White pizza sauce isn't nearly as defined as red sauce.

It's largely whatever you want it to be.

It's literally any sauce you top a pizza with that is white.

It is often dairy based (cream or cheese added), but it could also be a thin parsnip puree.

It may contain herbs, it may contain butter, its up to you.

Again, thickness is up to you and whatever works for your dish.

It's often the same white sauce as used for lasagne, a Béchamel sauce.

There are many basic recipes with different flavouring ingredients.

Make a roux of butter and flour add milk and stir to make a smooth sauce add ingredients for flavour, such as white ground pepper, herbs, and/or

cheese

I agree with rfusca though, that any sauce that is white will qualify when put on a pizza :o)

When I make white pizza, I don't use a "sauce".

I brush (garlic infused) olive oil on the pizza dough and then sprinkle that with an Italian herb medley and then cheese on top.

As others have pointed out, white pizza means no tomato sauce; there's no specific sauce for it.

Having said that, I would like to add Alfredo sauce (or just a dusting of Parmigiano or pecorino cheese) to the suggestions of saucy things you can put on it.

Pesto sauce will also work; I used to know of a place that made Roman-style pizza-by-the-inch that made a pizza with pesto and potatoes on it.

One last idea is Connecticut-style white clam -- that will differ depending on which person you ask, but I like shucked soft-shell clams, garlic, olive oil, and some parsley, oregano, and possibly rosemary with cheese on top.

Personally, I like to smear some seasoned & herbed ricotta and olive oil mixture onto the dough.

Throw on some sliced green olives, artichokes, and feta

and you have yourself a party.

Don't forget some garlic butter wash for the crust.

Mmm.

I'm a pizzeria owner from New York, and in my experience and this area, white pizza is traditionally one that is topped with mozzarella with dollops of ricotta.

Question: As far as I know, the only difference between white pizza and red pizza is the sauce.   I know that the white sauce is dairy-based, but what is it exactly? What are the main ingredients, is it thickened somehow? Is there something special to pay attention to when making white sauce? How thick should it be exactly? Should it contain herbs or not? Oil? How does it combine with the cheese, is the cheese supposed to melt "into" it?

How is white pizza sauce made?

White pizza sauce is just any sauce for topping a pizza that is white or doesn't contain tomatoes. It could be a Béchamel sauce as with lasagne, a thin parsnip puree or just a topping of ricotta and mozzarella.

You can use any white sauce you want. It can be a cheese sauce or not.

It's often a bechamel sauce or any other dairy based sauce.

You can use a herbed ricotta or mozzarella or a mixture of the two.


Coriander leaf/cilantro looks VERY similar to flat leaf parsley.

When I have both at the house I sometimes resort to smelling them to know which is which.

Cilantro is very strong smelling, and you'd definitely change the flavor of the dish if you left it out.

Flat leaf parsley is significantly more subtle and has a much milder flavor and scent.

It is not flavorless, and in a recipe that calls for a lot of it, you'd really be missing something by leaving it out.

When you've got a recipe that calls for both parsley and cilantro, you're definitely going to be more able to taste/smell the cilantro more than parsley, but they'll both contribute different notes.

If you have to leave one out, leave out the parsley, but don't try to make up the volume with more cilantro, as you may wind up overpowering your dish.

Just leave the parsley out and proceed as normal.

Do not use curly leave parsley in anything--it is tough and virtually flavorless.

It is ONLY a garnish and not worth wasting your time on.

Cilantro

The leaf on the left is Coriander - it's a slightly lighter green, and has rounder leaves.

Botanical Classification Coriandrum sativum is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae.

Uses All parts:

leaves, roots, stems and seeds are used in cooking either as a garnish, a key ingredient or as a powder.

Regions used/found Native to Southern Europe, North Africa and South western Asia.

Common in Middle Eastern, European and American cooking.

Flavor Seeds when crushed have a warm, nutty, spicy flavor.

The leaves have been described to a have 'soapy' taste.

Parsley Parsley on the right is a darker green and has more pointy, sharper leaves.

Botanical Classification Petroselinum crispum is a biennial herb from the family Apiaceae.

Uses Only the leaves are used, chopped and sprinkled as a garnish.

Also as part of a bouquet garni (bundle of herbs) to flavor soups and stocks.

Regions used/found Use for its leaf in similar way to coriander but has a milder flavor.

Flavor

The leaves when chopped have a mild flavor.

Coriander/Cilantro is also known as "Chinese Parsley"... which hints that they are similar , but not quite the same.

The parsley you likely typically think of has ruffled, curly leaves and is commonly used as a garnish.

Cilantro has flatter leaves and stronger flavor and aroma.

You may be able to omit the curly parsley without a drastic change in flavor, but I would recommend not skipping the Cilantro as that will certainly have an impact.

Apart from being green they're quite different, in flavour terms at least.

Coriander is deep, earthy, and almost soapy - good with hot and oily food.

Parsley - flat not curled which is almost tasteless - is fresh, green and good with fish and cured meats.

You can switch but the flavour of the dish will change - if falafel

I'd ditch the parsley if I had to choose, but They're both important.

In 'older' (pre 1960s before they discovered coriander in the UK) recipes they tended to use the two interchangeably.

The most obvious visual guide would be to look at how the leaves are connected to the main stalk.

Look at each joint where the stem is connected to the little branches (petiole?) to the leaves.

for coriander, one leave per joint.

But for flat parsley, you can see that at each joint, they branch out to a few more leaves, so it's more than one leave per joint.

But if someone tear all the tiny leaves out then I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference!

In the US, coriander refers to ground coriander seeds, not coriander leaf.

Its a brown powder.

The seeds are spherical and slightly larger than peppercorns.

It's the fact that Coriander leaf/cilantro looks VERY similar to flat leaf parsley,I always believe that they are same.

Cilantro has flatter leaves and stronger flavor and aroma while Parsley don't.

Question: A lot of falafel recipe calls for both chopped coriander/cilantro and parsley. Online images look the same to me. Is there a difference between the two? Would omission of one drastically change the flavor?

Difference between parsley and coriander(cilantro)?

While the appearance of coriander/cilantro and its alternative name 'Chinese parsley' suggest that they are very similar to parsley, the flavour and aroma is much stronger and not the same. Parsley can be left out without changing the flavour too much, but without cilantro a meal will taste quite different.

Cilantro and parsley look quite similar but cilantro has a very strong flavor while parsley is more subtle.

Cilantro has a strong smell and taste while parsley is more subtle.


Growing up, my mother always used to bake them.

They do turn out a bit drier than if you deep-fried them, but not overmuch.

They cook for about 15-20 minutes at 400°F (~200 °C), or until golden and crispy on the outside.

Alternately, you can pan-fry them, as other answers have suggested.

Or you can split the difference and oven fry them.

If you're unfamiliar, Google can acquaint you with the process.

Here's a good NPR article to get you started: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130673515

You can pan fry them if you're careful (6-12mm oil).

It helps to coat the balls with rye flour or similar before frying.

Leave them alone to fry until the bottoms are nicely brown, then turn carefully w a metal spoon.

If you have trouble with them breaking during the turning, you can flatten them from perfect ball shape a bit.

However, that's best done as soon as you put them in the oil.

Just fry them in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil like you would meatballs, you won't get the same all round browning but it'll do.

We don't fry, pan-fry, or bake our falafels.

Instead, we put them on a non-stick grill (same grill we use to make pancakes, etc.).

I imagine that a non-stick frying pan would do the same.

We don't use any oil at all.

Depending on your non-stick surface, you may need to spray it with PAM or something similar.

We get a fairly nice browning, but we end up with a shape of a round patty instead of a ball.

We've found that refrigerating the dough for an hour prior to cooking helps a lot in making sure that the batter stays together.

I haven't found them to be any dryer than when I am frying them.

The recipe I used was by the Looneyspoons girls, in their new recipe book.

It worked very well.

Falafel can be baked in the oven for about 20 minutes using few tablespoons of oil around 200°C (392°F).

You should be careful when forming the balls not to make them too large.

It is better to make them a little bit thin to make sure they are well cooked, and help prevent stomach aches.

After baking or frying, you can use a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.

lilghtly coated in rapeseed oil, or oil with high smoke point, and air fried

Question: I see in this  video  how the falafel balls are fully submerged in oil. Are there other ways (e.g. baking) to prepare the falafel balls after the balls are formed? Note: I do not ask for recipes.

Is there a way to make falafel without deep frying?

You can bake or pan fry them, although you won't get the same even browning as with deep fried.

You can bake them in the oven or pan fry them in a little oil.

You can bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes with a little oil.

You can pan fry with a couple of tablespoons of oil.


Number five is a folding spoon.

It is made for folding flour into light foams without overmixing, for example when making Genoise.

The big hole makes the mixing easy, and the shape is good for scraping the bottom of a round bowl.

As Dave Griffith already said, 3 and 4 are for stirring stuff in pans and skillets (making roux, cooking off the liquid in tomato or pepper puree for ajvar-like condiments).

They prevent the contents burning on the bottom, because they remove the very heated layer from the bottom and let cooler liquid flow in.

The slot in spoon 2 make it a poor replacement for a skimming spoon.

Normally, you want a bigger perforated spoon for that, with bigger holes.

Also, I think metal is a better material in these cases, it isn't so good to put wood in boiling water.

Number 1 is useless in cooking.

Historically, these spoons were made for eating.

When they were big enough, housewives just used an eating spoon for stirring, because this is what they had at hand.

Nowadays, people don't eat with wooden spoons, but the tradition persists in that they continue using the traditional shape for stirring.

This is a bad idea.

It has the wrong shape for flat-bottomed pans and curved bowls.

There is no use case for which the other spoons aren't a better fit.

Maybe getting flour out of a package into a bowl, but being much flatter than an eating spoon, it is inferior also for this use.

Great question!

Adding to the others: 4 and 5 appear to me home-made modifications of standard Chinese bamboo spatulas in order to use them for different purposes.

4 is probably intended to be a wooden fork, which would be useful for tossing pasta (together with another wooden fork or spatula).

However, the homemade slotting is too narrow, and the "tines" to wide, to be really useful.

You'd want something more like this: 5 is, as rumtscho mentioned, a folding spoon for dough.

