Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cooking and resolved

Duct tape and chickenwire and sh**

toodleydoodley — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:07:38 -0800

Can I use automotive-type silicone sealant to coat the metal handle of a kitchen utensil? I'm looking for some help in an inelegant solution to an intractable problem in the kitchen. Because our household heritage might best be described as Rednec-Tino (or Lat-Nec), a lot of messy, spattery frying and sauteeing goes on around here.

I finally found a 13-inch spatter screen that covers all but my largest (14-inch) pan, but it doesn't cover that one unless I rest part of the handle on the lip of the pan, which would make the stay-cool plastic center melt and leak out of the wire-loop handle of the splatter screen.

Here's what I want to do: I want to punch the plastic center out of the wire loop and replace it by coating the wire loop with silicone sealant, like Form-A-Gasket.

Will this poison me and everyone I cook for? How long should I let it cure?

caveat: I live in BFE, so bonus points for cheaper brands of silicone sealant that I can buy at ACE hardware.

Chatta-Nougat Chew Chew

smoke — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:40:06 -0800

A big block of nougat, and no rice paper - what do I wrap it in? So I made some delicious (looking) nougat tonight as part of my xmas cooking, but I've not been able to find any rice paper for love or money. Getting it out of its container won't be a problem, but dear mefites what can wrap it in that won't stick too much, but still protect the nougat from itself and the world at large??

New ideas for a little bite?

Mutant — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:18:50 -0800

Hors d'oeuvre! I've got a few tried and true recipes but for the upcoming holidays need more. Can you help? We'll be hosting our inlaws from Nederlands for Christmas. I do all the cooking and as this is the third year I'd like to surprise everyone with new hors d'oeuvre.

I like total prep time per recipe to be under thirty minutes, and preferably nothing that requires lengthy or overnight storage / rising / soaking / etc. I don't own specialised cookery, so even though things like blinis are trivial to make I'd rather purchase if they are called for.

Fast single task dishes are preferred as everything can made in the AM before the main cooking task of the day is undertaken. Examples of things they like that I already make include Spinach Dip (15 min prep), Beet infused deviled eggs (30 min prep), Vodka spiked cherry tomatoes (15 min prep), Bacon wrapped prawns (30 min prep) and Hummus (10 min prep).

And wide ranging in terms of taste please - I love an excuse to purchase new and different spices.

The most insane Turkey recipe ever.

melorama — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:36:42 -0800

I'm searching for an completely insane recipe for a "blackened" roasted turkey that David Rosengarten prepared on his old Food Network show, "Taste". Back in the early to mid 90s (when the Food Network had programs that were actually worth watching), the loveably snooty David Rosengarten had an awesome show called "Taste", where he would discuss one selected food item in excruciating and fascinating detail every week.

One one show, he demonstrated how to make a crazy Roasted Turkey recipe which required 30 or 40 steps to prepare. The culmination of the recipe, as I recall, was covering the whole bird with some sort of substance that caused the outer crust of the turkey to turn completely black.

The only other detail I remember is that the premise of the show was that the recipe was published by a newspaper or magazine writer many, many years ago, and that the pure insanity of the recipe had become an near urban legend that David Rosengarten sought to actually try out for himself to see if it was for real.

What's the name of this Turkey dish? (and an extra gold star if you can tell me where I can watch old episodes of "Taste" online)

Help me perform an expatriat culinary miracle.

bookish — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:07:18 -0800

How can I best approximate a real Thanksgiving turkey— with chicken, a gas burner, and toaster oven? What other kinds of traditional fare can I make, given the limited ingredients available where I live? Help me have a real Thanksgiving far from home! I'm studying in India for the year, and my fellow American students and I want to put on a Thanksgiving dinner. One girl is making cornbread, using corn meal she brought with her from home. There will be mashed potatoes. There will be mulled wine. But what else, and how?

I really would like something turkey-like, but there is no way I can find turkey meat. Chicken is my best bet. This is a pretty vegetarian city, but there are some butchers, and I could probably find basically any part of the bird I need (or the whole bird, but I don't think that will fit in the toaster oven). I'm not really sure how to go about cooking it though— I've never cooked a turkey and, having been a vegetarian for much of my life, I don't really have experience cooking meat in general. I need major help.

I would also like to fill out the selection of side dishes. Again, there are ingredient constraints. I can get fresh carrots, peas, potatoes, beets, white radishes, cauliflower, okra, green beas, cabbage, tomatoes, onions and garlic. I can get green bell peppers, but not red or yellow. I can get a variety of squashes, but they're all a little different than the varieties I'm used to. There are also yam-like things, but they're not the sweet potatoes of home. I can get corn, but only frozen. No broccoli, mushrooms, cranberries, celery.

