General Q&A about cooking.
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Claude AuCoin, Executive Chef at Digby Pines Resort in Nova Scotia, says that really fresh scallops shrink vertically and expand horizontally but regular scallops do the opposite. Totally Scal...
I'm interested to know the science behind the colors. Scallops should not be pure white and they should never be stored in water. Pure white scallops most likely have been sitting in and absorbi...
I have a recipe for a whole-wheat sourdough bread that works pretty well, but it's not very exciting -- it's a basic bread. I've had honey-wheat bread that I've liked, so I'd like to adapt this re...
I've bought mussels at Whole Food Market for a year. They sell them on ice and dry, not in running water. At 10 s this video, Bart teaches add salt to cold water and soak for 20 mins. Aliz...
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 142. To begin, place the clams in a sink or large...
Again I would've never dreamed of combining clams and soy milk! My first reaction was EWWW, and this can cause a stomach ache! Easy Japanese Cooking: Noodle Comfort. Kentaro Kobayashi. p 64.
If you can dry Udon, then why freeze it? What does Frozen Udon accomplish that Dried Udon doesn't? Easy Japanese Cooking: Noodle Comfort. Kentaro Kobayashi. p 156.
In today's produce box I was expecting a baby bok choy, but it actually contained a giant super-adult-size bok choy. (This was my error.) I can't use that much boy choy in the next few days; what...
I learned as a kid that mixing anything into (commercial) mayonnaise will cause it to spoil much faster. Therefore, I was told, don't even put a wet spoon in: the small amount of water on the spoon...
I'm guessing that "pale" doesn't refer to color, because many sherries are already pale yellow? In Chinese cooking, rice wine is often used as a seasoning to cover up certain unwanted flavors, ...
Chilis are too spicy for me. Will the recipe below still work with bell peppers that aren't spicy? I'm assuming that the chili is intended just to spice the mussels. Does the chili serve another p...
If you Google, you can see that many recipes use coconut milk as the "soup" base for curries. Why coconut milk though? I would've never dreamed of this mix! I would've guessed vegetable or some mea...
What do you gain from grilling mussels? If you're grilling them on the BBQ like the picture below, all the mussel fluid will drip into the BBQ or evaporate. Perhaps I'm just lazy, but I see no poi...
Kindly see the emboldened sentence below. With a picture, can you please elaborate which are "the cup side" and "the flat side"? roasted scallops with thyme and coral butter SERVES 2 TO STA...
Does anyone know why? Can you de-mystify please? It’s a mystery to me why cuttlefish hasn’t enjoyed the popularity in England that it has in Italy and Spain, where most of it is sent after it ha...
The recipe below doesn't contain any bones. Did the author forget them? Red mullet has particular qualities that make the flavour very rich. The secret of this soup is making a good stock. Addit...
I'm no fishmonger, and don't know what the author means? If you have a good fishmonger, ask him to source the ‘double sucker’ variety of octopus, he will know what you mean. They come frozen, cl...
4 Remove the lid and stir up the cornstarch mixture, add it to the pant and continue stirring until thickened. Transfer the clams to a serving dish and garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately....
I inserted a yellow line next to the second last para. below. Why add yogurt to concoct spicy curry? Yogurt and curry just don't mix together, in my mind. Never would I have thought to combine them...
Please don't rely on the title in this question. Part of the problem is that I don't speak any Chinese. Another part of the problem is that the translation isn't perfect. How do 薑蓉 (Ginger Scalli...
I have mixed powdered milk and hot chocolate in a Nalgene before to celebrate climbing mountains/rock climbs but it has been a while and I don't remember how much of each it takes (I think it was a...
What's the point of Step 2 below? It feels like too much work! Why "Put the butter onto a sheet of parchment paper and roll into a small cylinder"? Why the "parchment paper and roll into a small c...
If a gas grill don't heat up enough, an electric grill definitely won't. What to use then? You'll need a hot charcoal grill for this. Gas may get you there, but I doubt it. Most gas grills don'...
I've never seen this tip for other Molluscs, like Gastropods and Bivalves. Does it apply to them like clams and mussels? Make sure to cook periwinkles in small batches. That way, if you ...
The sentence embolded below bewilders me. Most rockfish share a certain characteristic: a swim or air bladder. This is a gas-filled organ that allows the fish to carefully control its buoyancy....