This one seems to be improvised out of a spatula, though; the more common shapes of folding spoons are like either of the below:

I think I might disagree with rumtscho about spoon #1 though.

I use wooden spoons all the time for cooking and mixing, especially in non-stick pans.

If what she's saying, though is that particular wooden spoon is not very well shaped, then I agree with her.

The bowl of the spoon is too shallow, and you'd want a round handle rather than a flat one.

Flat-ended spoons like 3 and 4 are for good for scraping the bottoms of skillets.

Spoons like 5 are excellent for stirring thick sauces, as they let you easily stir the bottom corners of pans.

As for the slots, I've never noticed them making a bit of difference, other than if you wish to taste the solid contents of a soup without making a mess with the liquid.

as you say normal wooden spoon (I have tonnes of these but can't off hand think what I actually use them for) sort of looks like a slotted spoon but the slots are too small imo.

That would be for stirring stews/soups.

is the sort I use for frying onions or aromatics or I use two of this sort together for stir frying.

I'm not sure about this.....

it's not a 3, or a fork, I'd use it with 3 for stir frying as you only have one of 3!

I use for anything that starts with a roux

I use my wood spoon shaped like your #5 when I am cooking and stirring liquids such as for sauces or puddings.

It allows for a good stir without causing spills, and the flat bottom lets me be sure to scrape the bottom and corner of the saucepan as I stir.

Mine now has a crack in it

and so I am on the look out for another.

They're hard to find with a flat end on the spoon "bowl."

Spoon #2 is perfect for snatching a piece of pasta (not spaghetti) from a pot full of boiling water.

It drains the pasta (let's say penne) and leaves the water behind.

Also cools the penne quicker so it can be sampled for done-ness.

Number 5 looks like a Girariso, a Risotto spoon designed for abrading as much starch off the rice grains as possible...

I believe 2 + 4 together might be salad servers.

Question: A while back I got a set of wooden spoons that contained 5 differently shaped wooden spoons. Take a look at the following photo to see the different shapes.   I have mainly been using wooden spoon #1 because that is typically the shape I am most familiar with when I think of a wooden spoon. I have yet to figure out what the other wooden spoons can be used for.   Are there any specific applications that each shape excel at?

What are the different applications for differently shaped wooden spoons?

2 and 4 could be used as salad servers, 5 is for stirring and folding liquids or for cooking risotto, 3 and 4 are good for scraping the bottom of skillets and 2 is good for taking a piece of pasta from a boiling pot.

2 + 4 might be good as salad servers. 3 + 4 would be good for scraping the bottom of a pan. 5 looks like a folding spoon.

Number 5 looks like a folding spoon. It could also be a risotto spoon or for stirring liquids like sauces.

Numbers 3 and 4 are for scraping the bottoms of skillets.

Number 2 is good for taking a piece of pasta out of a pan.

Number 2 + 4 together might be salad servers.


You can let it ripe at room temperature.

If you want to slow down the ripening process, put it in the fridge, although this will affect the mango negatively.

If you want to speed up the process, put it in a bag with a banana.

When the mango is ready to eat, it will be slightly soft if you press it

and you can smell the mango flesh through the peel.

The green colour will not totally disappear.

Fruit ripens due to exposure to a gas called ethylene.

If you want fruit to ripen faster, expose it to more ethylene.

Industrial agriculture companies often pick fruit under-ripe, ship it, then hit it with ethylene gas to ripen near the point of sale.

One common method is to put the fruit in a paper bag, which will trap the ethylene and therefore expose the fruit to it more.

If you're in a hurry, toss an apple in the bag as well.

This works for almost all fruit.

Back home in India we had a big container filled with rice grains.

Placing the mangoes inside the container would hasten the ripening process immensely.

Place the mango in a bowl with raw popcorn seeds.

My boyfriend is from Jalisco, Mexico, and his mother is used to ripen them in this way.

Fruit ripening is largely caused by a plant hormone called ethylene, which is a gas.

Most fruits give off ethylene in ever increasing quantities as they ripen.

Temperature is a key determinant of chemical reaction rates and therefore, produce (fruits and vegetables) metabolic rates.

Ethylene production increases as temperature rises.

Ripening for most fruit is best at or slightly above room temperature, (68 - 70F).

Low temperature can inactivate essential enzymes required for full ripening.

The fruit may not complete the ripening processes, and/or achieve full flavor.

When detached from the growing plant fresh produce continues to transpire and lose water, therefore it is very important to maintain high relative humidity (85% RH) in the storage atmosphere.

Put fruits that emit a high concentration of ethylene such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and passion fruit in a paper bag with slower ripening fruit, then inside a plastic bag to contain more of the ethylene gas.

Key variables affecting the storage life and eating quality of fruit and vegetables:1.

•time from harvest2.

•temperature3. •relative humidity4.

•atmosphere composition5.

•ethylene6. •pest and disease7.

•pre- and postharvest treatments

Place in dark place, like a cabinet over night- easy.

Question: I've bought a fresh mango for a recipe, I've not used mango fresh before and it's currently pretty green (there didn't seem to be any that were more ripe at the shop) and came with a sticker on informatively saying just " Ripen at home ".  So, what's the best environment to help it ripen? Should it be refrigerated during ripening and/or when ripe? And how do I reliably tell when it's 'ready'?

How do I ripen a Mango?

Mangoes and most other fruit ripen well at or slightly above room temperature somewhere like a dark cabinet, but you can speed this up by putting it in a bag with a banana and/or apple, or a bowl with raw popcorn seeds. To slow down the ripening process with some negative effect on the mango, put it in the fridge.

Keep the fruit at room temperature. To ripen fatser, keep it with an apple or a banana.

Let the fruit ripen at room temperature.

Put the mango in the fridge to slow down the ripening process.

To speed up the ripening, store it with a banana or an apple or with raw popcorn seeds.


The kefir grains are a culture of bacteria and yeast that are active at near-room temperatures.

Their ideal temperature is 71F (22C).

Below this and they will grow too slowly.

Above this temperature, up to 86F, for extensive periods the grains will be damaged.

http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#temperature Building the grains takes time- there's no way around it.

You can keep the grains at exactly 71F to maximize their growth.

You can also change the milk often and keep the milk to grain ratio high to ensure that the milk doesn't acidify too quickly and the grains stay active.

You may see an improvement using organic milk as it won't have residual antibiotics in it.

I have not read anywhere of a way to modify the milk itself to encourage growth.

You might experiment with adding a small amount of milk powder to make the milk more nutritionally dense but my gut feeling is that this would have a negligible effect if any.

I'm afraid your friends are just going to have to wait patiently.

For good milk kefir grain growth use a shallow wide container to grow your kefir grains.

This will give each of the grains more access to feed on the milk instead of clumping up at the top of a narrow jar and only a few being free in the milk.

You can also stir the culturing kefir a few times during the day dispersing the kefir grains through the milk.

Don't skimp on the quantity of milk used.

Milk kefir grains love Full cream milk.

and yes, raw organic full cream milk grows the best milk kefir grains.

I have got a jar of kefir going that is made with whole milk powder.

The grains seem to grow a lot faster then even with whole milk from the farmer.

Try it, you don't have much to loose.

I made mine grow by adding it to half and half milk and then to cream.

Alternated this and the tiny little grains were swollen like cauliflower pieces.

I started making kefir 2 weeks ago, with 1 large grain.

Not being certain about quantities, I used 2 cups of milk in my first batch.

30 hours later, I had cultured milk.

As those quantities and time frames worked, I have just continued with that, although the time is now down to almost 24 hours of culturing.

In between I made a batch of yummy sour cream, (popped my grain into a cup of whole cream).

Clearly the grain loved the fat in the cream, it multiplied and cultured within 30 hours!!

I have since given the new grain away to a friend, but the one grain I kept (my large and original one),is doing a great job of culturing 2 cups a day.

I would go with a shallow wide container, and since kefir feeds on lactose, you can add powder milk to natural whole milk to increase the lactose in the mix.

It should give your kefir colonies more food to process.

Question: It's about two weeks that I make Kefir at home. I started with three mid-size Kefir grains, and now I have six ones (three of them are really big)  Now my friends get interested in making Kefir too. But I don't have enough Kefir grains to share with them.  Is there any quick method for cloning Kefir grains? For example, keeping them in warmer place, giving them richer milk, or something like that?

Fastest way for cloning Milk Kefir Grains

Keep the grains at exactly 71F to maximize their growth, change the milk often and use enough milk to slow acidification and keep the grains active. Kefir feeds on lactose, so use full cream milk, half and half or cream, or add powdered milk to natural whole milk to increase the lactose.

Keep the grains at 71°F and change the milk often. Use full-fat milk or cream and try adding powdered milk to increase the lactose.

Keep the grains at 71°F to increase growth.

Change the milk often and use full milk cream or even full cream.

Increase the lactose by adding powdered milk.


Silicone bakeware is available which is oven safe up to 500°F/260°C.

Just like other materials it has some advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages: Easy to clean rubbery surface (will need a little cooking spray, but not much)

Flexible, so easier to remove baked goods Often fridge/microwave safe Disadvantages: Not very durable, due to softer material Can be cut by metal utensils Floppy May warp or melt in some cases.

Generally, I've heard very mixed reviews from bakers using silicone (except for Silpats).

Although you can obtain it in the American market, most people prefer metal or Pyrex.

Yes.

As already mentioned, silicone is rated to about 500°

F

Aside from PTFE (teflon), the other commonly available plastic rated for oven temps is CPET, usuually used for disposable bakeware.

Examples of CPET plastic oven-safe bakeware: Gladware 9x12 Ovenready Bakery Tray Ovenready Food Tray Overready Plastic Bakeware at Web Restaurant Store

A few hard plastics are oven safe.

Le Creuset says that the covers of their enamelled Dutch ovens are safe up to 190°C .

Their knobs are made from some kind of phenolic compound.

Bakelite can also be heated a lot and does not melt, although I am not sure if it is food safe.

Still, I have never heard of bowls made from these plastics, nor other plastic bowls made for the oven.

And I don't think there will be any.

The advantages of plastic are that it is lightweight, cheap, can be colored beautifully, and doesn't break easily.

