Latest Cooking Answers

How can I make a carob coating?

I want to make Italian Three color Christmas Cookies (like these: http://www.food.com/recipe/italian-tri-color-cookies-rainbow-cookies-147882 ). This kind of co

Ways to counter the burn of too many scallions?

Last night I made mashed cauliflower and made the mistake of putting in too many scallions before I blended it. The result is a mashed cauliflower that has the

Chopping fresh cranberries

Are there any good ways to chop fresh cranberries? It tends to end up a bit tedious for me, not catching too many at a time with the knife, and chasing after th

How to make softer biscuits?

Sorry to ask a rather non-specific question, but I am actually trying to formulate an example. Suppose you have a recipe to make biscuits, but what you get is q

Techniques for mixing bread dough with stand mixer

Can anyone tell me what the best technique is for using a stand mixer to make bread dough? I just got a stand mixer with a dough hook and have started using i

How can I make an Überfood?

Each day, you're supposed to get a certain number of servings of grains, vegetables, fats, etc. You know, the food pyramid. However, instead of going to all th

Making juice from fresh fruit

I bought pineapple and mango with the intention of making some juice out of them. I tried puréeing the fruit in the food processor and then mixed it with

Are there any special techniques for tempering dark chocolates with different cacao percentages?

I want to use up some chocolate I have on hand, and don't have enough of either one for the recipe I plan to use for truffles, so I thought I'd try combining th

1/4 cup of shredded basil OR 1/4 cup of basil that is then shredded?

I am thinking of making a Chicken Parmigiana that I found on the Lidia's Italy website - http://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/398. The recipe calls for "1/4 cu

How to quickly make refried beans (or thereabouts) using Kidney beans?

I've been trying for awhile now to make a bean-like paste for burritos/nachos/etc. akin to Refried Beans I so enjoyed while living in North America. What I've g

Will roasting ginger root give it a milder flavor?

I just had a thought - garlic is very strongly flavoured, but turns nice and mild when roasted. Can the same be done with ginger root? I can't find any recipes

Combining hot melted sugar with cold liquid ingredients

So I was making a corn-syrup-free pecan pie, and it called for a procedure that I've never seen before. To combine the liquids (milk, eggs, vanilla) with the so

Why do people put oil/butter in pan when frying ground beef?

I have always wondered why people put oil or butter in a pan before browning ground beef. It doesn't make sense since you end up having to drain the grease in t

How to remove the rind from Citrus Sugar?

I made citrus sugar a while ago (basically chopped up lemon rinds in a canning jar with sugar) and have now decided to remove the lemon before giving the sugar

Is there a use for the rind after making Citrus Sugar?

I have made Citrus Sugar and am now separating the lemon (and/or orange) rind from the sugar. Now I am wondering is there any use for the leftover citrus rind?

Do Pineapples Ripen After They Are Picked

Do pineapples ripen after they are picked? I had alway thought you could leave them on the counter to ripen, however, I recently heard they don't ripen after t

What should I do with a just-baked lasanga?

I'm a complete cooking newbie. I just made a lasanga from a recipe - or something that looks like a lasanga. However, it will probably only be eaten 3-4 hours f

Why is my pumpkin soup sour?

Whenever I make pumpkin soup I always find it to be way too sour and I end up adding a Tbsp of brown sugar to correct. Are Pumpkins naturally tart, or is there

How do I stop my fire alarm from going off when I cook?

My fire alarm always goes off when I cook, even when the food is not burning. Because of this, I have never been able to keep batteries in my fire alarms. How

My cheese is too mushy

This past weekend I wanted to try to make my own cheese for the first time. I gathered the typical ingredients: milk, rennet, and citric acid and went to town.

How to store homemade pasta

When I prepare homemade egg pasta (tagliatelle, fettuccine, spaghetti, etc), which is the better way to store it? I used to keep it in a cotton cloth, but some

Is there a big difference between Yellow and Yukon Gold potatoes?

After moving to Canada six months ago, I still haven't found Yukon Gold potatoes at the grocery stores. Instead I find Yellow potatoes and was curious as to whe

Can I use Chocolate Chips in place of Semi-sweet baking chocolate?

I don't have baker's semi-sweet chocolate and recipe calls for a box with 8 squares. Can I replace with chocolate chips and if so what would be the ratio?

Convection/Steam cooking in a Normal Oven?

A recipe that I am trying says that it's very important I follow the instructions to the letter. However, at one point it says "Each loaf should bake at 300 deg

What is filter paper?

A recipe that I'm trying to make says: "Place mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with pan release and lined with filter paper." I'm pretty sure that

What is the best way to hold a sphere and for how long?

I have been playing around with the spherification process. My questions are how long can I hold a sphere and what is the best way to do so??

Why does Green Tea taste sour as it cools down?

It seems every time I make a cup of green tea, if I don't finish it while it's still considerably hot, it starts to get really sour and tastes awful. Why is th

What kind of knife should I use to slice tomatoes?

Is it better to use a serrated knife, or a regular chef's knife that is really sharp?

How to get a thicker soup from watery tomatoes?

I want to make a tomato soup, but my girlfriend tells me that, from the tomato we have, the soup will be too watery. Now I've read that one could use tomato pas

Using Chakki Atta instead of whole wheat flour?

I bought a bag of chakki atta from an Indian grocery store. The back of the bag says that it's 100% whole wheat flour. It was cheaper than traditional American