Latest Cooking Answers

Keeping pizza crust from getting soggy from fresh tomatoes

Whenever I make a pizza with fresh tomatoes on it, the juice from the tomatoes turns the crust to mush. I think I must be doing something wrong - do I need to

What does flour smell like when it goes bad?

I've got about 15lbs of saphire unbleached white flour left from my 25lb bulk purchase from 2 weeks ago. While preparing a wonderful zucchini bread recipe I not

How to combine chocolate and garlic in the same dish?

I hosted a potluck dinner some years ago, and I set the theme as "chocolate or garlic" -- guests were to bring one or the other. One person was a wiseacre and b

How does salmonella get into eggs?

Since a few hundred million eggs have been recalled, I'm wondering how salmonella gets into eggs in the first place. Is it getting on the shells from the enviro

Crushed tomatoes - sub with diced or whole?

I have a barbecue sauce recipe that calls for 1 can of crushed tomatoes. I have cans of whole & cans of diced. Could I just run one of those through the foo

Does water that's been left to sit and then reboiled taste different from fresh water boiled once?

This may sound like a silly question, but I've always wondered: If I boil some water and use some of it and leave the remainder in the kettle, and then a few da

How Long Can I Keep Uncooked Sushi Rice?

I only prepare sushi rice a few times a year, so it takes me a while to go through even the smallest of bags. How long can I keep the bag for before it "goes b

a manual meat slicer

My household really likes things like turkey and ham sandwiches for lunch. One thing I've searched around for is a 'manual' meat slicer. I'm thinking of somet

Is there a way to make jam or chutney without Gelatin / Pectin?

I was wondering if there is a way to make jam without going through a gelatin type product. There is no real motive behind that question, except for curiosity

What to do with barbecue sauce

We found a nice recipe lately for barbecue sauce and made 3 variations to test out. The problem is: now we have ~3 pints of homemade barbecue sauce that we need

How to make extra crispy and crunchy breading like KFC?

I'm wondering how I would go about making extra crispy chicken breading like they do at many places like KFC and the like. Is there a certain ingredient that ma

What is the name of this chicken soup dish?

I've been making this simple chicken soup dish for years. I learned it from my dad, who got it from my mother, and who knows how far back it went beyond that. B

How to make Movie Theatre like Popcorn?

Any specific brands? so far, I could not find any popcorn that tastes like popcorn at movies.

Do all blenders have the problem of food sticking to the side away from the spinning blades?

We have a fairly cheap (50$) blender and when we puree food the food constantly sticks to the sides so we have to stop the blender 10 times to push the food bac

How to make the pasta in this TV show (Anthony Bourdain in Rome)?

I'm talking about the one served on a parmesan crust bowl, but that's not all. Besides the parmesan bowl (they only showed the chef melting grated parmesan and

Japanese term for when the Sushi chef prepares meal for you

What is the Japanese term for when the sushi chef prepares a sushi meal for you based on what the sushi chef deems to be fresh and good, as well as what you wou

What to do with the fat rendered when making beef stock?

I just made beef stock and after cooling the stock in the pot I skimmed the solidified fat off the surface and the walls of the pot. Since I often read 'keep du

How do you prepare a steak to be rare and very rare (blue)?

I really enjoy steak, and the lowest I've gone is medium rare in terms of how it's prepared. My questions are: How do you prepare a steak to be rare? How do

Why does my food turn out poorly using an All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan?

I have an All-Clad frying pan, the precise one shown below: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005AL5F I made this purchase out of curiosity after reading

How to keep thin sponge bases moist?

I enjoy making multi layered sponge cakes (specifically chiffon sponge), but I find that when cooking a much thinner base than for a normal sponge (around 1cm h

how to get powerful flavours when spherifying

Whenever I try to create something delicious using spherification I find that whatever has gone in comes out quite bland (I've tried using fruit juices (non-cit

Non-stick griddle frustration

I like to make pancakes. I like to make them on a nonstick surface. I know that nonstick surfaces don't last forever, but my specific experiences with griddles

What heat should I use to BBQ red/green bell peppers?

What heat should I use to BBQ (gas/charcoal grill) red/green bell peppers? Should it be: direct or indirect high/medium/low duration?

How to keep my stainless steel skillet clean

I have a KitchenAid skillet that I love. But I can't seem to get it cleaned easily. It has a brushed exterior and the bottom of the interior is grooved or ribbe

Why does my pizza dough rise so inconsistently?

I've been trying to make pizza dough from scratch for a while now, but I have real problems getting it to rise... Sometimes it works fine and the dough is good

How can I make sorbet without a recipe?

I would like to be able to make sorbet with whatever ingredients I have on hand without always looking up a recipe. I understand that it's important to get the

Making cookies on a pizza stone

Years and years ago, I had a pizza stone, and discovered that it was great for making thin and crispy cookies. That pizza stone cracked in half, and it was only

Can you freeze bagna cauda? (cream basically) [duplicate]

Yesterday we had bagna cauda at a friend's house. It was too much, so everyone went home with a leftovers bottle (around 1 liter). Will it rui

Does cast iron have a coating from the manufacturer?

I have an old Wagner Ware cast iron skillet (marked as model 1056T; measures about 7 inches inside bottom). This was given to me by my grandmother. Where the

Cast Iron vs Steel

1. What is the advantage of a steel skillet over a cast iron one? I currently use cast iron for most everything and am curious what I might be missing. 2. If