Category "heat"

What can you do with an infrared thermometer?

Infrared thermometers have plummeted in price in recent years, and are now inexpensive gadgets for the home cook, not to mention the pros. What are the primary

Smell Something Burning. Course of action?

What do I do when I smell something burning in my pot of mutton in gravy? Stirring is the best way to prevent this but what if some charring has already taken p

What is direct heat?

Why is it that when I check google images for Direct heat, I see pictures of a flame under a grid like surface? Is that direct, or indirect? And what'd you ca

What is the best way to douse a charcoal grill?

When the heat of a charcoal grill gets too hot, what is the best way to douse the fire; the objective being to lower the temperature without putting the fire ou

Is my pan too hot for brown sauce / gravy?

I've tried to make the following sauce the last couple of days. The same pan is used for everything. Fry steak. Put steak on plate. Sauté onions. Melt b

What is the hottest part of a chili/chilli/chile pepper?

I often hear different points of view to this question - some say the hottest part of the chili is its seeds, yet I've heard some (arguably more believable) sou

Is raffinose broken down into its component sugars when cooked?

Raffinose is a sugar found in legumes that is indigestible by humans. Which is great, because I'm looking for a sweetener that 1) won't raise blood sugar and 2)

Does the alcohol in wine affect cooking process?

When cooking with wine or other booze does the alcohol have an affect on the cooking process? Example: deglazing a pan or making a wine-based sauce. My unders

How can you cook multiple omelets without burning them?

Over the weekend, I was making omelets for 5 people in a single frying pan. The first few came out fine, but by the time I got to the fifth one...well, I'm glad

Barbequeing with a charcoal grill

Today I headed to a nearby camp ground which had some charcoal barbecue stands. I put in around 2 pounds of charcoal and put a thin slice of pork meat on the gr

Heated up oil for frying, stirred it, tiny bubbles appeared and rose slowly but with very loud popping sound - why?

Last night I tried deep frying stuff for the first time. As the oil heated in the pot, I thought it would be a good idea to stir the oil (I was really scared o

How hot do charcoal grills get?

As a college student, I am working with limited cooking equipment. There are several outdoor charcoal grills however, which students sometimes have cookouts on.

Can food be boiled "extra fast/hard" in water?

Once water is boiling you can either leave the heat on quite high, or turn it down a bit so that it just keeps boiling. Apart from extra water vaporating, does

Does a double walled glass mug really keep the liquid warm?

I saw some double walled glass mugs like this one and I am wondering if that really works in keeping the liquid warm. If not, is it just for the looks and m

Exactly what is "low heat" for making cheese sauce?

Having a poor track record of making cheese sauces, I'm determined to do it right at least once in this decade. I read that one should use "low heat" only. T

Solution for uneven heating on an electric coil stovetop

I'm struggling to find a solution for my apartments coil stovetop and its uneven heating. I've never run into the problem until I started working on my holiday

Is there a way to heat a precooked ham in a 425 degree oven?

Is it possible to protect a precooked ham while heating in an over hot oven? For example is it possible to heat a precooked while cooking a turkey at 425 by sa

Is there something wrong with the corn kernels that don't pop?

Usually, at the end of a bag of popcorn, or when you pop your own on the stove, there is a certain number of kernels left unpopped. Why is that? Is there some

Is it OK to just have two cutting boards: one for stuff to be heated, another for other stuff?

Some say one should use more than one cutting boards because if you use just one board for raw meat and vegetables, bacteria from raw meat moves to the board an

What's the fluid that comes out from cheese after heating it up?

I just put some cheese sandwiches into my microwave oven, and I can see a small layer of fluid on the surface of the cheese (trappista). What's this and why I c