Latest Cooking Answers

Difference between chicken and duck eggs?

Our local Korean grocery store carries duck eggs in addition to chicken and quail eggs (both of which I've eaten). What differences should I expect if I buy the

Opening potato bags

I'm not sure how universally this question applies; I live in Canada. When we buy potatoes, they often come in large bags made out of heavy paper. The bags ar

What is the orange part on a scallop?

I bought some scallops and they have an orange crescent part attached to them which I haven't seen before. Is this part meant to be discarded?

Why does soda bread call for buttermilk?

I've been looking for a soda bread recipe to try and I notice that most of them contain buttermilk. Buttermilk is not a standard part of my pantry. Part of th

How to hand-select the perfect coffee bean?

I would like to know from you guys, what criteria do you use to select the perfect (green) coffee bean for roasting purposes?

Store eggs upside down or not?

This may be an odd question, but someone told me it's better to store your eggs upside down (the pointy side down). The explanation was that there's an air bubb

Does milk matter to achieve the perfect latte?

Does milk matter to achieve the perfect latte? Milk is an important ingredient of every espresso latte. Even though I believe coffee bean is the most importan

What are alternate uses for leftover buttermilk? [closed]

Buttermilk is one of those pantry items that I buy for a specific recipe, then don't know what to do with the leftovers (and I think this is n

Do you need to cook a casserole with raw eggs before you freeze it?

I made a casserole yesterday that contains cooked pasta, cooked quinoa, dairy products, spinach and raw eggs. It is assembled and the baked at 350 for 30 minute

Machine washed my cake pans

I got two circular cake pans for Christmas, and finally put them to use for home-made yellow cake layers. Feeling lazy, I tossed them into the dish washer after

Thawing and Broiling Steak

I just got home from work and feel like broiling a steak. Unfortunately, the steak I have is still frozen (I forgot to stick it in the fridge to thaw overday).

How long does pancake batter last in the fridge?

I'm making a packet mix of pancake batter that doesn't lend itself to partial mixes - it's hard to split "1 egg" as an ingredient. How long would pancake batte

Uses for radish and turnip greens? [closed]

Got a lovely bunch of radishes and turnips from the farmer's market, giant mass of greens included. Can I use the greens for anything aside

How to get rid of weevils?

At first I thought they are plain moths, until I noticed some larvae climbing towards the ceiling, always in the kitchen. I made an inventory and discovered a p

How can I know whether a potato is too old?

I have many kilograms of potatoes that are turning bad, I don't want to throw them away. The term "turning bad" means that the best-before days on the products

Using anise seed instead of star anise

I have wanted to make Vietnamese pho bo for a while, and a simple recipe I found calls for 6 star anise. I couldn't find this, and instead bought some anise see

How can I prevent simple syrup from crystallizing?

When I store it in the refrigerator, my simple syrup always seems to crystallize. How can I prevent this? How long should I expect simple syrup to keep?

What are the functions of vinegar in cooking?

I have used vinegar for flavor as a substitute for salt and noticed that it is used in salads, not sure why perhaps as preserver/flavour. But I have never reali

Can I substitute Soy Milk when a recipe for cooking (not baking) calls for regular (or 2%) milk

This question asks the question for baking. For for regular stove-top cooking, will it work. Other than minor adjustments for cooking time. EDIT 3/22/11: the

Turtle Caramel Turns to sugar

I just tried an outstanding turtle recipe. The caramel is brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt & sweetened condensed milk heated to 248 degrees. They start

Why does bread taste raw if you stop baking it and continue after it has cooled?

Unlike, for example, almost anything that is made on the stove and even cakes (of course, as long as your cake doesn't fall as you take it out of the oven), if

What is a good pine nut substitute for pesto?

I'm allergic to pine nuts, is there another nut I can use to make pesto?

Soy Protein Type

I was a vegetarian restaurant over the weekend and ordered a meal that had "tofu" and "soy protein". The soy protein looked somewhat like steak, but was whiter

How long can I store soaked beans before cooking?

I've soaked some beans in room temperature water overnight, since 6pm (white navy beans). How long can I keep them in water before I must use them? Will th

Preparing pork belly: Odd barn yard flavor

This might be a very silly question, but I'm sort a pork newbie. Anyway, I recently went to the butchers and bought a big slab of pork belly, to make crackling

Why does fondue sometimes "curdle" and what can I do to prevent it?

Once when I was making a pretty standard fondue (50% gruyere, 50% emmenthal, white wine) the cheese somehow "curdled" and became a mix of a slightly fondue-tast

Cooking beef: how to make it tender?

I have been trying to sauté beef and make pan sauces, but the meat seems to always become somewhat dry and chewy. How do I avoid this? I have the same is

Why does a microwave rotate the food being cooked? And is there ever a time when it shouldn't rotate?

Most microwaves I've used have a plate at the bottom that rotates when the microwave is running. I presume that rotating helps more evenly heat the food. Inter

Fluffy texture in a Spanish tortilla

I made a Spanish tortilla over the weekend and it reminded me that I don't get the right egg texture I'm after when cooking this. The results are tasty, but the

Where can I find buttermilk in France?

The translation for buttermilk is given as babeurre, but this doesn't correspond to anything I can find in grocery stores or cheese shops here. I suspect that t