No prepared convenience ingredients like chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup, pie crust. Cheese is possible but difficult, expensive, and comes in a very limited range. Flour, butter, eggs are go. Cooking oil, but not olive oil or anything fancy like that. European spices are of very limited availability, with the exception of those used in Indian food (coriander, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon). I have some dried basil and oregano, and may be able to find rosemary and thyme if I'm lucky.

I don't have any fancy kitchen equipment either— a few assorted pots and pans, a few knives, spatulas, spoons. I have a countertop gas range with two burners and a toaster oven to bake (smallish) things in.

If you have any ideas for Thanksgiving food that I could pull off using what I've got, please tell me. We're all homesick and really looking forward to putting on a delicious, heartwarming feast.

Can I order prepared black recado online?

anazgnos — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:55 -0800

Is there someplace I can order prepared black recado (aka recado negro aka chilmole) online? Asking for my wife. I don't actually know anything about the spice blend in question.

Favorite recipes website?

Neekee — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:19:08 -0800

What is your favorite online source for recipes? I'm looking for reliable recipes. Bonus points for the ones with recipe ratings. I'm busy, broke, and love to cook. I'm looking for fun new online recipe sources. I've gone to the basic websites, like Food Network and Better Homes & Gardens, which are very reliable, but I want to try something different. Many websites feature user-submitted recipes and sometimes those are missing ingredients or necessary steps or just plain taste terrible - so ratings help me to sift through those recipes.
I've very busy and on a tight budget. If I'm going to spend my time and money cooking or baking, it's got to be on a good recipe.
Thanks!

Do I need to use a heat diffuser with my soapstone pot?

HuronBob — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:41:00 -0800

Do I need a heat diffuser on my glass top stove when using a two quart soapstone pot? And, if so, what type is recommended and where can I purchase one online... I am moving towards cooking primarily with cast iron (instead of coated pans/pots). As I was searching for pots and skillets my wife brought out a beautiful 2 quart soapstone pot that we purchased a few years ago, but has only been used as a decorative piece, so I'm going to give this a try as well.

I'm in the middle of seasoning it, and found advice on some online sites (but not all) to always use a heat diffuser on my glass top stove when using soapstone.

Is this necessary? Are there alternatives to a purchased heat diffuser? Seems like McGiver could come up with something from around the house to solve this problem.

How to store homemade chocolates

MeghanC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:36:35 -0800

How can I tell what sort of homemade chocolates are safe to store at room temperature? Every year at the holidays, I make a bunch of assorted chocolates to give away as gifts. Previously this has been mostly limited to chocolate bars, chocolate-covered things, and things like coconut haystacks--things where all of the ingredients are safe to store at room temperature.

This year I'm looking to expand, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to safely store things.

I'm hoping to make an assortment of truffles--the sort where you mix cream and chocolate, and then dip the ganache center into chocolate to coat it. Looking at recipes, I've seen everything from "store in the refrigerator" to "store at a cool room temperature". My house is kept at about 55--is that sufficiently cool? Does it change things that most of the recipes I've found are for uncoated truffles?

I'd also love to venture into things like bacon chocolate--would this need to be stored in the fridge? Cold storage isn't really great for chocolates (I'd rather they not bloom) and this would make them difficult to ship. Bacon chocolate bars aren't unheard of and are sold in supermarkets, so clearly there's a way to make them that leaves the chocolate shelf-stable, but is it something that can be accomplished at home, or does it only happen through the magic of factories and industrial equipment?

Obviously things like caramels (made with cream) can be kept out, but what about things like buttercreams?

Googling is getting me a lot of recipes and information from various chocolatiers about how to store their chocolates, but not a lot about storage of home production. Any tips, links, or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Wanted: Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible

lioness — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:11:31 -0800

Do you have Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible on your bookshelf? Could you flip through in search of a pork recipe with mustard seeds? I'm hosting a small informal dinner tonight and was planning on making one of my favourite recipes from Madhur Jaffrey's Curry bible. Alas, I can't find my book and I need to start prepping!

The recipe was on the top of a left page and the title was in the vein of 'pork with mustard spices'. It entailed making your own spice mix with the usual suspects. Frying mustard seeds, adding pork strips, the spices, curry leaves and bean sprouts. Maybe some diced tomatoes were added, I'm not sure.

Could you find it for me?

As a last resort I will head to my library, but I'm hoping on a faster response here.

recipes for a non-vegetable/fruit eater

Busy Old Fool — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:30:20 -0800

Friends are coming to dinner and I'm relishing the challenge of finding a recipe that will satisfy the picky eater who doesn't like any vegetables. Can you help? I'm not vegetarian, but I love vegetables and, when cooking for myself, frequently go weeks without meat.