Phenolic plastics don't have any of these - they are difficult to produce, cost a lot, they are dense (so they are heavy for their size), they tend to be hard to color (bakelite is always darkish, and gets darker with time), and they are brittle in comparison to other plastics.

Still, these things have all the disadvantages of plastic.

They can never go to temperatures as high as other materials, and some of them can contain nasty chemicals you don't want anywhere near your food.

No matter what you need this bowl for, there is a better solution than plastic.

Depending on what you want, steel can give you the lightness and unbreakability, and glass or ceramics can give you the thermal insulation properties you could get with plastic.

Certainly there are high temperature plastic cooking utensils, very many in fact.

I'm not clear on what your intended use is, but here is a rundown.

There are two general types, hard high temp plastic and silicone.

The hard plastic is typically rated to withstand oven heat up to 410F (210C), and they are not for stove top or broiler use due to much higher heat.

Silicone plastic utensils withstand up to 500F, but again, no stove top or broiler use.

Both can be used in microwave ovens, their primary use.

I use both kinds for baking, and the hard for roasting.

The hard plastic utensils are fine for baking standard cakes, typically at $350F, and as roasting racks for non-broiler use.

There are simple cake pans, cupcake pans, bundt pans as well as the roasting racks for meats.

The work well, may darken with age.

Nordic Ware, Anchor Hocking and many others make high quality hard high-temp plastic utensils.

Silicone utensils are not rigid but can be stiff enough with ribbing.

One advantage is that they can be easily molded into a vast number of shapes.

They tend to release food easily, another plus.

They are very inexpensive compared to metal utensils.

It is best to buy a known brand, like Wilton, since a vast number of them are cheap imports that are too flimsy or won't stand much heat.

Nordic Ware has plates which are durable and safe in the oven to a temperature of 400F. You can purchase them on Walmart's Website or Amazon .

Yes it exists!

Clean Baking Products is a company, specialized in baking moulds made off the best, innovative composite material.

This material can resist temperatures from - 40°C till 250°C. Advantages: 40°C - 250°C for the oven no oxidation no deformation light-weight less use of butter Check out for more information: www.cleanbakingproducts.com

Question: I am looking for a plastic bowl or dish that can withstand high temperature in the oven? A bowl or dish that won't melt nor emit odour. Is there such a thing?

Is there a plastic bowl/dish that can withstand high temperature in the oven?

Silicone, teflon and CPET are commonly used materials, Clean Baking Products makes baking moulds with composite materials, Nordic Ware sells oven-safe plates and the covers of Le Creuset enamelled Dutch ovens are safe up to 190°C.

Silicone and Teflon are more commonly used for baking at high temperatures.

Silicone, teflon and CPET bakeware can resist in the oven.

Le Creuset has Dutch ovens with plastic lids that will go in the oven.

Nordic Ware and Clean Baking Products both have items like this.


You could put them in a pan of boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes (not so to they're cooked through) before putting them in the oven.

The potato on the outside of the wedges will soften and cook a little bit which will help the outsides crisp up a little.

Make sure you allow them to drain completely before you put them in the oven.

After boiling for a few minutes in water, drain, put the lid on and shake (but gently so the wedges don't break).

This will rough up the surface.

The resulting bumps can heat through more fully and lose more moisture, leading to crisp.

I would also agree with other people's suggestions of par-boiling for 7-10 mins, followed by a shake.

In addition I would get the oil hot before adding the potato.

Either put the tray with the oil in the oven a few minutes before cooking or pre-heat the tray & oil on top of the hob before transferring to the oven (make sure your baking tray can withstand hob temperatures).

I usually par-microwave the whole potatoes, then cut them into wedges and let them steam out for a good few minutes.

You can actually see the potato going whiter and drier near the edges.

Microwaving seems to me highly preferrable to boiling at this stage to minimise water.

Then I shake them in a bag with some olive oil to coat, then sprinkle with Caribbean seasoning.

Then bake.

Baking long and lower works better than too high a heat, too.

I've had them get so crispy before, they are almost like shards of glass, it's awesome!

Cook them hotter.

I cook mine at 425 or 450 F, which is 220 or 230 C.

It makes a difference.

I toss them in oil, sometimes with salt and rosemary, and put them on a silpat baking sheet.

I keep them a little apart, trying not to have any touching, so the steam can get out.

They get browned, even blistered, and crunchy, like roasted potatoes do.

To be clear: I don't parboil, I don't coat them in anything other than oil.

The oven temperature and the rubbery sheet on the baking pan do the trick.

What everyone has said..

par boil them then season when cooled coat in corn flour and a bit of oil and bake at about 200.

If ur wedges are extra big reduce the heat but cook for longer to stop the outside burning

Also try and bake then spread out well on baking paper.

My sweet potato fries come put perfectly like this x

Question: How do I make my wedges go nice and crispy in the oven?  I usually season them with a cajun mix, add a tiny bit of oil, and cook them in the oven on fan-bake at about 200 degrees (celcius). They come out okay, but  not  amazing.  What can I do to make them come out a lot crispier, while still using a normal household oven? Would more oil improve their texture, or do I need to crumb them maybe?

How can I make my homemade potato wedges crispy?

Par-boil or microwave the wedges for a few minutes before shaking them, seasoning and coating in corn flour and a bit of oil, Keep them properly spaced on baking paper and bake at about 200.

You can par-boil them, give them a good shake and then bake in a hot oven with hot oil.

Par-boil them, give them a good shake then bake in a hot oven.

Get the oil hot before adding the potato and make sure they are well spread out.

Microwave them first before baking will save on water.


For sure!

As you might expect, it's really good for desserts, as a light, spring-time flavor for cakes, frostings, paired with berries, etc.

— but I have also seen it used with salmon and other savory dishes.

Check out this for some ideas:

Definitely! Lavender is a traditional component of Herbes de Provence , and works well in breads.

Dried flowers can be put in a grinder with salt crystals for an interesting flavor.

For sweet applications, I steep into a simple syrup (great for cocktails, or pouring over cakes) or place in granulated sugar (for baking - excellent for a pound cake).

The first ice cream I ever made was honey and lavender (using the dried flowers).

It's an unusual taste and not everyone likes it.

The leaves can also be used as you would use rosemary.

I had thought all varieties of lavender were edible and have just used what ever was in the garden

but I was reading a recipe the other day that said to only use culinary lavender (which I'd never heard of).

A bit of research leads me to believe this is just English lavender that hasn't been treated with pesticides, but having never bought it I could be wrong.

This same research seemed to imply not all varieties of lavender taste the same which makes sense.

This page in particular seemed helpful.

All parts of the Lavender bush are good for adding smoke to food in a wood or charcoal fired BBQ When the BBQ heat is not on full, add crunched up bunches of Lavender to make a sweet and interesting smoky favour

I had a wonderful veal chop with a crust that contained lavender in Argentina

so it's definitely used.

That said, due to it's close botanical relationship to rosemary the most common meat I've seen it paired with is lamb.

Question: In almost every kitchen herb garden (at least around here), there is lavender growing. Is there anything that uses lavender for flavoring?

Is lavender used to season food?

Lavendar is good in desserts and ice cream, and can be steeped in a simple syrup or placed in granulated sugar for baking. It is also a traditional component in Herbes de Provence, and can be used with bread, salmon and meats (especially lamb). Lavendar also adds a sweet and interesting smoky favour when added to a charcoal fire for grilling.

Lavender goes well in sweet recipes like ice cream and with meats like lamb and veal.

It can be used in sweet recipes like ice cream, a syrup for cocktails and cakes.

Lavender works well with salmon, veal and lamb.


I run a gluten free bakery and yes, over mixing is a concern for many cake batters, cookie doughs, pie crusts, etc.

I find, what makes overmixing an issue is the gums used in the recipes.

This being either xanthan or guar.

An over-mixed cake batter will become very stringy and goopy, and will not pour smoothly when run off of a spoon, for example.

Cookie dough, when over-mixed, will become very tough and elastic-like.

Cookie dough should break apart easily when you separate it, but an overmixed cookie dough will stretch when pulled apart...

Kind of like play dough or fondant.

Just like when baking with wheat flour, GF recipes that use gums (so pretty much all of them) yield a tougher, somewhat unpleasant texture.

If there's leavening in the cake (baking soda or baking powder) that gets activated once incorporated with the rest of the ingredients, and you substantially overmix, you may lose some of its power as you help the gas escape from your batter.

Unless you're whipping it vigorously, you're not going to be bringing enough air into the batter to make up for it.

This is pretty much like letting the batter sit out on the counter for a while before baking, except faster.

It depends on what is in the flour.

Xanthan gum's binding power is certainly dependent on the amount of mixing.

More mixing produces a tougher colloid.

As many gluten-free recipes use xanthan gum as a binder, this will indeed be a problem with overmixing.

If you are using a pre-made gluten free flour, you have to read the ingredients.

If these are pure starches only, you can't overmix.

If they have thickening agents, it is possible that overmixing is bad or not, depends on the thickener used in the specific brand.

In terms of 'toughness', yes you can mix it a long time.

However, while you are mixing, you are incorporating air into the mixture, so you must take care to not go crazy.

That being said, the main reason to mix a cake until 'just incorporated' is because of gluten development.

I guess what I am saying is, that within reason, you can mix a gluten free cake for quite a while with no adverse affect.

In New Zealand, We have 2 main g/f flours to bake with.

Both are a combination of rice flour and tapioca among other ingredients.

using these flours it is easy to over-mix baking recipes using these flours and the baking becomes tough and chewy.

The more tender and delicate

you want your cake, the less you mix it in my case.

As long as I don't use rice flour in my custom blended g/f flour mixes, I can mix the batter "until the cows come home".

I use premixed GF flour available from most UK stores.

I start off building a thicker batter to start with by withholding the egg white until the end.

You can thin the mix out to make it easier to work in the earlier stages (I mix by hand).

Once the yolk and dried ingredients are combined sufficiently I then fold the whisked whites until almost fully incorporated.

The air trapped in the white also helps with the rise.

Question: If you're making a regular cake, you add all the first ingredients (eggs, butter, sugar, ...) and mix everything well. When you add the last ingredient, the flour, you mix until it's just incorporated, since over-mixing can make the gluten form and you'll end up with a tough cake.  If you work with gluten-free flour, can you mix as long as you want?

