Latest Cooking Answers

Edible lollipop sticks for a complicated birthday cake

I'm baking a cake for my sister. Though the cake will be simple. I decided to make chocolate cupcake lollipops. The cupcakes will read out her traits like nice,

How to best prepare Sukimono

I am trying to make Sukimono, which is a Japanese type of fermented green cabbage. I'm completely new to fermenting and my first batch came out a bit too salty

How do you create and store bacteria cultures for fermenting?

I'm very new to fermenting and am typically doing it with vegetables pressed under either salt or salt and water. I've come across several sites teaching about

Is there no use for high temperatures in ovens?

I'm about to buy a new oven. I can buy one which is able to steam the food, or one without. The one with steam (a nice, but not necessary feature) only goes to

What is the difference between noodles and pasta?

Is pasta just a fancy name for noodle? Or is pasta always an Italian style noodle? Is all pasta noodles? Or the other way around? This may be more of a languag

What are the best type of skewers to use for ground meat kebabs?

We like to make ground meat kebabs. I usually use all ground lamb, but occasionally will use a mixture of lamb and beef or lamb and bison. I have tried wooden

Sausage grease in fridge

I forgot a pan with a little sausage grease in the fridge (1 1/2 to 2 weeks). The pork sausages had peppers, herbs and maybe onions in them, the grease is orang

What is the correct conversion of dried whole vs. ground fennel?

I have a recipe that calls for one tablespoon of ground fennel. I only have dried fennel seed. What amount of dried seed should I use?

Par-Cooking Corn on the Cob in a Microwave

I prefer barbecued corn on the cob, but don't always have the chance to cook it quickly after buying it. I know that fresh corn loses its sweetness fairly quick

What to do with dehydrated potatoes tainted black?

I had many potatoes I wanted to preserve for a long time. Usually the potatoes I keep in my kitchen get rotten after a month or two (and I don't have a cellar t

How to seal a jar with a jam so that it can be opened without breaking the lid?

When I make a jam, I put it while it's hot into a jar, then close the jar with its lid (a single-piece, screw-on metal lid) and put in cold water. After doing t

When coating raw meat with flour, does leaving it for a period of time make the flour 'disappear'?

I recently trying the flour coating trick before frying it so my meat can withstand more temperature and does not get dried up so easily inside. However, when

What is the correct order to both marinate and velvet the meat?

Velveting a meat is a Chinese technique to coat meat with oil and egg whites and can prevent overcook. In the process, it needs to be left for about 30 minutes

What is the difference in blanching and parboiling?

From the time I was very young and just beginning to cook, I always heard about blanching but never heard of parboiling. I learned how to blanch vegetables to p

Could cheese "halt" the tenderness of cooking lentils?

I was cooking some lentils in chicken broth. When the lentils seemed almost done (they had been simmering for 30 minutes or so), on a whim, I added a fair amoun

Reclaiming a salty curry [duplicate]

I often read that salt is added 'to taste' - and I try to keep adding salt until my curries taste right. However, on occasion my fingers are

Can I use garlic leaf for cooking?

I planted a garlic clove and now I have a nice garlic plant. The question is: Can I use the leaves to season food safely? The leaves smell like garlic and I wo

Why does my bread smell like vinegar?

I have some bread that should still be good for few days that now smells like vinegar. There is no mold, ect. on it that makes it look bad. It is store bought

How can I tell if soy sauce is of good quality?

How can I tell if soy sauce is of good quality? Is it possible to tell from the smell and colour of the sauce? I'm aware of the differences of dark vs. light s

Dealing with frozen ground beef

Last night, I had a small disagreement with my mother. She asked me to cook beef tacos for dinner. However, upon getting to the kitchen, I saw that the ground b

Dehydrating herbs - leaves vs. stems

I use my dehydrator to dehydrate herbs such as parsley and dill. I use low temperature (95 F = 35 C) to preserve the taste. The dark-green leaves are usually co

Do professional cooks use measuring cups and spoons?

I watched some TV shows showing cooks working in their restaurants. I use measuring cups and spoons when cooking almost everything, but do not see any of the TV

Mayonnaise in stand mixer is very runny

I've frequently made homemade mayonnaise in my food processor following Alton Brown's recipe, and consistently had good results. Last week the food processor w

Heating meat in a microwave

Everytime I heat up chicken in the microwave it tastes pretty strange and has a not-so-appealing odour too.. What is the best way to heat up those leftovers?

Do "Best by: XX-XX-XX" foods have an expiration date?

How long will foods that have "Best by: XX-XX-XX" on the product last past that date? I have tried looking online, and all I can find is anecdotal evidence, wh

Does a plain latte have chocolate in it?

I cannot eat chocolate but would like to drink a latte. Is there any chocolate in a regular latte? I know you can get a chocolate latte, but need to know if a

How to absorb/remove excess water that you've added to a dish?

My cooking style involves putting a bunch of ingredients (e.g. chicken, rice, mushrooms, tomatoes) in a pot, adding water and seasoning, turning on the heat, an

Opening wine bottle with rounded top using a waiter's friend

For opening non-screw-cap wine bottles I tend to use a "waiter's friend" style corkscrew (i.e. one with a lever that you push against the top of the bottle in o

How to remove the excessive saltiness from gammon?

I've tried a few time to roast gammon, typically my method is to soak the gammon and then roast for a few hours. The result is typically just this side of edit

What kind of chili peppers are these?

Having a long weekend, we have some new recipes we want to try. I found this recipe for Fried Green Chili Stuffed With Pork Stuffing . Unfortunately, the re