Latest Cooking Answers

How long can I leave the fridge open?

How long can I leave the fridge open without it affecting the food inside? How often? Is it just the temperature or are there other factors (moisture?) as well

Should a teabag or looseleaf tea brew at room to cold temperature water?

I recently noticed that an organic bigelow tea(teabag) starts brewing at room/cold temperature water. Not sure if it is brewing or not but the water starts to g

Why did pork tenderloin go pink in the fridge?

I cooked a pork tenderloin to at least 165 degrees F, maybe 180. The thermometer was in a pretty thick part of the meat and it was pretty much grey. Two days la

How does a typical electric rice cooker work?

I have a cheap $15 rice cooker from my undergrad days (link). It has a metal pad on the bottom attached to a spring, a "Cook" switch (feels like a toaster lever

Kitchen towel vs dough seal in a dum biryani

A lot of recipes for biryani involve sealing the edges of the pot with dough. I generally used a kitchen towel and weigh down the lid with something heavy and d

How to tell if my fig is ripe

For the past couple years I can't ever seem to pick my figs when they're ripe. Not sure if it's the breed of fig or if I'm missing something else. I just picked

Sauerkraut soaks up too much liquid while fermenting

I've been fermenting sauerkraut in a quart jar and for some reason forgot to keep an outer piece of cabbage to help keep the kraut submerged. For day 1-2 it was

Is there a difference between "magret of duck" and "fillet of duck"?

In my local supermarket, they have 2 kinds of duck breast meat: something called magret and something called filet. If you'd ask me to recognize which is which

Does keeping a fridge/freezer full significantly help energy efficiency?

This is one of those statements I frequently encounter, but I've never really seen evidence to support it. The advice often goes even further to say that if yo

Eggs smell "fishy"

I recently went to the supermarket and bought a carton of eggs and some fish (for dinner). I left both right next to each other in the fridge for a little over

Can kefir whey be refrigerated before being used to ferment other foods?

Is it okay to refrigerate kefir whey for a few days before fermenting other foods with it (i.e., almond butter http://www.thecandidadiet.com/forums/topic/ferme

Smoothie amount decreases

If I dont drink my smoothie straight away the amount of smoothie in my bottle seems to decrease by almost half. I normally make the smoothie in the morning and

How to keep my oven evenly heated

While baking at 350 yesterday part way through cooking the broiler element came on and burned the top of my cake. Any ideas on why that would happen?

Where to find Tara gum?

I'm looking for a source for "tara gum" powder. It is used like xanthan and guar gum, but reportedly increases the general benefits and adds a "creamy" taste. T

Can I infuse my own raisins?

I quite like lime-infused raisins (like these), but they're kind of pricey compared to regular raisins. Are they made by some process I can emulate at home? Is

Pork loin vs pork roast?

I've seen both boneless pork sirloin chops and pork sirloin roasts in the grocery store, for different prices. From their names, I would think the chop is inte

How can I cheaply cook a bratwurst that is similar to a grilled brat with only access to an oven or stovetop?

I'm currently not TOO excited to spend $100-200+ for a propane grill. Is it possible to cook brats with a small budget (preferably around $20-30, but as high as

Repeatedly softening ice cream in the microwave

My wife is in the habit of making ice cream easier to serve up by defrosting it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to soften it. After serving, the ice crea

Custard - How much milk can one egg set?

If I had one whole egg (my understanding being that the white has more 'setting power' than the yolk), how much milk would I be able to set? If I tried to set

Making Pâté à bombe without sugar thermometer

The recipe says that the sugar syrup must reach 120C, but I have no sugar thermometer. Can it be done without a thermometer? Dissolve the sugar in a medium

How are maraschino cherries pitted?

How are mass-produced maraschino cherries pitted? I looked on wikipedia, but it doesn't mention much about pitting.

What hot cereals can I cook by just adding hot water?

I eat instant oatmeal at my office desk every morning. I think I can also get instant grits and maybe cream of wheat or something, but what other hot cereals ca

Gas grill flames very high cooking chicked wings and vegetables

I have a gas grill which I use once a week or so. Today I put some peppers and onions as usual, but I also put chicken wings (first time). After a few minutes

Can I put a layer of almond paste in my tart that will not be baked?

All the recipes I'm finding are for pies where you put the layer of thinly rolled almond paste on the pie shell, add the filling and then bake. I'm wanting to

Ideal pan temperature for frying meats (kangaroo, chicken etc.) using IR thermometer?

I've recently bought a Thermoworks IR thermometer. I'm hoping to use it with my pan when frying meats, to get more ideal temperatures. There's plenty of conten

Gummy residue from baking spray/oil

I'm sure everyone's seen this - that brownish stuff left behind when you grease an area of a baking dish that gets left exposed to the heat. Soap doesn't bother

How to make white aioli?

Whenever I make aioli with the traditional recipe of egg and oil it always turns out yellowish. It's obviously because of the color of the egg yolks. However, r

Maximum temperature for thawing meat

When thawing frozen beef in hot water (meat in sealed bag / container in water), what is the maximum temperature that the water can be to not inadvertently star

Can thawing meat too quickly affect its quality?

Can thawing meat more quickly (e.g. warm water, microwave, warm oven) than normal (leaving out at room temperature) affect the taste / texture of the meat? Is t

Why would gluten-free chicken meatballs involve pre-cooking 1/3 of the chicken before frying the formed meatballs?

I am looking at this recipe for gluten-free chicken meatballs and found this step to be odd. Anyone know what the purpose is? Is it related to the lack of glu