Can you overmix a gluten-free cake?

While gluten free cakes may be less sensitive to overmixing, gums like Xanthan can be affected by the mixing time or leavening like baking soda or baking powder can be partially activated, decreasing their effect.

Overmixing is still a problem if the flour contains xanthan gum or another gum.

Overmixing is still a problem due to the gums, like xanthan gum. There is also leavening in the cake that risks overmixing.

Overmixing is not a problem because there is no gluten.


I am surprised no one has mentioned this wonderful graphic (Credit: Espresso Field Guide by the aptly named Jay Mug ):

Espresso: This is a finely ground very dark roast coffee, packed somewhat tightly in a special metal filter, with water "expressed" through it under pressure.

A very strong dark coffee, typically served in 1-2 ounce portions.

Very commonly incorrectly called "Expresso."

Americano:

Italians typically don't drink American Strength coffee.

They drink espresso in tiny cups.

Then the tourists came and wanted a mug of coffee like they get at home.

The Italian solution was to make an espresso and keep the water running through the grounds to weaken the coffee, and make the desired quantity.

(edit: Some locations may simply add hot water to the espresso in the cup.

This doesn't change the basic concept.)

An Americano is simply an espresso that has been drawn out with extra water to an American strength beverage -- Not to be confused with the typical brewed coffee, which is usually filtered.

Caffe au Lait: This is strong filtered or brewed coffee (not espresso), with warmed milk.

This is probably the easiest specialty coffee to make at home.

Just scald some milk in a pot and pour it over strongly brewed coffee.

Cappuccino:

A 1:1:1 ratio of espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam.

Typically the milk is steamed through a special high pressure steam pipe on the espresso machine.

This serves two functions.

To warm up the milk and to create a stiff foam on the top.

When pouring, the foam is held back with a spoon, and then scooped out on top.

I'll arbitrarily define the cappuccino as the base beverage for all that follow.

Macchiato:

Typically in North America, this is a cappuccino, but with the steamed milk component missing.

That is, it is espresso and frothed milk foam only.

Also called a "Dry" Cappuccino.

Macchiato has different meanings elsewhere.

Latte: A "wet" cappuccino.

Hold back the foam with a spoon, and pour the warm milk over the espresso.

Put a little bit of foam on top for decoration only.

Mocha:

Any one of the above espresso + milk drinks with chocolate added.

Some places will add hot chocolate to the drink, others will add a chocolate syrup.

A mocha latte is the common preparation.

Not to be confused with Mocha beans, which are an Ethiopian coffee bean which has a little bit of a naturally occurring chocolate flavour.

Misto: A Starbucks synonym for a Cafe au Lait.

Latte:

An espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, and foam.

In a latte there is a greater percentage of steamed milk than foam.

Mocha: An espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, foam, and chocolate syrup.

In a mocha the chocolate syrup in stirred with the espresso to create a caffeinated hot chocolate with foam.

Cappuccino:

An espresso drink that also consists of espresso, steamed milk, and foam.

In a latte there is an equal percentage of steamed milk and foam.

In a wet cappuccino there is a slightly greater percentage of steamed milk.

In a dry cappuccino there is almost no steamed milk and consists of almost pure foam.

Espresso Macchiato:

A real macchiato is a shot of espresso and a single dollop of foam on top.

The shots can vary from 1 to 4.

Any more takes too long to pull and spoils the first 2 shots.

Starbucks has a drink called a caramel macchiato which is just an inverted latte with vanilla syrup at the bottom and caramel drizzle on top.

Americano:

A cup filled with hot water and topped with espresso shots.

An americano is an alternative to a regular cup of coffee and usually is more flavorful.

Cafe Au Lait: A cup of coffee filled 1/3 of the way with steamed milk.

An au lait is preferred by customers who want to add milk or cream to their coffee but do not want to lose the heat by adding cold milk.

Red Eye:

A cup of coffee that has shots of espresso added to make it stronger.

There is a fantastic graphic from Oatmeal , that explains the contents of most of your coffees.

I'd argue that a true cappuccino only contains foam, and no steamed milk, but besides that, to me, it's quite accurate.

The one it doesn't mention that I've made before, and is often confused with a mocha is a Cafés viennoise.

This is a latte where the milk is replaced by hot chocolate.

Irish coffee (Irish: caife Gaelach) is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar (some recipes specify that brown sugar should be used), stirred, and topped with thick cream.

The original recipe explicitly uses cream that has not been whipped.

The coffee is drunk through the cream.

Question: There are many different coffee-based drinks on an average coffee-house menu.  But what makes them different from each other?  What are the differences / distinguishing characteristics between: latte, caffe misto, cappuccino, mocha, macchiato, Americano, and Cafe Au Lait?

What's the difference between latte, mocha, and all the other drinks on a coffee-house menu?

An Americano is an espresso drawn out with extra water, and is not the same as filtered coffee. Café au Lait is strong coffee filled 1/3 of the way with steamed milk, and is called a Misto in Starbucks. A Mocha is an espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, foam, and chocolate syrup. A latte has a greater percentage of steamed milk than foam, and an Irish coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar, stirred and topped with thick cream.

An Americano is an espresso with hot water. A caffe au lait is a coffee with milk. A mocha has espresso, steamed milk and chocolate.

Americano is an espresso with added water.

A caffe au lait is a coffe with milk, known as Misto by Starbucks.

Mocha is an espresso with steamed milk and a bit of chocolate.

In a latte there is more steamed milk than foam.

An Irish coffee is a cocktail of hot coffee and whiskey.


You need to warm them up a bit.

There are a number of ways to do this 20 or 30 seconds on a griddle (or a comal if you have one) wrap a stack in foil and place in 325 oven for until warm wrap a stack in a clean towel and steam them using a steamer slightly moisten a towel and wrap it around a stack and microwave them for a bit If you've warmed them and they are still tearing then

your tortillas are no longer fresh.

If possible, don't buy your tortillas from a modern super market, but look for a source of homemade/fresh tortillas.

These can be found in many cities in the U.S. at Mexican or Latin American stores or neighboroods.

Perhaps check your yellow pages for "Tortilleria" (The spanish word for "Tortilla Store").

These tortillas will also taste much better (at least in my opinion), and have fewer preservatives or other additives (such as artificial colors, etc).

If you can find a good source of fresh tortillas, they will generally be much softer than those you buy pre-packaged in a supermarket.

They will be fresher, and if you find a good source, they'll be sold to you still warm (often kept in an ice chest or similar, to keep them warm until sale).

If you can't find this, you can learn to make your own tortillas.

Or, you can do as @djmadscribbler suggested, and warm your tortillas gently.

Between warming and using, keep them covered so they don't dry out or cool down.

Don't overheat them, or you'll dry them out (especially if you're warming them individually on the stove).

I spread coconut oil on the tortilla (thin layer like butter) and heat them in a hot skillet for about 15 seconds per side, drop it in the enchilada sauce, stuff and roll.

That way the tortilla gets pliable, the sauce gets on the tortilla, and the sauce helps it stick together and look nice and neat.

I've tried many ways (enchiladas are one of my favorite dinners to make with leftover beef or chicken) and this one has proven to be the easiest for me.

My husband is Mexican grew up in Puebla, Mexico, the proud "mecca" of Mexican cuisine.

His family puts their corn tortillas in a plastic grocery bag and microwaves them for a few seconds.

Or, they warm them in a frying pan in olive oil for a few moments on each side, long enough to soften but not crisp them.

I've never seen Poblano cuisine use crispy tortillas.

i have kind of given up on having perfect store bought corn tortillas.

so i decided to just layer them all across the bottom of a casserole dish and then filling

and then all across the top with whatever sauce and cheeses you want to add.

almost lasagna like.

i know its fake bu i slice them in enchilada size portions.

no one knows the difference.

I used to make enchiladas all the time and what I did was dip the corn tortilla in hot oil briefly, flip and do it again.

However, now the tortillas I get turn mushy and tear easily, so I think something about the tortillas in my neightborhood has changed.

A friend's family's technique is to fry them in oil until they are almost hard enough for tostadas since she explained that the enchilada sauce will soften the tortillas once they are cooked.

Using tongs, dip corn tortillas in hot manteca (lard) briefly on both sides, and drain on paper towels.

Just made a large pan of chicken enchiladas.

Heated the corn tortillas in a small, dry skillet (no oil).

This is the first time I have not either dipped them in enchilada sauce or fried in oil.

Was able to easily roll them, except for repeatedly burning my fingers.

:o

( I think I prefer the dry way, as I'd rather not add additional calories if I don't have to.

[Note: the tortillas were pretty fresh, which I do believe helped.]

Question: I like the flavor and texture of corn tortillas (store-bought), but they always tear apart whenever I try to use them in a non-flat way - enchilada-style, for example.  How can I make the corn tortillas soft enough to work with (to roll around some ingredients, for example)?

How can I get a corn tortilla to be pliable enough to work with?

You can wrap a moist towel around them and microwave them, pan fry them briefly on both sides with or without lard, wrap in a clean towel and steam them in a steamer, wrap in foil and warm them in the oven, or dip them in hot lard and drain on paper towels.

You should warm them up. You can do this in a skillet or a grill or in a microwave.

You need to warm them up. You can do this on a griddle, in a skillet or briefly in hot oil.

You can heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave.


McGee writes: "Capsaicin appears to accumulate in the fruit concurrently with the pigment during ripening".

(On Food and Cooking, p.212)

So yes, chilis get hotter as they ripen (that is, as they turn from green to red).

Many chili varieties are picked and sold in stores while still unripe and green (e.g. jalapeño, serrano, poblano), but you will occasionally see ripe, red ones in stores.

All of the dried chilis I've seen in stores have been completely ripened before drying (e.g. chipotles, which are smoked, dried red jalapeños and anchos, which are dried, red poblano peppers).

I've personally observed this effect with padron peppers, which are usually picked green and mild, but can ripen to red, hot peppers if left on the plant.

I know this is an old post, but had to reply.

I grew jalapenos this year, and the heat difference between green and fully-ripened red is astounding.

The green jalapenos had a very, well, green flavor like that of a green bell pepper, but with a mild heat.

