Latest Cooking Answers

Adding Meat to Pasta Caprese

I absolutely love pasta caprese. I have a great recipe for it that provides perfectly creamy mozarella and tasty tomatoes and uses up the leaves on my basil pl

What is the purpose of seasoning a skillet?

I've seen a couple questions on how to season a skillet, and this may be a dumb question, but why do you season a skillet? Does it impart flavor onto the food

Culinary uses for hops

Hop flowers are primarily used to preserve and flavor beer. Now that hops are starting to ripen in the northern hemisphere, I'm wondering: are there any other u

Browning reheated food with only a microwave

I recently was given a Corningware Microwave Browner as a gift, which looks very cool and promising, but I have not tried it yet. It seems to me a special appa

What is Zwieback toast and where can I find it?

I am baking a black forest cake and it calls for zwieback toast. I cannot find this anywhere. Does anyone know what this is or where I can find it?

How to properly store mushrooms

I recently bought some mushrooms from the farmers market and have kept them in a brown paper bag on top of the fridge. 4 days later, they have started to have

How to know when to stop churning ice cream?

I've got a simple Cuisinart home churn, the kind that uses a frozen bowl rather than a compressor. On a couple of occasions, I'm pretty sure I've overchurned th

What's the purpose of a parchment lid?

I'm making some saffron rice. After sautéing some onions and saffron and then toasting the rice, it calls for simmering with broth for 8 minutes with a p

Do I need a bread maker?

I'd like to try my hand at baking my own bread. Do I need a bread maker to get decent bread? Are there any advantages to using a bread maker vs. my normal ove

Why isn't my vinaigrette emulsifying properly?

I made a vinaigrette tonight. Normally, to make one, I put vinegar and oil in a mason jar and shake to mix. This usually seems to emulsify the mixture properly

Can I add uncooked noodles directly to soup?

Most noodle soup recipes that I see call for boiling and draining the noodles separately, then adding them to the broth already cooked. Is there any reason that

Why does my homemade pasta stick to itself whilst cooking?

I make a fair amount of homemade pasta (Mostly Tagliatelle or Linguine), and I tend to cook it fresh, rather than drying it and cooking from dry; however, it te

What can I do with 2 lbs. of pecans?

I just bought 2 pounds of pecans from a friend who received them from a fresh source. I know of all kinds of regular things to do with pecans, but short of maki

What's the black thing at the bottom of navel oranges?

Sometimes I'll cut into a navel orange and notice something black inside which originates at the bottom of the orange, where the navel is. What is it? I have s

Excessive water when cooking scallops

This is partly a continuation of this question, since that one was already closed, but my question is about a specific problem encountered the last time I cooke

How to buy a molcajete and/or paellera

Is there a way to get a quality molcajete and/or paellera in the U.S., specifically the eastern seaboard? I'd prefer not to fly to Texas, Mexico, or Spain to g

Bean selection for a chili recipe

I am planning on making a new chili using grilled venison, Great Lakes Black Out Stout, and roasted corn (I'm in Ohio and sweet corn is getting good right now).

Are MSG and Accent (Seasoning) the same thing?

Can the seasoning Accent be substituted for MSG, for example in General Tso's Chicken?

How do you form Marshmallow Ropes?

I have made marshmallows before and formed them into a pan, and then cut them into squares. That works fine and they taste great. I'd like to achieve the eff

What Kinds of Recipes Should I Sift/Aerate The Flour?

We've talked about methods for sifting flour (How can I make sifting easier?), and the purposes of sifting (What is the purpose of sifting dry ingredients?). H

How to thaw a bottle of beer that got frozen accidentally without exploding the bottle

Recently I had occasion to put @Kevin Selker 's answer to the test in terms of rapidly chilling beer. However, we uncovered a problem the next morning where peo

How can I make my Chocolate Mousse fluffier?

I regularly make Chocolate Mousse with an egg yolk, sugar and dark chocolate base folded into whipped egg white or whipped cream (or both). It's tastes pretty g

How to use pie weights?

Should something be placed between pie weights (whether using rice, beans, or metal/ceramic beads) and the pie dough? Should the dough still be pricked with a

What does "shocking" food do?

I've seen different recipes and some shows on TV that show a method of "shocking" the food; boiling it and then when ready, placing it in ice water. What does

How do you keep a Turkey Meatloaf from getting too "dry"?

I just made a Turkey meatloaf, using a standard recipe that usually turns out good with ground beef, but it was too dry - any help would be appreciated.

Do Bouillon Cubes/Powder go bad?

I just found an old jar of Beef Bouillon cubes and although there is no expiration date, I'm a bit skeptical about using them - do they go bad?

How would I measure Bouillon Cubes compared to the actual powder

Is there a standard measurement that can be used?

How can I make a Taco Shell?

I've never seen a mold that would shape them - any tips?

Is there an easy way to trim the ends off green beans quickly?

A staple in our house is green beans. It's not uncommon that I'll buy 5-10 lbs and blanch or cook them all in one session, to reheat or eat cold in lunches all

What can I do with a lot of sage? [closed]

We have this sage plant and it's grown into gigantic monster which is consuming my herb patch. I'm going to attack it with gusto and will hav