Latest Cooking Answers

Freeze friendly baked side dishes

No matter how much I love baked food, I cannot avoid a guilty feeling with the environment whenever I turn my oven on. Normally I try baking as much as possib

What's the use of the hexagon bottom in braisers?

I have a few cast iron skillets and a dutch oven and I want to get an enamelled cast iron pan so that I won't have to worry about ruining the seasoning when usi

How does hydration of a sourdough affect baking features?

Looking at different recipes for sourdough starters, there's everything from a mix as dry as cookie dough to as wet as gruel. In this (danish) recipe from the a

I saved the geletinious material from roasting the turkey. Is this appropriate for use in turkey soup?

I saved the gelatinous material from roasting a turkey. Is it appropriate to use this when making turkey soup?

Bagels - Baking Soda or Sugar in the Water?

I'm looking at highly rated bagel recipes. I'm surprised that many (if not most) of the recipes call for sugar in the water the bagels are boiled in instead of

What is the layer of grey stuff on the bottom of salmon?

On the bottom of a piece of salmon there is a layer of grey stuff, I am wondering what this is? I assume this is its fat?

Bundt Pan for a Citris Olive Oil Cake?

I'm making this next week (for guests, so I don't want to screw it up) Orange Olive Oil Cake. Of course it wasn't until I became married to the recipe that I sa

Problems with rapid melting ice cream. Making it without a machine

I know this has been discussed before, but I am approaching the problem from another angle: I don't have an ice cream machine. So I made Alton Browns Philedelp

How close to the top should I fill a pie to avoid overflow?

I'm planning a pot-pie recipe in a casserole dish and was wondering how high I should fill it without worrying about it overflowing during cooking. A tradition

Why does my cake have to be inverted? Why a 2-layer appearance?

I am a late starter in baking. I am trying to make yam cake, which we call "ube cake" here. Some recipes suggest that after baking, immediately invert the pan

Liquid Pockets in Cream Cheese

I have a maybe (3 lb?) block of Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese. I just cut into it for the third time and noticed several pockets of what appear to be to be wa

Vacuum sealer exclusively for canning jars?

I'm looking for a vacuum sealer just to vacuum seal canning jars. Presently I use a traditional vacuum sealer for bags that has an accessory port. It's bulky

Difference between Potato Pancake and Hash Browns?

I was wondering what was the difference between these two potato recipes? Both of them seem to be near same but are referred differently. Is there even a differ

Is there a typical ratio for Herbes de Provence?

I know that Herbes de Provence generally contains savory, fennel, basil and thyme. Unfortunately, pre-packaged mixtures in the US usually also contain lavender.

How do I convert a recipe from a stew to use a slow-cooker

How do I convert a recipe given as a slow-boiled stew to a slow-cooker recipe? I assume that liquid amounts and probably onions and other flavorings need to ch

Does spoiled milk make any ingredient?

Bear with me here, My roommate insist that she wants to keep her spoiled 2% milk in the fridge, it's been 1 month! That thing look disgusting. To my knowledge,

What is the difference between Orbit Gum and Orbit for Kids [closed]

If this is not the right forum for this question, please let me know where to post it.

How to dry royal icing fast?

I'm going to lead a workshop for kids about decorating gingerbread cookies with royal icing. It will take place at a cafe, so I need the icing to be as dry as p

How to make curly homemade flat noodles

I know how to make egg noodles, and I either roll them out or use my pasta machine with the fettuccine cutter. This gives me flat egg noodles. I like the curly

Safe to use rice cooker after mold grew on rice?

So I left brown rice in my rice cooker for 10+ days and unsurprisingly, some dark mold grew on the rice while I was gone. Will hot water and detergent be enough

Substituting Diced Canned Tomatoes for Fresh

The recipe calls for 1.25Lbs of fresh plum tomatoes. They are to be simmered with hydrated whole dried chiles and other seasonings for 20 minutes, then pureed a

How long can I keep espresso in the fridge? [duplicate]

I often make espresso with a bialetti moka. I made some espresso martinis for my family at a party earlier this year and I have been asked for

Making tea - milk first or tea first

For those who take tea with milk, opinion seems very much divided about whether to add milk to the cup before the tea or vice versa. I have seen some suggestion

Storing/transporting nut brittle in tins

I made different types molasses nut brittle for the first time tonight to give as holidays gifts. I'm going to put a little of each type in small round holiday

Can I defrost chicken to separate then refreeze?

If I buy a large quantity of chicken frozen together, can it be thawed, separated, then refrozen safely?

Which kind of basil should I use?

I'm new to cooking and I was planning to make a recipe I saw on TV with pasta. One ingredient is basil. The chef on the show advised always to use fresh herbs;

Is there any way to make single cream to double cream?

Whipping cream is hard to find where I live in India. We have a dairy brand named "Amul" which sells cream of butterfat content of 25% and cannot be whipped! Wh

What is what I'm doing called?

At restaurants, I know that meats are often cooked by searing or grilling the meat to "mark" it, and then it is put in an oven for some time to be cooked. I als

Cranberries taste bitter

Today I bought a small bag of cranberries. I ate some but they tasted bitter. I was wondering if they can be eaten directly?

Are these vestigial seeds in a "seedless" orange?

Two recent organic navel oranges had a lot of these 2-x-head-of-a-pin-sized seed-like things. Each orange had maybe 25 of them clinging to the very center membr