Latest Cooking Answers

How can I ensure food safety if my cooking utensils have touched raw meat?

Twice in the past week or so, I've wondered whether my cooking utensil was still clean enough to cook / serve with. Here were the situations: Cooking ground sa

Dry milk in bread: purpose, and substitutions

I've been looking for a good 100% whole grain bread recipe that I like, and came across one that looks promising in the book Home Grown Whole Grains (pp. 152):

Is it ok to use frozen okra in gumbo?

I would like to make some gumbo, but I can not find fresh okra locally. Is it ok to use frozen okra sourced from a Indian supermarket instead?

How does the baking time change if I scale up a cake recipe?

I have recipes for chocolate cake, Maderia cake, lemon drizzle and champagne cake. I want to increase the ingredients to make a bigger cake. Do I still use the

What is the white foam that builds up when I make tea?

I microwave water in order to make tea. After it is microwaved and I drop the tea bag(green tea) into the water, thick white foam builds up on the top. What is

What can I use instead of a tea towel?

I have a recipe for steaming seitan that involves wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf in a tea towel, tying off the ends, and placing in the steaming basket.

How should I store beansprouts?

Bean sprouts are a common ingredient in stir-fry recipes, but they don't seem to last very long in my fridge. How can I keep bean sprouts fresh for the maximum

Are meatballs different from Hamburgers other than in terms of size?

The recipes in for meatballs and hamburgers have their variations, but a lot of overlap. Many look almost the same. Other than the cooking method and size, is t

Can I use the juice from pickles to make bread?

I finished a jar of pickles the other day and was trying to figure out what to do with the half a jar of pickle juice that was left behind so I didn't have to j

Making cake icing look professionally smooth

So you've got a nice, flat-topped cake after learning on Seasoned Advice how to eliminate doming and now you wish to ice it as perfectly smooth as you see it so

What should be the tooth of banana pudding pie?

Last night I made a vegan banana pudding pie for Pi Day, and despite the quality of the pie as a pie, I was left wondering if I had gotten the pudding texture r

What is the difference between a poolish and a biga?

Both poolish and biga are pre-ferments. Poolish is a French name, biga an Italian term. What other differences are there between the two? Just to give some dir

Adjusting an instant-rice recipe for regular rice

I'm trying a very simple beans-and-rice recipe, but I noticed it calls for instant brown rice, and I'm using regular. The recipe has me cooking the rice within

Cracked Mexican/Spanish style rice

I've been trying to reproduce my favorite kind of Mexican or Spanish style rice that I find in some restaurants. It is dry and fluffy and seems to be cracked o

How to deep fry cauliflower?

I tried to deep fry cauliflowers (without breading; I am NOT making tempura), but they turned out soft. I have seen that done on TV where cauliflowers are fr

How can one determine if a potato is suitable for French fries?

I often make French fries by cutting potatoes into long strips, adding a bit of oil and spices, then baking them in the oven. Sometimes, this tastes very good.

How can one test if a vegetable is organic? [closed]

If I buy some vegetables and take them home, is there any way to determine if the vegetables contain dangerous levels of pesticides?

Are potatoes ever used in Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes?

In various Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in the US, all of the dishes seem to be made from a limited selection of ingredients. Although potatoes originated Am

Does the colour of the olive oil say anything about its quality?

Does the colour of the olive oil say anything about its quality? Some labels make a point of saying that the olive oil was made within a short period of time af

Are mascarpone and clotted cream the same thing?

When serving some mascarpone with French toast to my mother, she exclaimed: "Oh, this is the clotted cream I had when I was a little girl!" Are mascarpone and

How does one invent a cookie recipe?

My cookbook has dozens of cookie recipes and I can find hundreds more online. But... If I want to invent my own cookie recipes how can I go about doing it, wi

Why does cold coffee taste sweeter with the same amount of sugar?

I have observed that the same amount of sugar tastes differently in hot and in cold coffee. If I drink hot coffee, I feel I can add more and more sugar, without

How can I make my no carb sausages more succulent?

I'm trying to find a way to make my home made English sausages more like shop bought English sausages (I'm saying English here as I'm pretty sure sausages aroun

Why do short pie bases require chilling before baking?

I understand why the dough should be chilled before forming it into the pie dish/pan, but often I see recipes wanting the formed base covered with wrap and put

What will happen to my cake if I don't cream the butter enough?

I am preparing for a cake decorating party for some 8-year-olds and was testing a simple butter cake recipe. I made a small-ish batch of batter (just over a

Difference between boiling and steaming vegetables?

I have eaten both boiled vegetables and steamed vegetables (e.g. broccoli, carrot, zucchini etc.), and I cannot tell the vegetables are cooked in one way or the

Do the cup cakes bake faster in a 24 hole cup cake tray rather than a 12 hole cup cake tray?

The cupcakes cook faster than the big one piece cakes, so does it make sense to assume that the cup cakes bake faster in a 24 hole cup cake tray rather than a 1

Do German or Japanese knives hold their edge longer?

I want to buy a chef's knife, but I can't sharpen, and I don't plan to learn it. I will have to send my knives for sharpening, so I obviously prefer this to hap

Why do stuffed shells recipes include eggs?

I'm making stuffed shells, but I don't have any eggs. All the recipes I can find call for one or two eggs. What is the reason and can I get away without eggs?

Adapting graham cracker crust to all-natural graham crackers

Popular recipes for graham cracker pie crust are generally based on Nabisco Honey Maid or similar mass-market, not-really-graham-flour-crackers. Example recipe