After reading a lot of posts around the web, that almost all seem to say that peppers get "smoother" as they ripen, I interpreted that as meaning that the heat wouldn't increase.

My interpretation was faulty!

The red, ripened pepper was many, many times hotter than the green.

I wasn't expecting that burst of flavor when I popped a slice of pepper in my mouth to experience the "smoothness" of the ripe pepper!

I can't tell you the science behind it, but I can verify that, at least in my garden and with my jalapenos, the ripe peppers are far hotter than the green.

Not really.

The chemical that gives chillies their heat is called capsaicin .

It is an extremely stable alkaloid, and so remains potent even after a long period of time:

note, for example that dried chillies and even chilli flakes are still hot.

Most chiles become more picante as they ripen.

But they also become much sweeter.

Jalapenos are a good example.

Red jalapenos are much more delicious than green ones.

Most of the 'heat' is in the seeds and the tissue connecting the seeds to the capsule.

You can pare those parts out with a small knife.

I eat most of my ripe jalapenos right in the garden, pocket knife in hand!

I have traveled the world seeking hot peppers here is what serious farmers have helped me to understand.

Mother nature uses animals to spread seeds.

If you notice most peppers have two strategies to make sure animals don't eat the fruits before the seeds are mature.

First one when the pods are immature the peppers are well camouflaged (blends in with the srems or leaves) and as they start getting larger and more noticable they get very hot so as to deter animals from eating them until the seeds are ready to be distributed in the animals "poop".

Just prior to maturity the placenta is larger and the hottest.

Very quickly now the pods change color and become noticable and sweeter to attract the distributors but the placenta membranes start shrinking and the "hot" concentrates briefly.

At this moment when they are changing color is the best if you want the heat.

A couple of days can make a huge difference in heat and either bitterness or "sweetness", just understand this is not a "sweetness" as in sugar or honey but a reduction in bitterness.

According to my next door neighbour, a chilli farmer, heat isn't determined by colour, but by how long you leave them on the bush.

Question: This answer might vary between types of chillies, but I'm curious to know when they're hottest.

Are chillies hotter when they're ripe?

Chilis do tend to get hotter as they ripen on the bush and change colour, but most of the heat is in the seeds and membrane.

The heat of chilis depends on the time is stays on the plant, not on the colour.


Soaking in water works for me.

Put the colander in the pot, fill it with water - preferably before it dries out in the first place - and then leave it alone until you are ready to do the dishes, whether that's after dinner or (gasp!)

in the morning.

Either way the starch will slip off easily.

In my opinion, the most important part is to rinse immediately after use.

If you use the collander, then let it sit for a few hours (through dinner) or 'til the morning, you're going to have to soak and/or scrub.

A quick spray-down immediately after using will save you a ton of work later: pour pasta into collander.

spray down the pot (I have a pull-out sprayer, and I spray around the edge where the ring formed at the water level; you can give it a quick swipe with a scrub sponge, but you have to be careful about soap near the sink if there's a collander of pasta sitting in there))

dump out the pot (not over the collander)

pour the stuff in the collander back into the pot or whatever serving vessel.

spray down the collander (both sides) & move to the dish drain for full cleaning later

If there is some build-up then a soak in mild borax solution will get colander shiny new again.

However, starch will then again want to stick even more easily...

Prevent it with a wee spray of non-stick.

I justify my use in that I spare a good deal of hot water in the clean up.

I am aware that I address the question indirectly.

What I have observed is that starch is a problem only if the concentration of starch in the water is high.

What I do, is to make sure that I cook the pasta in way more water than most people do.

I try to use at least 1-2 L of water for every 50g of dry pasta.

The main reason why I prefer to use that much water is because the quality of the pasta turn out considerably better that way.

The easier washing is just a side effect :) Yes, bringing all that water to a boil does take a bit more time.

I've only found that hand-scrubbing works.

I use a soap and Bon Ami (no-scratch cleanser), at least for the colander.

Regular soap and a no-scratch scrubbing sponge works on the pot for me, too.

Here's a trick I just discovered.

What I used: Non-Stick dishwasher-safe pot

that's starch-encrusted after 2 years of use, a couple times a week every week.

(Shush, I like spaghetti..)

I've put it through the dishwasher before and tried to scrub it off, but never had any success; it's always looked just as bad after drying of as before I started trying to clean it.

Dawn ultra-concentrated dishwashing liquid (The only dishwashing liquid I've used on pots/pans; I use it because my parents did.

Others will probably work as well) Disposable scrubbing sponge (Very cheap; I found them at Walgreens)

Dishwasher Cascade detergent pacs (powered by Dawn) , for the dishwasher Steps I took: Put a few drops of Dawn in the pot, turn on the faucet at high blast so the agitation makes it foam up. Fill it to the brim.

I only let it soak for about 2 hours, more might work better.

Use the scrub-sponge over the whole internal surface to get off the loose starch.

You shouldn't need to actually scrub hard; I lightly brushed it for a short time, like 2 or 3 minutes, and so much residue was coming off

that had I to rinse the sponge often.

Put it in the dishwasher.

Come tonight, about 80% of the inside of the pot was completely clean of residue, no evidence it was ever there in the first place.

The remaining residue has streaks in it as though the scrubber just didn't get all the surface-starch off.

I'm pretty confident that doing this only one or two more times will have it looking as good as new.

I looked up how to do it and it seems there is no easy answer.

I decided to try baking soda and vinegar.

It worked pretty well!

I put vinegar in a bowl, got the colander wet with the vinegar, poured baking soda into the colander and scrubbed it a bit.

The abrasive soda helps loosen the starch and the vinegar starts to bubble up.

I left the colander in the bowl of vinegar for a while, scrubbed again and rinsed.

It was a lot better, but needed another round.

I poured more baking soda into the colander, scrubbed and left it in the vinegar again.

It looks so much better.

I might try heating the vinegar the next time to see if it speeds up the process!

I've always used the Lagostina stainless steel pot cleaner to remove starch stains and it works great! :)

I was always told to rinse the colander or pot with cold water as soon as the food is removed to prevent the starch from setting up on the utensil.

Rinse with cold water immediately, then wash in warm.

Hot water makes the starch turn gluier; cold water releases it.

Question: After cooking pasta, I typically drain it in a colander.  I have found the starch residue in both the cooking pot and particularly the colander is difficult to clean without hand scrubbing it.  I am curious if anyone knows a solution - either a method or product that makes clean-up quicker and easier.  Thanks for any ideas you may have!

What is the best method/product for cleaning pasta's starch residue from colander and cooking pot?

Rinse immediately with cold water to prevent the starch from adhering, or soak before washing. Hand scrubbing using a soap and Bon Ami (no-scratch cleanser), dishwashing liquid, baking soda and vinegar or Lagostina stainless steel pot cleaner can work well. It also helps to use more water when cooking to reduce the starch content.

You should rinse it as soon as possible and then soak in water. You can clean it with dish soap or baking soda and vinegar.

Soak in water, then scrub with dish soap or baking soda and vinegar.

Rinse it as soon as the food it removed.

Cook in more water than needed to dilute the starch.


Applesauce has little flavor and almost no nutritional value.

It is added to baked goods for the one thing it does have- pectin.

Pectin interferes with gluten in a similar manner to fat although by a different mechanism.

For this reason applesauce is often used to replace some of the fat in recipes for health-conscious bakers.

See this question .

Other banana bread recipes are very similar to cakes and rely on a huge amount of fat- often creamed with a large amount of sugar.

Your options are then to: Replace the applesauce with some other oil substitute.

Another puree of high-pectin fruit would work.

Switch to a recipe that just uses the fat and enjoy a richer banana bread.

Why not making your own?

Making your own applesauce is actually very easy.

So I bet there are apples for sale in the stores?

The simpelest I can think of is:4 apples

3/4 cup water(1/4 cup sugar)1/2

teaspoon ground cinnamonPeel core and chop the apples.

Cook it all together on medium heat until the apples are soft.

(15-20 minutes)It is no work at all and tastes delicious.

Personally I would use applesauce with no added sugar when using it in cakes.

However if you think it is to much work anyways

(but I do not hope so!)

it is good to know that in lots of recipes, applesauce is used to replace oil to lower the amount of calories.

(Some also claim that applesauce replaces eggs, but I have no experience with that)However, stating something like: 'replace 1 cup of applesauce by 1 cup of oil' can not be done properly.

Applesauce contains water where oil does not.

So it will make your cake more fat, and applesauce make the baking more 'cakier'.

Also you are making a fruit cake, and of course the apple taste improves this fruity taste.

I also think using oil will make you cake more 'heavy' then applesauce.

You can read more about applesauce replacing oil via this link.

I think if you are going to replace the applesauce by oil, you have to experiment about the substitution rate.

But I would start with using 1/4 cup of oil in stand of the 1/4 cup of applesauce.

If you don't want to make your own applesauce, nor replacing the sauce by oil you might want to look at baby-food.

Some jars of baby-food contain just some kind of apple puree.

The unsweetened applesauce also provides a bit of acid.

How about replacing the same weight, not volume, with apple juice and increasing the banana content by an small amount -say half a sm banana?

According to http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm 1 cup AS =

8.6oz so 2 oz of juice would be about right With only 1/4C in the recipe, I am assuming that changes here

and there won't spell disaster.

Use chocolate pudding out of a little kids cup.

It adds an amazing chocolate flavor to the banana but it's not over powering.

Use the same amount of pudding as you would with applesauce.

Look for applesauce in the baby food section.

A whipped fat can substitute the missing applesauce.

Question: This   banana bread recipe  calls for applesauce and it's not something that's available at the stores here. Will it be okay if I just leave it out or can I use any other common ingredient to replicate the effect?

What can be used as an alternative for Applesauce?

You can replace it with another oil substitute, a puree of another high-pectin fruit, apple juice and banana or chocolate pudding from a kids' cup.

You can substitute with an oil or fat or another fruit puree.

Replace it with another oil substitute or some other fat.

Another fruit puree or some apple juice can replace it.


Butterflying a hot dog (or any similar sausage) has two effects.

First, as the moisture inside the hot dog expands during cooking, causing the casings to frequently burst due to the pressure that builds up.

When you butterfly a hot dog the this is prevented.

Such blistering does not 'harm' the hot dog but are somewhat 'unsightly',

so I would call this an aesthetic effect.