However, among the friends who will be coming to dinner soon is one who detests vegetables and legumes of any sort. If they're minced up and unrecognizable (like onions in a sauce), it's OK. He likes meat, cheese, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta.

I have a mental block, because almost everything I can think of has some sort of vegetable component. Bobotie, curry, Thai dishes, moussaka... I'm sure there are loads of things that will suit him without just defaulting to meat with veg on the side which he can't have. (That's what has been served at other dinners he's attended and I'd like to do something a bit different.)

Any ideas?

How do I remove the fat from chicken broth?

esprit de l'escalier — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:19:08 -0800

How do I remove the fat from chicken broth? I boiled 5 pounds of chicken backs and necks for 3 hours. The last couple times I did this, I put the broth in the fridge, and was able to remove a thick layer of fat. This time I made a lot more broth than usual, so maybe it cooled more slowly in the fridge? The result is that the broth is very fatty, but so homogenized that I can't skim any fat off of it.

I tried reheating some of the broth and putting it in the freezer, but I couldn't figure out if I was skimming fat or gelatin.

Snickerdoodle Emergency!

padraigin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:29:06 -0800

Quick! Help me continue my snickerdoodle baking extravaganza now that I'm out of cream of tartar! I am making about a million cookies for Halloween festivities at my kids' school tomorrow.

I ran out of cream of tartar and need to make one more batch of dough.

My snickerdoodle recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.

I have baking powder. My cookbook (America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, where the snickerdoodle recipe I'm using is found) indicates that one teaspoon of baking powder can be replaced with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.

I don't get how 1/4 teaspoon of anything plus 1/2 teaspoon of anything equals a teaspoon of something else, but I need to know if I can substitute baking powder for the baking soda/cream of tartar combo in this recipe without totally jacking it up, and if so, in what proportion?

I've been grating a le~mon~, all the live long day~

wiretap — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:48:05 -0800

Fresh Lemon Zest - so yummy yet so annoying to grate. There must be an easier solution! My first experience with using fresh lemon zest is in a lemon sugar cookie recipe which asks for 2T of it, in a doubled recipe (4T total. egads). After carefully grating away the skin of a couple lemons and having my hands become tender and sore from the lemon oils and still not having enough lemon zest, I'm starting to feel like avoiding dessert recipes that include lemon zest at all.

Googling "lemon zest substitute" suggests a spice aisle product known as "dried lemon peel" which is similar but apparently is not as good as fresh lemon zest (I'm guessing it is less flavorful?).

My questions:

1. Is there a *better* lemon zest substitute that I can easily purchase at a grocery store?

2. If not, and dried lemon peel is the only close choice, should I add a little lemon flavoring to the reconstituted peel? And how much flavoring per t/T of peel should I include?

3. Could I just use lemon flavoring and fake the color in the recipe with yellow food dye? And again, how much flavoring would equal 1t or 1T of fresh lemon zest?

Spontaneous ravioli help

kaseijin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:14:39 -0800

Ravioli help! I need a creative, fast, tasty sauce idea... I was left with extra pasta sheets after running out of filling while making ravioli. Not wanting to waste my, I made a few extras with scrounged ingredients. The result: Brie and asiago ravioli with dried cherries. They're great. The problem is what to sauce them with. I only have enough for one serving, so it's gonna be my quick dinner tonight.

Help me, o cooks of MeFi, I beseech thee!

I like sugar and spice, but which ones are nice?

filthy light thief — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:10:31 -0800

I like cooking, and I have a variety of spices, but I have never learned how to really use them. How should I learn to use them? What are some tips for trying things out? Do you have any any good recipes that highlight particular spice blends in traditional or unusual ways? There are some good dish-specific spice posts from the past, but it seems most folks have some understanding of what the spices will do to the dish. I am mostly clueless, relying on recipes without understanding what each ingredient adds to the end product, and as such, I am hesitant to toss in a pinch of this and that and see what happens. To date, I usually use salt, pepper, plus onion and garlic powder. I'd love to make my own spice blends instead of relying on store-bought mixes. Thanks!

Piece of Cake

misha — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:38:42 -0800

My lovely castle cake pan is sadly suffering from disuse. Help me out with your favorite bundt cake recipes and glazes. I'm especially looking for recipes that go well with seasons or themes (for example, for Fall/Halloween, maybe a pumpkin or haunted house chocolate bundt cake), but I'd enjoy anything from your favorite, easy-to-make staples to the most exotic variety. Again, don't forget to include special glazes (and yes, I have seen the top 20 on allrecipes.com).

