Latest Cooking Answers

Why does bread soften after heating it up?

Usually when bread or other dough stuff gets harder after few days, I use microwave to heat it up and it softens. Why is that so? The taste is not that good

What can I do with leftover wine?

We don't really drink wine in our house, so we only ever buy a bottle for cooking. Typically whatever meal we have made requires ~1/2 bottle.

How to blanch and peel nuts?

I recently blanched and peeled the "skin" off 500g of shelled pistachios and 500g of almonds. For the pistachios I poured boiling water over them, waited a min

Why does my homemade hemp milk smell like sulfur?

I made some hemp milk in my Joyoung the other day, and it smells like sulfur. It doesn't taste bad, but the smell is a little off-putting. Is this normal? Have

What is the glaze on a bakery-style fruit tart?

I am looking to re-create a bakery-style fruit tartlette. I was wondering what the glaze on top of the fruit tarts you find in US bakeries is and how you can cr

When to refrigerate bottled sauces?

When the bottle doesn't say, how does one know when to refrigerate sauces? For example: soy sauce, fish sauce, etc.

Instant coffee with only milk?

I like milk. So I thought of doing milk with instant coffee. I mean, I have coffee here but it says I should use water. I always use it with water and put a lit

What is the purpose of tempering chocolate?

What is the purpose of tempering chocolate? If I'm dipping something in chocolate, can I get by with just melting the chocolate?

Why does canned mango pulp have no vitamin A?

Mango contains plenty of vitamin A (http://www.thefruitpages.com/chartmango.shtml). I have some frozen mango which confirms this on the bag. However, a can of m

My cake batter always comes out sticky. Is this normal?

When I was growing up, mum's cake batter was always smooth with a consistency like honey -- enough to pour in to the caketin. Now I'm living out on my own, I'm

How to store brown sugar without it becoming hard?

I put a clothes pin on my opened bags of brown sugar and keep them in a dark pantry at room temperature. Since I don't use it very often, it becomes hardened.

What's the best pasta, and cooking approach, for making pasta salad?

I love the pasta salad you can buy in shops and would love to be able to make something comparable. The part that I love the most is the dense, thick pasta tha

How long should Lamb leg steaks be cooked for?

Is there a rule of thumb for the weight or cut? I'd prefer to err on the side of well-done, as I want to serve it to my toddler.

How come heating milk in the microwave is safe?

I was reading this question and began to ask myself... Since milk contains calcium, and calcium is a metal (just like potassium), how come putting a cup of mil

Can I cook Foster Farms chicken sous-vide in its original plastic?

Is it safe to cook individually wrapped frozen chicken breast in the original plastic packaging (e.g. from foster farms) using sous-vide? Also, what is the hig

Can I deep fry in my Le Creuset dutch oven?

It's an enameled cast iron dutch oven. Just wondering if I could take off enamel by deep frying in it.

How to find a competent knife sharpener

I have a santoku that I will be wanting to get professionally sharpened in the next few months. This is the first knife I've owned that was reasonably expensive

Achieving perfection via manual drip-brew coffee method

Every time I make coffee it seems to taste different, and I've found there is a lot more room for error with the manual drip-brew method than using a Moka coffe

Do you have to refrigerate Pickles?

So last weekend the wife and I got a huge jar of pickles at Costco. The thing is bigger than a gallon of milk (the wife really loves her pickles). There reall

curdling cream in lemon spaghetti

My question is about adding heavy cream or half 'n half to a dish. Olive oil is in a skillet over low heat. Next add lemon juice, a ladle of pasta cooking water

What do I need to know when moving from an electric hob to a gas hob

Soon I will be moving into a flat with a gas hob, and I've only ever had experience with electric hobs before. What do I need to be aware of in terms of the di

Homemade Gluten-Free Udon Noodles

I have celiac disease and would like to make gluten free Udon Noodles. I have been unable to find a recipe and have never made homemade noodles. Does anybody kn

What brine ingredients are effective?

I frequently brine chicken and pork, and mostly it's just salt and water, sometime sugar, and occasionally garlic. But I've seen all sorts of other "goodies" p

Why refresh lentils before making lentil soup

I recently made lentil soup from a recipe that involved bringing the lentils to a boil and refreshing them before a more prolonged cooking together with the aro

What is the effect of soaking minced beef in milk

Rex Stout has a recipe for "Broiled Georgia Ham" where the ham is soaked in milk for an hour. Elsewhere I have read that you can soak chicken livers in milk bef

Can I use guar and gelatine together?

I am baking a fancy cake recipe for the first time, and have trouble with it. Basically, the cake has three layers. The first one is a flourless bisquit. Then

Tricks for removing sausage casing?

I often find myself making a sauce or a garnish for pasta using sausage meat that I am really just using more as a cured/seasoned ground meat - I remove the cas

Time vs. Temperature - What changes what?

Really basic question that's bugging me... Speaking mathematically, 200 degrees of heat for 10 minutes should be the same as 400 degrees of heat for 5 minutes

How can I make vegetarian marshmallows?

My girlfriend is vegetarian and we have been trying to make marshmallows at home but so far after over four tries with agar agar we have yet to be very successf

Ham and Pea Soup with whole dried peas instead of split peas?

I am making Ham and Split Pea Soup, however I only have whole dried peas. Will the shell on the whole pea make the soup more difficult to digest? Will the shell