Latest Cooking Answers

Is there a trick to turn old bread into almost-new bread?

Whenever I buy bread, it's flavor and texture is amazing in the first day. The bread is humid and soft. In 2 or 3 days, it gets hard. Is there some trick to ren

Coating fruit before adding to a cake

I recently had an apple cake at a restaurant that was delicious. It tasted like a gooey-er version of a spice cake with apples and coconuts. I think I can rec

Is US flour significantly different than it used to be, or than flour outside of the US?

I encountered this statement elsewhere: The wheat in the US has been genetically modified to be much higher in gluten. People who live in other countries

refrigerating cooked waffles

I have a gluten free recipe to make waffles: 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose (plain) flour 2 tbsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of

Substitute for Calvados, reduced cider?

I am interested in making America's Test Kitchen's French Apple Cake. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of Calvados. Oh for heaven's sake, that's the worst case

Butterscotch Pudding Clumps

Excellent butterscotch pudding has been a Holy Grail of mine for forever. I have an idea of exactly what I want, but I've never accomplished it. Either the flav

How do I tell if my cheese culture is still good?

I made cream cheese in November and prepared some of my own starter culture from that batch to save money down the line when I wanted to make cheese again. Well

Looking for a good text on science of grilling and barbecue

I am looking for a good scientific text about grilling and barbecue. I am looking for something that scientifically goes into the thermal decomposition process

Adding melted butter to cold milk in baking

I've seen a lot of recipes, particularly for things like quick breads, that call for combining melted butter with milk and eggs before mixing with dry ingredien

Which of these Ingredients/additives assist in the longevity of frozen, microwavable foods?

My last question was closed due to egregious subjectivity so I'll be very objective with this post. Premise: Frozen, microwavable foods are "usually fully cook

Why are my strawberries keeping so long?

The California strawberries my husband buys are completely white at the stem, but bright red throughout the body, as well as being tasteless and staying fresh i

Chocolate chip substitutions

Can I substitute a German's sweet chocolate bar for chocolate chips in a rice crispy treat frosting recipe?

What should a good cookie dough look like?

I've been trying to make a good, chewy cookie recipe for the last 4-5 months but nothing good ever shown up. I've tried countless recipes on the internet with n

Why don't the Rhodes cinnamon rolls from a bag turn out as good as the ones in the foil pan?

My family and I like the Rhodes cinnamon rolls that come in a foil pan -- straight from the freezer into the oven. Getting the timing just right (not doughy, no

How to decorate a cake so that the icing is smooth?

I am a self taught baker love to make birthday cakes now I have been asked to make a wedding cake for september. Could you please help me to get the sides of my

Used Pan.... Old Oil.... Can this pose a risk before washing?

After frying Pierogies in oil in frying pan for dinner Wednesday evening, I left pan on the stove to cool and meaning to wash later. Got caught up with differe

The whey of mozzarella or tofu

Mozzarella, tofu come with a liquid, I think is whey. Is it useful in any way? has this any culinary value?

Dipping sauce for shabu-shabu

I am at the Hilton in Narita, and I've just come back from a wonderful meal of Shabu-shabu. One of the dipping sauces was stated to be soy sauce, but it had a l

In England, can I buy fresh fish directly off the boat?

In Trondheim, where I used to live before coming to England, sometimes I bought fish directly off the boat. The fish was fresh and cheaper than the supermarket.

Can I substitute a beef round rump roast for brisket?

I am making a slow cooker recipe that calls for beef brisket. Unfortunately, my grocery store only had obnoxiously large cuts of brisket so I just grabbed a rea

At what point (after clams die) are they ok to eat

I bought clams yesterday they were all closed. I put them in room temperature water overnight (with 3% salt). Not in fridge. Now 50% are open. 50% have their

How do I make instant chocolate powder from a chocolate bar?

I like the flavour of a certain brand of chocolate, is there a method to turn a chocolate bar into instant chocolate powder so I can quickly create a hot chocol

Giant meringue French pastry - what are these called?

A few months ago we were visiting Paris, and in Montmartre, there were several pastry shoppes with large meringues. And by large, I mean the size of someone's h

When baking meatballs for a soup, do I have to bake until the meat is fully cooked?

I'm making Italian Wedding Soup, and my recipe calls for oven-baking the meatballs for 7-9 minutes before adding them to the soup and boil/simmer for 5 minutes.

Why does my coffee sometimes taste sour?

I typically drink light roast single origin coffees from a third wave coffee roaster. I'm brewing with either plunger/french press, or swiss gold filter. Oft

Saving seasoned flour used for dredging chicken

I love to make (and eat) buttermilk fried chicken but I always get carried away with the amount of flour I use. I am fully aware of contamination due to raw ch

What happened to my macarons?

I baked macarons earlier and this happened. You can see that they're pretty tall (which I don't want) but mostly importantly, what happened to the shell? I bake

Can I cook 2 very different things at same time in the oven?

I want to bake Chicken and Chocolate Chip Muffins in an overlapping time period, at the same temperature, in separate pans, of course. I think it saves time, o

How to reheat pork belly: keep the crackling crackly?

I cooked a kilo pork belly yesterday with a very nice crackling in a roasting pan with a rack so that the pork does not touch the pan. Once we had dinner, I put

My wooden cutting board bent. Is there a way to fix this? [duplicate]

I'm not sure about the humidity in the apartment, but I don't think this was a problem. However, the board took quite some water one day and s