Latest Cooking Answers

Saving pasta water

When making pasta, I often use small amounts of pasta water as an addition to sautes or to lengthen sauces. I have thought of saving more of the pasta water to

Partially defrosting, then refreezing?

OK, so we shouldn't refreeze meat once it's been defrosted. But if I've partially defrosted meat, then popped it back in the freezer, is that safe? Specificall

I would like to make homemade Ketchup, how do I prepare the tomato?

I've got the rest of the recipe, sugar, vinegar and a few other spices that I was going to experiment with,but I wanted to know what do you need to do to the to

Is there a way to ferment mustard seeds for homemade mustard?

I have a recipe for mustard that calls for fermented mustard seeds - is there a way to ferment them at home?

How can I make my risotto less firm?

I've prepared risotto from scratch a handful of times in the last few months. While I've been happy with the flavor, the texture left a little something to be

How do I stabilize a lecithin-based foam?

I've made quite a few foams using the standard technique of adding powdered lecithin to my flavor base, and then agitating with an immersion blender in a wide,

Is it possible to make a marshmallow that isn't sweet?

I've got in mind to make a savory play on s'mores, using morel mushroom paste where you would expect chocolate. The graham cracker replacement should be no prob

How do I make a fried egg with completely cooked white but completely runny yolk?

I like a fried egg with all the white cooked, yet all the yolk runny. I normally do this by separating the yolk and white, and putting the yolk in halfway thr

Hanging at home

I'm looking into the technique of 'hanging' meat, and whether there are 'home' applications that would be safe and have a beneficial effect. Now, there are a l

Hot Smoked Salmon on Big Green Egg

What is the best process/technique to use for hot smoking salmon on a smoker like the Big Green Egg?

Vegetable internal temperature (oven)

This question is inspired by this week's cooking of a 3kg (estimate - it was plenty huge and took 6 people to eat) courgette / zucchini. The 'quote' is a digres

Dough(s) to hold moist oven dish contents

I have a recipe at home that creates an oven dish with fairly moist contents (curry sauce, creme fraiche, cherries from a can). This specific recipe calls for r

Alkaline cooking

I have a (molecular) cooking recipe with instructions on introducing an agent to create an alkaline (base) environment while cooking (to influence the Maillard

Safe pH range (acid vs base) for food

One of my molecular cookbooks goes into the use of acidity / alkalinity in cooking. What it doesn't describe is what safe pH values are that you can still serve

How to keep my (deep frying) oil usable as long as possible?

I have a new deep fryer. I am pleased with its results so far. I am not a 'heavy user' though - say once every 2-3 weeks. I want to re-use the oil a couple of t

Online freely available cookbooks

As a programmer, I'm used to have a lot of online books for learning about almost everything. I'm sure that there are some cookbooks hidden in the web... but I

Why does my Velveeta queso dip get clumpier the longer it stays in the microwave?

I had a bizarre experience with Velveeta this past weekend and was hoping you all could help me out. I bought a block of Velveeta and some Rotel canned tomatoe

How can I integrate molecular gastronomy into regular cooking?

I love the science-y, geeky side of cooking, and molecular gastronomy really appeals to me. I've been experimenting with it for a while. The issue I have is tha

What should I look for in a good, multi-purpose chef's knife?

If I want to buy a good multi-purpose chef's knife, which characteristics should I look for?

Are there food safety issues with sous-vide cooking?

As I understand the technique, you put a food item in a plastic bag and dump it into warm water for some amount of time. What happens to bacteria growth inside

Substitute frozen cranberries for fresh berries

I just came across this recipe that calls for 1 1/4 cups of fresh cranberries. I was wondering if it was possible to substitute frozen cranberries instead. I am

Can I replace honey with maple syrup in recipes that require honey?

There are many recipes (or recipe variants) that require honey as ingredient. Barbecue Spareribs Honey Lamb Chops Honey Raisin Choc Drops Honey Shortbread Bisc

What is the difference between doughnut and krapfen?

I have been in a shop where you were able to see how they made doughnuts. The first thing I thought was that they were krapfen. Are there any differences betwe

What is the most efficient way to squeeze water out of cooked spinach?

I'm cooking a bunch of spinach for making a spinach and ricotta filling. I need to get as much water as possible out of the spinach, and I'd prefer not to make

How do I get vegetarian tamales to come out fluffy?

I'm a vegetarian, so naturally I don't use lard when making the masa for tamales. I've experimented with butter, non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, and soli

Why do so many cheeses have artificial ingredients?

Here in Europe (and perhaps only in Spain) I've noticed that most of the cheeses (hard and soft, but more often hard) contain an interesting list of artificial

How can I use roses in cooking?

I have some very pungent roses in bloom at the moment, on smelling them my first thought was that they smelled like Turkish Delight. My Second thought that was

Why does my omelet with Velveeta froth up in the microwave?

I like to make a quick cheese omelet in the microwave, in a bowl (no pans to clean up). I had the technique working well, but one day switched from shredded che

How much juice can you get from an orange?

I wanted to make fresh orange juice using a squeezer and wanted to know how many oranges it takes to make an 8oz glass of juice?

How do you freeze fresh pineapple? Can you?

I cut the up a fresh pineapple and wanted to freeze a portion, will it last and retain flavor/consistency? Also: is there anything that can be done with the Cor