The second effect is that it allows the hot dog to cook through more evenly.

Particularly for those who prefer their hot dog well done butterflying can get the insides cook through without charring the outside.

[Edit: found something interesting to add...

]If

you want to impress your friend with something different,

try spiral cutting your hot dog .

Butterflying also exposes a greater area of the surface to the grill's direct heat, leading to browning and smoky flavor.

Butterflying a hot dog or sausage increases the surface area available for the Maillard reaction (all the awesome taste sensations that come from browning and burning.

It also decreases cooking time and allows for more even cooking; a thick sausage cooked whole will often be dry on the outside in order to get it fully cooked at the center.

The trick to effective butterflying is to put the open side down on a hot pan (a bit above medium will usually do it) for a minute or two.

Do not press down as you’ll lose juices.

Flip the sausage or hot dog and lower the heat to a little below medium.

You’ll see juices rise to the top like when you cook a burger.

Again, do not press down and lose the juices.

Total cooking time should be less than usual.

When you take it off, place it flayed side up on a dish and let it sit for 3-5 minutes so any juices soak into the meat and aren’t lost to the plate when cutting.

Enjoy the lovely burnt/browned umami!

Some people slice hot dogs lengthwise in an effort to make them a little safer for children.

Hot dogs are a choking hazard for kids , so the idea is to make the pieces in each bite smaller and easier to chew.

I don't know of any research that demonstrates that slicing lengthwise is effective, but since pediatricians recommend cutting hot dogs into small pieces for little kids, it seems a step in the right direction even for not-quite-so-little kids.

For quicker cooking or to for on tost.

Just don't cook to long.

You also can put a piece of cheddar down the middle.

Question: A friend of mine butterfly cuts (in half lengthwise without separating) his hebrew national hot dogs before grilling them.  I don't notice a difference in flavor and didn't perceive a decrease in required grill time. Is there anything gained by butter flying a hot dog for grilling?

Is there anything gained by butterfly cutting a hot dog for grilling?

This increases the surface area for browning, stops the hot dogs from bursting, helps the hot dogs to cook more evenly and reduces the choking risk for children.

Slicing them prevents them from bursting and makes them easier for children to eat. It also helps them to cook more quickly.

Slicing the hotdog prevents the hotdog from bursting.

It should allow it to cook through more quickly.

Slicing them lengthwise makes them easier for children to eat.


Recipes for which you can substitute margarine for butter can have non-dairy margarines substituted instead - you have to check the ingredients list, most margarines contain milk solids.

Here in Australia, my dairy free friends and I use Nuttelex, but that's not available in the USA.

In general lard can always be substituted for butter, but you will not get the same flavour, obviously.

Lard is perhaps a bit more 'savoury' than butter, so it may be worth trying a pie out just to see if it works with a sweet filling.

You should be able to convert straight from butter to lard.

Another alternative is vegetable shortening, which you can use in all kinds of baking.

If you use Butter Flavored Crisco its an ' acceptable ' substitute for butter in a 1:1 ratio.

Coconut oil is gorgeous in crusts and many baked goods.

Get the best quality raw you are willing to pay for and she won't miss butter at all.

Try a bottle of macadamia oil too.

A little in baking where butteriness is wanted or even sauteeing veg.

Supposedly, these oils are back in favor nutritionally so baby will get the benefits too.

Although most people have said that you can do a 1:1 substitution, I want to warn you that it's not always true.

The problem is that butter is part water, and so when you bake with it, it'll give off a little steam.

If you use it melted it'll add water to the mix, which will develop a little bit of gluten when mixed with flour (first recipe, part of the second).

You may need to adjust your recipe slightly.

Typically, you want to reduce the amount of lard or other solid fat used by about 10-20%, and add back in 10-15% water (or other liquid; if you're dealing with un-melted butter, you may want to use vodka so it won't add to gluten development, but will still add steam).

That being said, one alternative might be to use clarified butter or ghee.

Depending on how sensitive the person is, it might not be worth the risk, but for people with a milk protein intolerance who really crave the butter flavor they might be willing to try it.

(and, as with the solid fat substitution, you need to adjust as it's all oil, no water)

If you use lard or criso, you'll want to substitute canola or another neutral oil for a portion.

Butter has a lower melting point than lard or shortening, so a little oil help match the mouth feel of butter.

I can't help you on the flavor.

Maybe sprinkle some buttered popcorn jelly-bellys on top?

Question: My wife is currently unable to consume any dairy as our breast-fed baby has a milk protein allergy. When reading many dessert recipes, many of them call for butter. For example:  http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/shaker-lemon-pie/ or  http://chefmichaelsmith.com/Recipe/cinnamon-rolls/   I know pie crusts for example can be made with either, but can they always be substituted?  When would I not want to use lard over butter?  What ratios should I use to convert the recipe?  Is there some other milk-protein free alternative that would work better?

Lard (or other fat) as a subsitute for butter in desserts for someone with a dairy allergy?

Recipes that allow margerine instead of butter can be substituted with non-dairy margerine. Lard and shortening can often be used instead of butter, but a little oil can be added to match the mouth feel. Coconut oil, macadamia oil and ghee or clarified butter are also good options.

You can try a non-dairy margarine, lard, coconut oil, macadamia oil or ghee in baking.

You can always substitute lard for butter. Add a little oil to match the mouth feel of butter.


It is designed for the likes of hard cheeses, nutmeg, or zesting lemon and orange skin.

As you mentioned, a lot of what you want to grate or zest gets stuck between the puckers and it clogs easily.

I would really recommend getting a micro plane as it gives the same fine result without becoming clogged.

I use it for hard cheeses such as Parmesan and Romano.

It grates it quite fine for things like pasta.

This side is ideal for zesting and fine grating of hard items (ginger is my regular task for this) and can be used much more cleanly and easily with the addition of cling wrap.

To use, you pull cling wrap around that side, then grate; you will be able to collect the result much more cleanly and completely by just peeling away the cling wrap.

A micro-plane grater is good, but this method will work in a pinch.

AS others have said its for grating hard things very finely, but not just cheese!

personally I use mine most for grating nutmeg.

I use the star side of the grater to grate sweet potatoes to make a sweet potato pudding.

However, it must be the star side with the larger holes, 7 across the top and bottom and 15 along both sides.

I'm 64 yeas old, and its an old recipe from my father.

Question: Ok, this picture has two sort of weird looking holes, but the one I'm asking about is on the left side of the picture - the metal sort-of puckers up, like it's been punched through from the back side.  I've tried this kind of grater to zest things before, with no success, and it clearly mauls cheeses... I can't figure out what it's for!

What's this "pucker" style hole on my cheese grater for?

This side can be used to grate hard cheeses, nutmeg, lemon zest, ginger and other hard items. It can also be used to grate sweet potatoes for a pudding.

It is used for grating very hard things like lemon zest or nutmeg.

It is used for grating very hard things like cheese, nutmeg or lemon zest.


If it's high quality, store it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container and try to use it as quickly as possible so you can enjoy it while it's fresh.

There are always excuses to use loads of parmesan: cheese plates, pasta dinners, fondue, scones, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc.

It should last for 3-4 months in a sealed container in the fridge.

As time goes on it will get drier, but that's to be expected.

If you can't eat it in time, consider giving some away to a friend.

If you wanted, you could freeze it as well, but I would only use it for baking or melting once thawed as some flavor and a lot of texture will be lost.

Fresh parmesan....

hmm : )

Parmesan is typically aged 6 months to 2 years...

it is aged with no special covering or container, it forms what is called a natural rind.

To store it, once it has been cut is very simple: place it in as airtight a container as possible and refrigerate.

DO NOT wet it, this may lead to spoilage...do not leave it exposed to the elements.

Pretty simple...

I make artisan cheeses.

You could wrap it into cheese paper (like http://www.amazon.com/Formaticum-Cheese-Paper-Adhesive-Package/dp/B002I47P40 ) and store it in the fridge.

I strongly disagree with the idea of storing it in an airtight container and using it quickly.

I assume people suggest using it quickly because in an air-tight container you'll have condensed water in the box which will make your cheese go bad.

I recommend to put it in a box and put the top on, but leave the top open a little bit (or use a box that lets air through; that would be even better).

With that, most excessive humidity will leave the box, without creating too much condensed water inside and without drying the cheese too fast.

With this method I can keep my Parmesan for at least 3 weeks.

Cheese paper might be a good idea also.

But not in airtight containers - since you'll definitely have humidity leaving your cheese.

(This applies to a piece of Parmesan, not pre-grated Parmesan.)

What we would always do at home would be to wrap it in paper towel and then put it in a plastic bag in the fridge.

This will prevent it to dry too much, and the paper will absorbe any moisture forming on the surface.

The paper should be changed every now and then to avoid mold growing on the cheese.

If mold grows on the cheese just remove the "moldy spot" and you'll be fine.

Per Marcella Hazan, author of the wonderful "Essentials of Italian Cooking" - Wrap it tightly in wax paper, then in heavy-duty aluminum foil, being careful not to poke the foil.

Store on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator.

Works perfectly.

Smear butter to prevent drying.

I have also experimented freezing parmesan.

It does dry out a bit but still could be used in hot dishes like pasta.

Coming from Italian origin.

I remember my grandmother and aunties in Italy leaving the block of Parmesan in the large round Parmesan grater that everyone seemed to have and that's where it stayed, in amongst the grated cheese.

Because the lid has hundreds of small holes in it, the cheese would eventually dry out.

However, this doesn't spoil the cheese as it's perfect to grate even when the cheese has dried hard.

I never saw moulding or spoiling.

I have seen Parmesan go green when stored in the fridge in plastic.

But, don't throw it out just remove any mould

and away you go.

Good Parmesan, Regianno, is matured for 2 years in cellars and doesn't need a fridge.

Just a container with a breathable lid in a cool cupboard is best I find.

We don't give it time to go off anyway, that would be so wrong.!!

Wrap it in a clean, damp kitchen towel, then in foil.

It will store well for a long time, without losing any of its texture or nutty flavor.

This will allow the cheese to breathe.

Change the towel every time you use the cheese to prevent any possible cross-contamination.

