General Q&A about cooking.
Newbie baker here: What actually is the difference between baking soda and baking powder? As far as I know, both are used to get baked goods to rise (like yeast, but not a microorganism). Since the...
How do indoor gas stove grills differ from gas barbecues? Is it redundant to use both? What can one accomplish, that the other can't? Which has more firepower? BTU? Sources — Top ...
What are some recipes or ideas for PREcooked Joya Octopus? I know this is PREcooked, but I don't want to eat it cold or warm! My apartment kitchen has merely a Frigidaire electric cooktop! I hav...
I'm a big fan of the Spanish omelette, which is called 'Tortilla de patatas' (potato omelette) in Spanish. To prepare them, one of the first steps is to peel the potatoes and then cut them into sl...
I sometimes cook for someone who needs to avoid milk products, so I got some plant-based "cheese" (listed as cultured vegan cheese) to use instead of the real thing. I'm having trouble getting it ...
See 2:11. I paste similar pictures from Google. Top. Middle. Bottom. These flames look hazardous to me! Kylie Kwong, and the 3 men below, aren't wearing any eye or face protection! What if these...
I have a family member who reacts poorly to homemade bread with yeast in it. (Store-bought is fine, somehow. IDK.) I don't want to exclude him, but I also don't want my nice convenient bread maker ...
1. I need a new NONstick pan! Please identify and characterize this one, in this video starting from 0:03 seconds. This pan looks sufficiently NONstick! Normally, you must grease or oil a pan bef...
TL;DR: is there something I can coat the inside of metal salt shakers with to protect them? Or am I missing a better clue? I have two pairs of antique glass salt shakers (of significant sentimenta...
I am befuddled that scallops can be served with apple??? The scallops was briefly cooked over fire and served with an apple topping.
My parents eat this FROZEN lobster meat from Maine weekly. Each plastic bag of frozen lobster lasts 3 servings for them. But they're too lazy to put 1/3 of the frozen lobster meat into, then fre...
I don't know the English translation of 干燒/乾燒? Perhaps dry sear, or dry sizzle? I don't use "grill", because Cantonese restaurants confirmed to me that they don't use grills for this dish. ...
Canned beans (like great northern beans or black beans) come with fluid that is thicker than water. I believe this thickening is starch being leached out of the beans into the water during the can...
I want to make a raw vegan Malabi (also named Muhallebi). A Malabi's firm "pudding" can be made by cooking corn starch with water and/or some vegan milk, but, I seek a totally no cooking version o...
Pls see the two pictures below, taken at Run Chinese Restaurant at the St. Regis Hong Kong. My arrows point to the wafers. Top. Bottom.
I travelled prior COVID. This Hong Kong restaurant served 糟溜鱼片. I am trying to reconstruct it at home. But my American town has no Asian stores, and nowhere sells the 3 Chinese wines listed below....
I've noticed other executive chefs at other restaurants not covering their hair too. I added red arrows to point to Jayson Tang of Man Ho Chinese Restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong. Sour...
After I wash mushrooms in salt water, I dry them in a salad spinner. Then I insert the spinned mushrooms into my wok, that's hot with safflower oil. At this point, the wok has no water. After 3 mi...
I'm craving to buy a chinois to filter out the grime from mussel broth, but the issue is that online websites don't specify the mesh or filtration size. What do you recommend? Perhaps I should just...
I like to bake a pancake in the oven, instead of in a frying pan atop the stove. The basic recipe is the same (flour, milk, eggs, butter, salt; mix, pour into a roasting pan, bake in the oven at me...
Sautéing minimizes the acidity of the tomato. Add the tarragon sprigs and then the cognac (5). p 90, Fish and Seafood (2004) by Patrik Jaros, Günter Beer.
I live in Toronto. I can't find living oysters that: got NO worms and parasites. can be steamed with garlic scallions and vermicelli: 蒜蓉蒸生蚝. I don't eat raw seafood. Sources for pics ben...
I am physically unable to wash sullied fruits and vegetables, particularly ones just plucked from soil. I am disabled, and I injured myself. The water pressure out of my faucets are TOO LOW AND POW...
Can anyone ID this dessert served at T'ang Court in Hong Kong?
