Don't forget that for high hydration dough, you need bread flour, not AP. Else the dough will fall apart. Also, bread flour will make it chewy.

The procedure with a quick sponge, a rise of the kneaded dough and a rise of the formed shapes seems pretty standard (I hope this is what your Spanish text says, because I don't understand it well). As I said, rising times will be longer with less yeast, giving you better taste. The dough will be somewhat hard to handle because of the higher hydration, but it shouldn't be too problematic. Once you have mastered it with 75% hydration (375 g water per 500 g flour), you can try more water.

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How should I keep date palm fruit at my home?

Question

My neighbour gave us date palm fruit, its colour is not that black, kind of brown, not as sweet as the date palm fruit I ate before. I'm not sure if it's ripen already, but it's sweet enough, so my family and I just enjoy eating it.

Now I'm confused of where I should keep it. Should I keep it in the fridge? Or should I keep it outside the fridge? Won't ants come to get it if I don't store it in the fridge? I once kept date palm fruit in the fridge, but the fruit became firmer/tougher to bite, I'm not sure if that's better.

Advice? Help? Thanks.

Answer

The dates you have are probably brahi, whereas the ones you remember eating before are medjhoul. These are different types of dates, and have slightly different flavour profiles.

As for storage, they should be fine for a few days at room temperature. For anything longer than that, they should be kept in the fridge, particularly if you live somewhere hot/humid. I also vaguely remember an old Israeli habit of eating yellow dates frozen, or after a few minutes out of the freezer.

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