Latest Cooking Answers

What is the best way to toast pecans?

Amongst other things, I'm making a chocolate & bourbon pecan pie for Christmas in my capacity as family pastry chef. The recipe calls for toasted pecan halv

What are some low fat butter substitutes for cookies?

What is a good butter substitute for baking cookies? I am looking for something that would contain less fat grams per serving than butter. I have difficulty bre

How to reduce the moisture when making tarte tatin

I've tried making pear and apple tarte tatin a couple of times, using different recipes, and the result is always the same. When I take the pan out of the ove

Stainless steel vs ceramic Enamel microwave ovens

I want to buy a convection microwave oven. I plan to buy either from LG or from samsung .Almost all LG products have stainless steel cavity and Samsung comes wi

Storing beef for 3 days

I've just bought some fresh rump steak to make beauf bourguignon in 3 days. Can I keep it in a fridge or do I need to put it in a freezer?

Too much sugar in soup -- how to make it less cloying?

I was making this recipe: Cabbage Borscht, which was from the old Lincoln Del, one of my mom's favourite places. I mistakenly doubled the sugar, putting in 1/2

How to know (without a thermometer) whether an egg is cooked when we put a lid on the top of it?

Last time I tried to cook sunny side up eggs on a metal skillet. I put butter on the skillet, allowed it to heat and then I cracked two eggs on it. Immediately

Hours for bacteria to form on raw steak [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:Why is it dangerous to eat meat which has been left out and then cooked? I left raw steak on the cement floor for

My sauerkraut has mold covering the surface, is it ok?

I had a batch of sauerkraut fermenting in the basement. During the fermentation I had to leave for over a week and left my roommates with the basic instruction

re-fry fried food

Heating cold (refrigerated or frozen) food is a problem . Heating fried food always fails (ex. crisp parts turn loose). At some restaurants, I saw that they re-

How to make shelf-stable chocolate milk?

Based on online reading, it seems like decreasing PH to < 4.5 is the way to reduce spore-former activity. Is it possible to decrease the pH of milk without

How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?

How do I know if a given food or ingredient I have is still good, or if I should discard it? How can I best preserve a food or ingredient?

How can I thicken whipping cream?

I used to live in Britain and I'm familiar with using Double Cream (48%+ fat) in all my recipes. However I moved to Canada a year ago and double cream doesn't s

Why does dark chocolate turn white after being in cold for some time?

Why does dark chocolate turn white (and not so tasty any more) after staying in cold for some time? Usually this effect can be seen after storing chocolate in f

Substituting soy milk for regular (cow) milk in crepes/pancakes

I normally make my Swedish pancakes with soy milk because my SO has a dairy sensitivity. But today I used cow's milk, and I noticed that my pancakes seemed to b

Tan ho, a salad green?

In the local Asian market I saw a couple of names that I didn't recognize. Has anyone heard of a green, called Tan Ho in Chinese? It looked like arugula, tast

Is there a method to pour espresso shots without damaging the crema?

My espresso machine (DeLonghi EC155) is really short and will only allow shot glasses / really short cappuccino cups (if I remove the excess coffee catch) which

Preventing heavy top layer of cake from crushing cream layer

I'm making a flourless cake with almond meal, thus quite dense, and it's also covered completely with whole cherries. I thought I'd slice the cake horizontall

What to do if a turkey has been brined for too long

I was going to brine my turkey for two nights til I found out that you can over-brine a turkey which is very bad. So what I have done is washed the brine out (a

Canning tomato sauce

I am asking for advice on canning a tomato pasta sauce. It consists of canned tomatoes, butter, and some onions. I already did a Google search, but the results

What is the name of this Venetian pastry?

I was recently in Venice and relaxed my vegan lifestyle to enjoy a local pastry. It was green, pistachio flavored and filled with almonds. It looked something l

Is there a way to heat a precooked ham in a 425 degree oven?

Is it possible to protect a precooked ham while heating in an over hot oven? For example is it possible to heat a precooked while cooking a turkey at 425 by sa

Cooking polenta until it 'comes away from the sides of the pan'?

When you cook polenta, you are instructed to cook it until it 'comes away from the sides of the pan'. Why is this when starch cooks at around 100C? Is it to eva

How long is the life of a shot of espresso?

When pulling a shot of espresso, how long is its life before it is too bitter? I know this might change by the bean, but what is a rough estimate? I was doing

Can the bacon in homemade "Bacon Salt" be made shelf stable?

After success making several fancy salts including Sriracha, smoked, and green chili I've decided to try to move in to stranger and tastier territories. As suc

How long will a shooter's sandwich keep?

A shooter's sandwich is intended to be eaten a long time after it is made. I understand that it originated, pre-refrigeration, as a meal that could be prepared

Baking without a thermometer?

So, I'm staying in a location that has a gas oven with no discernable thermostat, and there are no thermometers in sight (oven, meat, or otherwise). The situati

How to cut beef tenderloin into Filet Mignon

I bought a chunk of tenderloin and made several Filet Mignon out of it. I had a hard time cutting the filet into parallel shape with relatively smooth surface,

Substitute for Pastry Flour from Limited Traditional and Alternative Flours

I have a recipe for sponge cake that calls for either all white pastry flour or an equal mix with whole wheat pastry flour. Unfortunately, the only pastry flou

How to improve the taste of sour coffee beans?

I was given a few packs of grain coffee. The smell was pretty nice and it was written that it's 100% arabica. That encouraged me to grind some and brew it in mo