Tonight I was preparing poblano peppers for baking (with stuffing). I wore gloves to protect my hands from the oils, and (after a recent case where that wasn't enough) I also ran the vent fan. Ho...
I desire to make a vegan, cookingless, coconut chutney as a dip for Dosa. The coconut milk I have is regular coconut milk which is quite dilute, so I assume that the first thing I need is to thick...
I would like to be able to freeze unbaked bread dough, so that at some later time I (or someone I'm giving it to) could thaw it out and then bake it. (Fresh-baked bread is nicer than thawed alread...
I'm guessing that this is the same, and just another view of, as this.
My rural community has merely one supermarket. It sells merely ONE brand of scallop. The supermarket keeps them in a freezer. When I get home, I cut open the bag, place the scallops in a colande...
I don't think the author's referring to fluid from the scallops, because on p. 124, she advises buying dry, not wet, scallops. Refrigerate immediately after purchase, and ideally scallops should...
I want my vegan coconut-cream-based ice cream less "watery"/"icy". Which "available-by-every-supermarket" ingredient can be used to thicken "coconut cream" which is still not thick enough, to make...
I defrosted these Snow Crab claws, but the meat still clings to the shell. I can't yank all the claw meat out of the shell intact and in one go, because the meat keeps splitting and sundering at t...
When I drink Coca-Cola I feel an extremely mild Mentha (especially Peppermint) taste. I didn't find any data with these Google search queries (first page): Coca Cola formula Mint Coca Cola f...
Why does the sweet edible part of sugar canes (Xylem?) is being cooked in sugar refineries? That natural edible part is quite sweet on it's own and can be eaten raw (for example, in South East Asi...
Is it a common practice between food technicians and vegan chefs to add sodium bicarbonate to vegan Chickpea flour omelets for making the batter more airy?
My sister's Caucasian. We speak no Korean. We don't know the correct terminology, so I'm using pictures for clarity. He's leasing an apartment that has merely a Frigidaire 30'' Electric Cooktop lik...
About a year ago, I attempted to make sauerkraut for the first time following a fermentation process (cabbage, salt, its own extracted juices, but no vinegar). When it seemed to be "done" I ate so...
My wife and I recently tried cooking frozen green beans by boiling them on the stove. They tasted fine, but the skin of the green beans was really, really "squeaky" on my teeth. My wife didn't real...
I have a very small kitchen unfit for rich cooking and I reside in a state in which red meat substitutes are generally very expensive due to currently low demand in the local market. Say I have so...
Doubtless it's safer to push knives away from hands. I always hone like this GIF. Source for first image below. But I just saw these images where the knife is being pushed TOWARDS the handle a...
Each time Owen in Vancouver pulls the knife starting at 0:58, he alternates the knife's edges. But why? Why not hone one side with 15 consecutive strokes first, then switch to the other side? Bob...
Let's say I want to make zefir. For this, I'll be needing egg whites, and as someone who never knew how to properly separate whites from yolk, I want to find the most efficient way of doing so, and...
Aliza Green's The Fishmonger's Apprentice : The Expert's Guide to Selecting, Preparing, and Cooking a World of Seafood, Taught by the Masters. p 174. Do not eat the organs of a crab, including ...
I tried to make these Chinese green onion mini pancakes. I pretermitted the shrimp. But unlike those cooked by Northern Chinese restaurant, I couldn't taste onion or scallion. For onion and scalli...
Chen doesn't write out blanching or parboiling — links to Stack Exchange, not because I like them but because these answers assist — but Step 3 below feels like blanching/parboiling. Which is it? P...
Please see the sentences to the right of my red vertical line, in the scan below. Jennifer Trainer Thompson, Fresh Fish 2016, p 41.
I have a Whirlpool wall oven with (optional) convection settings. It has three racks. The obvious place to store oven racks is, of course, in the oven. The oven has two preheating modes, "rapid"...
I have heard that one way to preserve fresh garlic cloves is to freeze them. I've seen some places that say that a frozen clove will be a little mushier when it's thawed later but is still fine fo...
I make bread once a week from the same sourdough starter, which lives in the fridge between feedings. On the day before baking day I take it out, feed it, wait until it's fully active, take some o...
I understand that sugar, even the brownest, darkest and "wholeest" is generally a refined sugar with added molasses. In contrast, I understand that a jaggery is the naturally occurring sugar with ...