While on a visit to a Parmesan cheese factory in Italy, we were advised to wrap the cheese in a clean teatowel and keep it in the fridge.

(by the way, dry rind pieces can be added to soups or stews to enrich the flavour.)

Were I live as we have.

Dip twice in melted bees wax.

Store in a cool place.

Or dip in wax.

It can be put in jars of salt sea water.

Then stored in a cool place.

Bees wax seems to work best.

I have found that for just a week wrap in plastic bags.

Thin ones like you get at store.

Put in fridge.

This is 3rd world tropics.

I like the idea in a jar with bread.

Going to try that.

Put it in a jar with a piece of bread...

works every time and its lasts a long time.

Question: I recently lucked into about 4 lbs of a delicious Parmesan. Sadly it's already in 4 pieces, and so I'm pretty sure its going to be more prone to spoilage than a single large chunk. How does one go about setting up a block of dry, hard cheese for long term storage?   Also how long can I expect my cheese to retain its flavor?

How to store Parmesan cheese?

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, or in the freezer with some loss of flavour and texture. Parmesan will get drier as time goes on, but this does not spoil the cheese.

You could wrap it in cheese paper or a paper towel to let it breathe and keep it cool.

You could freeze it or put it in a closed box in the fridge.

It will dry out but it will still be fine to grate.

You could wrap it in paper towel to let it breathe and keep it cool.


Pros

Any colour you like (even black)

With some machines you can make rainbow stripes just like toothpaste tubes do Any consistency you like, and more or less eggs, or just egg yolks.

Add baking soda or Kansui to make stronger, more shape-able pasta (not more than 0.5% or it tastes soapy in a sauce)

Any flavour you like (herbs, spices, extracts, extra egg'y ...)

Any flour you like (wholemeal and buckwheat is my favourite)

Any shape you like, make lasagne sheets to fit your favourite lasagne pan, or make your own extruder dies (not trivial, but possible)

Easier and quicker to cook Extruder machines give your arms a great work out Fun to do with children, and educational

You control what ingredients go into it (more and more commercial pasta are including 'weird' ingredients for no reason I know of?)

The extruder you want :-) Cons Expensive to make if you account for your time (you should)

Flour is flour.

The base tastes more or less the same Large amount of time to make decent pasta, especially in tricky shapes Pasta machines can be hard to clean Special hardware (roller, drying racks, extruder etc.) required for anything but the basic flat noodles

One of the best reasons to make fresh pasta is to make your own tortellini and ravioli.

It is simply impossible with dried pasta, since dried pasta no longer sticks to itself.

There are more variations of fillings than the standard "cheese" or "meat" that are otherwise unavailable if you only buy filled pasta at a grocery store.

There are some of us that do this as part of a slow food / living simply / homesteading type thing.

Some of the main reasons for doing this: Reduced packaging (eggs from the chooks, buy flour in bulk)

Reduced food miles Focus on whole foods and reduced additives

The enjoyment of producing something with your own hands and involving your family in production Ability to make things in larger quantities at a reduced or comparable price (I get my flour for free from a friend in exchange for the occasional pizza night) Ability to home-make things which can be shared for free or exchanged for free with neighbours Minimal or zero waste (flour bags can be re-used or composted), left over dough scraps and flour can be fed to livestock

Cheaper, customizable flavor (spinach, tomato, squash, etc), and in my opinion, far more delicious (ie fresh, different mouthfeel, and also because you control the ingredients you can use your favorite spices or veggies) than store bought.

Only downside is the effort.

With homemade pasta, you don't need any preservatives, and have complete control over what ingredients (quality, variety) are used.

You can add elements for a specific flavor

(spinach is common, beet is something I'd like to try, I could see basil, and now @lemontwist has me curious about squash...), or substitute ingredients for specific dietary or health reasons.

I know several people who make their own pasta so they can make sure no salt is involved.

Fresh pasta is easier to cook, and doesn't require additional pantry space.

You likely have all the ingredients on-hand.

It's better for sure, it tastes great and you can choose better raw ingredients and quality flour.

Moreover you can add veggies, spices, eggs and customize pasta in many ways.

You can also choose the best shape that suits your condiments.

Question: What are some good reasons for people to make their own pasta? Does it make it cheaper? Does it taste any better?

What are some good reasons for why people make homemade pasta?

While it does require more effort to make and clean up afterwards, homemade pasta allows you to experiment with flavours, control the ingredients used, reduce waste in packaging and transport, remove the need for preservatives and other unwanted additives.

While the final product is similar to what you might buy, you will reduce costs and you can control all the ingredients in it.

You can choose the ingredients that you put it in.

You would reduce packaging and food miles and be able to make larger quantities for less cost.

It takes a lot of effort and you need to buy a special machine.


Heating it up in the microwave will temporarily make it runnier, but then it will go back to its original consistency.

Here are some ways that may work for you: Add some neutral flavored oil: just a bit though or it will get greasy Add chocolate syrup: chocolate syrup is very runny will thin it out while still keeping the chocolate flavor.

Hershey's is available in the US and UK, Tate and Lyle makes one in the UK.

Not sure where you are but there will likely be something available If you can't find chocolate syrup try making a very thick chocolate milk with some cocoa powder or chocolate milk powder

After experimentation, here is what we came up with: 1 tsp.

of milk (I know you said no milk, but you need the fat in itto keep the Nutella from seizing) 1 TBSP.

Nutella Instructions: Heat the tsp.

of milk a couple of seconds in a bowl in the microwave - just a couple seconds!!

Take a little chunk from the TBSP.

of Nutella and stir it into the milk until smooth Repeat the above step until it is the desired consistency for drizzling over your bananas - or whatever.

When it cools, it will be firm again.

Enjoy!

Use a bain marie: get a pot of steaming hot water, and place a glass bowl on top.

Make sure the water isn't touching the glass bowl directly.

Place your chocolate in the bowl and stir and it will melt.

I microwave a tsp of coconut oil for 15 seconds, then mix in a tbsp of Nutella and microwave in 10 second bursts until I'm happy with it.

We place container of Nutella in a bowl of hot water...works faster if you put the amount you want in a small glass bowl and set it into a larger container of hot water.

Melts but doesn't harden.

Dip your banana right in.

Easy!

I found that adding any nut milk or regular milk made the Nutella thicker to a fudge like texture.

What worked for me was putting the Nutella in a glass bowl over a boiling pot of water (double boiler) and adding hot water teaspoon by teaspoon while mixing to the right consistency.

What i did for pancake day last year was get a pan of water and put a bowl over it, boil the water for a bit and then add the nuttella.

gradually, add the milk bit by bit until it goes to the liquid thickness that you like.

It worked for me so try it

1 Table spoon of Milk and 1 Table spoon sour cream to a half a jar (13 oz) of Nutella.

It will not weaken the chocolate flavor, it actually enhances the flavor.

Delicious!

I used 1 teaspoon half and half to 1 tablespoon of Nutella.

Put half and half in small bowl in microwave until hot and then stirred in the Nutella.

Worked beautufully!

Was able to drizzle over my mini bunt cakes without losing any flavor.

Tried many different ways before and ruined the Nutella.

This method works!

If you need to reduce the viscosity of nutella (make it more liquid/runny)

here is what you do: it must be fresh (expired/old nutella's chemical properties change)

1 part nutella to 1/10 (10%)

part

whole milk - stir (it may become hard at first!

don't stress) once the first 10% is mixed in, add another 10% milk and again and again until its you reach the viscosity required.

The two secrets to thinning syrup and nutella are start with the syrup or nutella and SLOWLY

add the milk/water ALWAYS

add TINY/MINUTE/SMALL amounts [in ratio obviously.

for a bucket containing 10Litres Nutella, you'll need 1 litre of milk ;) ]

Question: I usually put some amount in a cup and add a very small amount of water to start mixing. This is usually effective as long as the amount of water is very small compared to chocolate, in which the chocolate still has a strong taste.I thought of using milk, but I do not want the chocolate's taste to be faded (milk has a taste compared to water being neutral ).I also tried using the microwave, but that was pretty useless.  I want something really fast and reliable.

What is the best and fastest way to liquify Nutella chocolate spread?

Nut or dairy milk can actually make the texture thicker, but you could make it temporarily runny by heating in a microwave or bain mairie, or mix it with a little chocolate syrup, thick cocoa, oil, coconut oil or half and half.

You can melt it over a bain marie or add oil, syrup or cream.

Heating it up in the microwave will only melt it for a short time.

You can add some milk, coconut oil or cream.


Cook it less, if you can.

The more you cook it, the more you get that smell.

Perhaps you are just more sensitive to it than most; I don't generally notice it until it's overcooked by my standards.

Along with this, cook it as fast as you can.

The flavor you don't like is produced by enzymes converting precursor molecules into those with the flavor.

From On Food and Cooking : Heating cabbages and their friends has two different effects.

Initially the temperature rise...speeds the enzyme activity and flavor generation, with maximum activity around 140F/60C.

The enzymes stop working altogether somewhere short of the boiling point.

If the enzymes are quickly inactivated by plunging the vegetables into abundant boiling water, then many of the flavor precursor molecules will be left intact.

If the cooking period is prolonged, then the constant heat gradually transforms the flavor molecules.

Eventually the sulfur compounds end up forming trisulfides, which accumulate and are mainly responsible for the strong and lingering smell of overcooked cabbage.

So as suggested by others, boiling instead of steaming to reduce cooking time helps.

So does cooling quickly, with cold or ice water.

Boiling in excess water will also leach some out, but you might also lose flavor you like.

A couple other thoughts, also from On Food and Cooking .

Cabbage family vegetables grown in the summer, and under drought stress, produce more of the flavor precursors, and those grown in the autumn and winter with less light and more water have less.

They're also more concentrated in the core of the vegetables.

And for cabbage, you can remove a lot of them by chopping and soaking in cold water; conceivably the same could work for broccoli, but again perhaps at the cost of desirable flavor.

This does not happen if you boil it for 30-60 seconds, drain, then ice water shock the broccoli instead of steaming.

In steaming, the usual way to prevent this is to eat it quickly and to steam for a very short time.

However, steaming to the same point of moderate tenderness takes at least 6 minutes at high pressure, and the cooking doesn't stop after you remove it.

