Latest Cooking Answers

Adjusting cooking time and temperature when making smaller portions

I'm perfecting a recipe for queijadas de leite - a traditional Portuguese custard/pastry. It's a mixture of eggs/sugar/milk/flour, very liquid in its raw form.

Pot sticking to induction cooktop

I recently bought a Max Burton 6400 induction cooktop. I used it a few times with some pans I already own and had no problem. Today I wanted to heat some milk

What is a flan pan called?

I love making (Filipino) leche flan for my wife and I. However, I use a 9" round cake pan that I wedge into a 9"x13" cake pan, which I fill with water until it

What causes the crown of the bread to crack during baking?

What causes the crown of a bread loaf to crack as it bakes? I would like to prevent it.

How do I fix my dough after I did not activate the yeast properly?

This is my first time making anything using yeast, but I decided to try making Dominique Ansel's At-Home Cronut recipe. Everything was going fine, but I realize

My gelatin didn't gel

I made two small packets, boiled 2 cups of water, then put in 8 oz of frozen pineapple filled with cold water the rest of the way to the 2 cups mark. The Jello

Can you thicken a pudding just by reducing?

Pretty simple question I hope. I am trying to recreate a recipe I made several years ago using heavy cream, lindemans framboise lambic, raspberry puree, and sug

What is: Yellow Flour?

We were told that yellow flour (Italian) can be added to normal white flour to make a good crispy pizza dough? What is this yellow flour?

Does 100% rye sourdough bread always have a sticky crumb? How do I make it stick to the knife less?

Every time I make a 100% rye sourdough, it sticks to the knife when I cut it even after letting it sit for a day before cutting. Is this normal? I have tried to

How to make Barley bread?

I started experimenting with baking using mixture of wheat and barley. The loaf was very tasty when made this way. Barley is one of the grains that has gluten.

Can rosehip tisane be used as a substitute for red wine in cooking?

I'm currently watching a cooking series (The Everyday Gourmet) and in one of the lessons the chef talks about what to look for in a wine. For red wine he mentio

What determines the variety of paprika to use in recipes?

Spanish smoked paprika is powerful stuff that can enhance or overpower a dish. How do I judge when, how much, and which type of paprika (Spanish, Hungarian, swe

Curing with smoked salt

I have a question about Ruhlman’s home cured bacon recipe. I do not have a smoker and I know the smoking step is optional but I was thinking that if I use

Can I make baked veal more soft?

I usually cook meat in a steamer or multicooker, and it gets very soft. This time I've decided to experiment and baked a big chunk of veal stuffed with garlic i

Is it a good idea to cook stew in the oven in a stainless steel pot?

If I cook stew in my oven will it come out better using a heavy enameled dutch oven than a stainless steel covered pot?

Is there any substitute for vital wheat gluten?

There's pizza dough recipe which calls for vital wheat gluten and I can't find it anywhere in India. Is there any substitute for it? Can I use seitan as a subst

Do extracts add sweetness or just the flavor?

I really don't know how to best phrase this question, but do extracts add sweetness or just the flavor? That is, what should I expect from an extract? For exa

How does a pinch of salt make a difference to a recipe?

Many recipes ask for a pinch of salt. How can such a small amount of salt make any difference to the taste of the recipe?

bacteria forming in reheating of baked potatoes [duplicate]

I understand that if you do not correctly reheat a baked potato bacteria can set in botulism. what is the correct temperature you need to avoi

When I boil rice, they lump together after a while. How to prevent this?

I boil rice often and then store them. Next day when I take them out of the fridge, they are lumped together in one structure. I can heat them and then press th

Why does tomato not dissolve when I make curry

when I am cooking curry, I add chopped tomatoes. I cook the tomatoes for 30+ minutes. In spite of this the tomatoes do not fully dissolve by the end of cooking

Definition of a "half glass?"

I'm making oven baked caponata and the recipe calls for a half glass of vinegar. No clue how many ounces to a "glass."

Shelf Stable "Ganache"

I'm baking something that I might end up sending on a very long trip. For this I would want to make ganache, but it may be in transit for as long as 10 days so

What is milk product in cocoa butter?

What does "may contain milk" mean on the side of my cocoa butter container? Is it not pure cocoa butter?

How do I recognize if a dish cannot be cooked in a gas oven?

I have moved to a house that has a gas oven. I am new to gas ovens. What dishes can we cook in a gas oven? Cake? Are cookies possible to bake in a gas oven?

New Oven in the US, Which would home cooks prefer?

I am an English girl living in New York and looking to re-do my kitchen. The most common oven in the US appears to be 30" single space with a warming drawer und

Why does adding salt to microwaved broth make it foamy?

I had a nice bowl of clear yellow chicken broth which was not salted. It was in a serving bowl when this happened. I poured the cold unsalted soup into the bowl

What causes egg-covered puffed rice cakes to become soft when pan fried (and how to control it)?

While recently making fried bread slices dipped in egg (both white and yolk), I've run out of bread. Since I've already had everything else prepared, I've decid

Is it advisable to use the Extra Virgin Olive oil for Indian cooking, and baking? [duplicate]

I use this oil for baking cup cakes, and I add this oil to the whole wheat dough meant for preparing parathas on the gas stove? My mother use

Why does my chicken go dry when I boil it?

This may seem a silly question, but it has always stricken me as odd that chicken should dry out when I boil it in water. Intuitively it just seems weird, but t