Please see the sentence beside the green box. John Bil's Ship to Shore: Straight Talk from the Seafood Counter (2018). p 241.
This is the first time that I've heard that stuffing fish with herbs and lemon is "pointless, as almost no flavour will be imparted from these trappings." I'm nonplussed! Many cookbooks recommend t...
Kindly see the sentence beside the red rectangle. I acknowledge Montreal isn't a world class city and may not offer world class seafood. But I'm dumbfound how New York City doesn't, when New York i...
Kindly see the sentence beside the red rectangle. I'm dumbfound how Prince Edward Island (PEI) lacks good shrimp, when PEI faces the Atlantic Ocean. John Bil's Ship to Shore: Straight Talk from ...
HOW TO CLEAN SOFT-SHELL CLAMS Some clams, such as steamers and savoury clams, require "purging" — or soaking — to remove naturally occurring sand. I've heard of many tricks, but the most ef...
Kindly see the sentence with the red line beside. You already "sear for 2 minutes." Why not keep searing at high heat? Why "transfer the pan to the oven"? This second step feels dispensable! You'...
I don't understand how to proceed from Step 2 to 3. In Step 2, the bones are under the fish flesh. Then in step 3, how do I "Take hold of the bones at the head end"? In Step 3, how will t...
Sometimes on long backpacking trips, I will eat oatmeal without cooking it first, usually due to a lack of either time or fuel. Is there any nutritional value lost from that or would I gain less c...
Let's say I go hunting for rabbits/squirrels/hares/deer and get one. One doesn't want to cook/process them right away because the meat will become more tender after it has refrigerated for a while...
I've never seen a Western Cuisine restaurant steam fish with soy sauce and mandarin peel, 陳皮, like Hong Kong restaurants. Can I do this at home? I feel unconfident because restaurant commercial ste...
In 2017, my family and I travelled to Maritime provinces in Canada, then Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts to view fall foliage. We noticed that all restaurants there cooked seafood in just two ...
I recently made some potato and leek soup. The recipe I followed said that after cooking the ingredients until soft, I should liquify the soup in a blender. I let the blender run for about two minu...
A recipe for fudge called for sifting confectioner's sugar into the pot rather than just adding it. The recipe also called for whisking continuously, so the sugar would be distributed immediately....
Food keeps sticking to my pan, and my fry pan is too shallow! When I stir fry rice, for ex., some rice always flies out the pan! Also, the rice cooks onto the bottom of the pan when I fry it and ...
I'm guessing these are snips of red, orange, green peppers? But then what's the white liquid? Openrice page for Shang Palace in H.K..
Can you please ID this dish? It's from Shang Palace, H.K.. Google translated "海參的協奏曲", captioned on that Openrice page, to Sea Cucumber concerto. I'm guessing the fried nest was made with potato, ...
I chanced on this clay pot (煲仔) on Tripadvisor for a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. I see cellophane or glass noodles, and spring onions. Or are those scallions? How are the scallops ...
Can you please ID this dish? It's from Shang Palace in H.K.. I see char marks and think this was wok fried. I see wok fried shredded carrots and mushrooms, and some egg slices on top. But what are ...
Can you please ID this dish? It's from Shang Palace in H.K.. I see sesame seeds and carrot slices. But I can't figure out the other ingredients. Thanks.
Can you please ID this dish? It's from Shang Palace, H.K.. I see broccolis as decoration. But what's that gelatin? I think I see some mushrooms inside the gelatin. Thanks.
I mostly use my multipot as a pressure cooker, but today I used its slow-cooker function to make soup. The manual says that when using it as a slow cooker, leave the pressure vent open (not closed...
I have a copy of Elizabeth David's 'Italian food', which contains a number of traditional Italian recipes. One of these recipes is ragù (which we'll use for lasagne) and one of the ingredients in ...
I'll add my own pic the next time I buy clams, but this Youtube shows my problem. I buy clams at Whole Food Market for years. They sell them on ice, not in running water. How To Clean Sand Out...
I don't speak any Asian language. Why shake raw sea cucumbers "in a box for more than an hour to deliver a unique texture"? What's the science behind this? 吃喝玩樂 - Diary of a Growing Boy: A s(chl)o...
I don't speak any Asian language. Why no sushi course in traditional kaiseki? Do kaiseki restaurants not serve sushi? Can I still order sushi separately at kaiseki restaurants? 吃喝玩樂 - Diary of a G...