In my experience, blanching provides superior results for broccoli's flavor compared to steaming, even if you end up recooking the broccoli (like you might in a casserole), because the halting of the cooking process from the rapid cooling.

It's possible that ice water shocking steamed broccoli may have the same effect, but I prefer the shorter cooking time that blanching enables so I've never tried it.

It may be worth experimenting with, if you're committed to steaming.

I've never had a problem, but I also don't do a 100% steam cooking method ...

you may want to try it and see if it sets off your nose, as we're all sensitive to smells to a different degree: Heat a skillet with a little bit of oil in it.

(you can use non-stick, but you still want a little bit of oil) Cut up the flourets, but set them aside.

Slice up the stem Sauté the stems for a minute or two.

Add the flourets, and saute for another 30-60 seconds.

Add a bit of water, and slap on a lid.

Let steam to your desired doneness.

Drain off the water (tilt pan over sink while holding lid slightly askew) Serve

I left out the seasoning step ...

I typically season when sautéing, but if you're used to steaming, it might be more similar to season after cooking.

We love all things broccoli ; soup included.

I always add a pinch of baking soda, and that's the end of the odour.

Good luck.

I have always had good results with adding a stalk of celery when steaming broccoli, and then discarding it after cooking.

Don't know why it works, but my mom had done this for years after reading it in some cookbook, and it does seem to change the odor that permeates the kitchen.

Question: I really enjoy snacking on steamed vegetables lightly sprinkled with some salt and pepper, especially broccoli. However I find that steamed fresh broccoli has a slightly sulfuric smell that smells a little bit like fart. I was wondering if there is anything I can do to lessen that smell.

Is there a way to lessen the unpleasant smell of steamed broccoli?

You can neutralise the odor by adding a pinch of baking soda or a stick of celery or slicing up the stems and sauteeing them for a minute or two. Try cooking them less, possibly blanching for 30-60 seconds before shocking in ice water rather than steaming.

Cook it very quickly either steamed, sautéed or boiled. If you are boiling, then add a little baking soda.

You should cook it for a very short time and put in ice water after.

Add a pinch of baking soda with the cooking water.


The 'lemony' flavour in a lemon cake is from the volatile oils which are present in the fruit's zest,(mainly nerol, limonene and citral).

I would'nt advise adding actual lemon juice to the cake as it will disrupt the ratios in the cake recipe and ususally the tart, zingy flavour gets lost anyway after baking.

To get a really lemony flavour whilst still using a pound cake recipe (using the creaming method) there are several things which would enhance the lemon flavour: Adding finely grated lemon zest to the sugar, then blitzing with a blender (to release the oils) and leaving to infuse.

The sugar is simply a medium to infuse into Melting the butter (using it as a 'quasi' solvent) and adding it to some more lemon zest to infuse.

Then once cooled use it as per the recipe requires.

Add lemon extract too (we're trying to get as much flavour as possible into the cake!)

And if all else fails, you can always soak the cake in a lovely tangy lemon syrup and may be top it off with some lemony cream cheese frosting!

I know of three ways to add extra lemon flavor to recipes: Add lemon pudding like this copycat recipe for Starbuck's lemon poundcake: Starbucks

Iced Lemon Pound Cake Copycat Recipe Use frozen lemonade concentrate instead of lemon juice as Marge suggested, add grated lemon rind.

Fresh is good, dried is more intense.

My mother's cherished lemon-nut bread recipe, which uses dried grated lemon peel, actually requires the bread to be wrapped and refrigerated overnight to "cure" the flavors after it is baked.

This post is years old but I added 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice per 200g of flour and it turned out amazing.

Super pronounced lime flavor.

The recipe asked for 1/3 cup of buttermilk or sour cream but I didn't have any.

Hope it helps.

Here are a couple of ideas: Add some limoncello to the batter After baking and initial cooling: Apply a lemon sugar syrup.

Use a skewer to make holes in the cake.

Pour over the lemon syrup.

Use lemon curd as a topping Here is an example of a recipe with lemon syrup.

Lemon emulsion is especially designed for baking as it won't "bake out" like a juice or flavoring.

If you are using an Lemon Extract, be sure it is all natural and has no added sweetener, like corn syrup.

I found baking emulsions on line from a company called Lorann Professional Kitchen and the size was 4 oz....

not a pint or quart like most bakery supply

Boyajian lemon oil...

Only use a few drops.

Won't affect the recipe texture.

Pure flavor.

Probably find at Whole Foods, New Seasons, etc.

My Costco has it also.

The strength of that lemon twang comes from the essential oils of the lemon and the acid in the lemon (which is why the icing is sooooo GREAT!).

Unfortunately the acid will all be reacted and evaporated out by the time you finish baking anything.

However, the oils will not have evaporated or reacted with the air.

The oils predominantly come from the zest or skin.

The most effective way to get the strongest lemony flavour in baking will be to use a juicer to completely strip all the oils out of the entire lemon, then boil it down to a thick syrup.

The skin is very bitter, but with some sugar you should be able to bring out a great tangy lemon flavour.

Remember, chocolate comes from a very bitter substance too

but we love eating it all the time! =D

You will end up with a very intense lemon syrup for use in various baking.

Make sure to practice your baking mixtures a couple times to get the consistencies correct.

The thickness of the syrup should help a lot not to water down any recipe you are following, rather than just adding lemon juice (which, like most fresh produce, has heaps of water in it).

Question: I have tried and tried numerous recipes for lemon pound cake.  None of them taste very lemony.  I tried adding extra lemons n lemon extract but no real difference.  The only thing to make it taste like lemon is the glaze. What am I doing wrong?

Lemon cake has no flavor

The flavour of lemon juice can 'bake out' in the oven, but the zest (possibly blitzed with and infused in sugar) can release oils that enhance the flavour. You can also try adding frozen lemonade concentrate or limoncillo, lime juice, lemon sugar syrup, lemon emulsion or Boyajian lemon oil.

Try adding lemon zest or some lime juice.

Use limoncello, lemon emulsion or lemon oil.


I can't claim familiarity with that particular area's style of fried chicken, but I have two ideas that may meet that description: Korean

fried chicken wings with ultra-thin crust a la http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/the-food-lab-korean-fried-chicken.html Double fried chicken wings with no batter a la http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/the-food-lab-how-to-make-best-buffalo-wings-fry-again-ultimate-crispy-deep-fried-buffalo-wings.html

I know these are recipes for wings, but I would assume this would translate well to other pieces of chicken.

Both of them start with a neutral base that you can modify with sauces etc.

to your liking.

I'm afraid I don't really have a good recipe for breaded fried chicken though, something about good Korean fried chicken makes everything else pale in comparison ;)

I've lived in the Pittsburgh area all of my life.

My great grandma and grandma always made fried chicken the same way.

They just tossed the chicken pieces with a dusting of flour, salt and pepper, and pan fried it, in a VERY scant amount of oil, skin side down first, and then turning.

Usually they would cover it near the end of cooking, after adding just a small amount of water to the pan and turning it skin side down, to get all the delicious gooey fond off the bottom of the pan.

Here it is.

Straight from my sister in law who was born in Pennsylvania.

The first time I saw her cook fried chicken

I though she was crazy, no coating and no breading.

Heat the skillet and add just enough oil to cover the bottom of the skillet.

If you were lucky enough to plan ahead, you could soak the chicken in salted water, but she didn't.

She took it out of the wrapper, rinsed it off and tossed in in the skillet with the hot oil.

Salt and pepper the chicken and let it cook on low to medium.

Hot enough to cook, but hot enough to scorch the chicken.

When the chicken is browned with a nice 'ccoked' browning, turn it over and cook the other side.

Salt and pepper each time you turn it.

Cook all sides.

It will take about twenty to thirty minutes to cook this way, but the results are terrific.

She calls it Yankee Fried Chicken.

When the chicken is cooked through (check by inserting knife into thigh or leg.

If the meat or bone is still pink, even slightly pink, cook it longer.

When browned on all sides, remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Cover loosely with foil.

If necessary, add a tablespoon of butter to the drippings in the pan.

Stir in flour, salt and pepper to make a roux.

You can make 'Yankee Gravy" by adding hot water to the roux.

You can also use chicken stock,

That's how you do it.

Here's the real deal fried chicken without breading... best to use legs or thighs.

Soak chicken with skin on at least overnight in a sealed container with buttermilk, plenty of sea salt, and pepper to taste, next day, place chicken on a rack to drain/dry.. heat a good frying pan to medium high heat, not high, with sunflower or peanut oil, enough so it will be half way up the side of the chicken pieces in the pan.

When the oil is hot, add your skin on chicken pieces, turning every 2-3 minutes until done, this will be the crispiest, juiciest and most delicious chicken you will ever eat!

The skin is the breading and it seals all the flavor in the chicken pieces.

Enjoy!

I've been cooking for years, I take my chicken, put what seasonings I want on it, then coat the chicken with honey and put it in the deep fryer, no breading, no flour or anything.

Cooking is sort of my hobby.

Experiment with what you want, keep in mind every cooking method is unique to the person doing it and or writing it.

Just had something very near that today at a Churches Chicken restaurant in NorthEast Texas.

The mgr told me it was fried without batter or flour and is either coated or seasoned with a slightly sweet dry bbq coating that was very thin, almost translucent except for the amber color.

Quite tasty.

Question: When I was a little fellow I lived in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. Many diners that we ate at had a fried chicken that had just a thin crispy amber coating. The order was usually a half of a chicken. I have been living in North Carolina for 24 years now and have not come across anything close. I would like to know how to make it.

PA style fried chicken with no breading or batter, just a thin amber color crisp coating

Soak chicken overnight in a sealed container with buttermilk, plenty of sea salt, and pepper. Drain on a rack while heating sunflower or peanut oil in a good frying pan to medium high heat. There should be enough to cover the chicken half way up. Toss the chicken pieces with a dusting of flour, salt and pepper or a slightly sweet dry BBQ coating and pan fry it, in a VERY scant amount of oil, skin side down first, before turning. Add a small amount of water, turn it skin side down again and cover it near the end of cooking in order to get the fond from the bottom of the pan.

Dust the chicken with flour, salt and pepper and then fry in just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

This is unbreaded chicken. Just dust with flour, salt and pepper and just enough oil to cover the pan.