A Different "Can I Eat This" question

EmpressCallipygos — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:40:29 -0800

I'm allergic to brocolli and other cruciferous vegetables. My CSA just gave me some brocolli rapini. Can I eat it? Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage give me really bad indigestion. And I'm particularly sensitive -- eating anything which had broccoli cooked with it also affects me. I even once ruined a whole pot of mushroom soup I made because I'd used a chopping board my roommate had chopped broccoli on, and I didn't wash the chopping board first.

I've heard conflicting information about broccoli rapini/broccoli rabe, though -- according to that Wikipedia article, it's part of the same botanical family as broccoli. However -- I've had no problem eating other vegetables from the same family.

Has anyone out there had similar problems with broccoli, and have you done okay with broccoli rapini?

What to do with a pepper surplus

borkencode — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:41:15 -0800

I've been given a bounty of peppers. Jalapenos, banana peppers, some other peppers I'm not sure of (I think they're poblanos). What should I do with this pile of spicy? My initial thought is to make a batch of my chili spiking sauce, which I use to make my chili deliciously spicy while the wife can have the standard fare. I'm not sure how best to preserve a large batch of it though, input regarding that would be appreciated as well.

What's skim milk good for?

EatTheWeak — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:42:43 -0800

Skim Milk: Useless or mostly useless? During a round of somewhat distracted shopping, I accidentally came home with a half-gallon of skim milk rather than the regular kind! Drat! I purchased the milk to use as an ingredient, primarily in waffles. However, the batch of waffles I made with the skim was pitiful - no fluff or firmness to them at all.

I tried dipping some cookies in a little bit of it and also tried it with a bit of granola - in these cases, the skim milk was somewhat functional, but the whole enterprise was hobbled by the fact I just plain don't like the taste of the stuff.

So, I've got most of a half gallon left to use, and I'm wondering what to do with it, as using it as a waffle ingredient, as originally planned, didn't work and drinking it straight is no good. Are there any recipes that call for skim milk specifically? What might I do with this stuff that plays to skim milk's strengths? Does skim milk have any strengths?

The Swedish chef strikes again...

WidgetAlley — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:58:55 -0800

What can I cook with delicious Swedish glögg? I am looking for something that is really going to bring out and enhance the awesome flavor. For those of you who might not be fortunate enough to have this lovely treat available, glögg is a mixture of red wine and brandy or vodka (and sometimes fruit juice), boiled up with raisins and almonds and cloves and cardamom and sugar. Think a mildly sweet but also just slightly dry, heavily spiced, fruity red wine with that extra dark kick from the liquor.

I have a bottle of lättglögg (non-alcoholic glögg) that I have greatly been enjoying, but I can't stop thinking about how wonderful it would be to cook something with it! What can I make, either savory or sweet, that would be just dynamite with the addition of glögg?

There are a few restrictions:
- It needs to be fairly simple, as I am a student and my kitchen is not terribly well equipped.
- Please, no super-exotic or expensive ingredients.
- The ingredients need to be available in Sweden (don't worry too much, I can get almost everything here, but no salsa, peanut butter, marshmallows or other really American-y foods.)

My tastebuds thank you!

Old Father Hubbard.

The Whelk — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:49:40 -0800

Lazy Last Minute Dinner Help: So I forgot it was my turn to cook dinner and all I have in the house are some scraps of cooked meat (chicken, lamb) and a bottle of Loyd Grossman's pre-made Korma sauce. How can I jazz this up while using up the scraps in my cupboard? Preferably stuff I can add while it simmers? I was planning on making coconut rice to go with it, but I was wondering what else I could do to make it *pop* a little better than out-of-the bottle sauce? I've got scraps of onion, cucumber, some dried mushrooms, and random spices and sauces. I do have some slivered almonds, but no jalapeno.

Cooking Novice Attemps Salmon Dish in Quest for Love!

lemonfridge — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:00:32 -0800

I'm a complete novice cook, but I'm cooking salmon tagliatelle for my girlfriend on her birthday. I've made it twice for myself but I think it could be better... Ok, so far I'm frying the salmon fillets with a drop of oil till they are almost done, then adding some chopped spring onions to the pan during the final few min.

Then I'm adding cream and chives to the pan and mixing it all together, breaking up the salmon.

Add the salmon to the cooked tagliatelle, mix mix mix, serve. Serving with some nice bread and some wine.

It tastes fine, and my sister and dad have both enjoyed it. I just want to make it tastes a little bit more special. Any suggestions?

please note: I have never ever ever cooked anything before in my life. I don't enjoy it at all and I get extremely stressed during. Please keep it simple! :)

I need a serious, simple, general-purpose cookbook.

BostonTerrier — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:55:40 -0800

What is an example of a cookbook wherein the recipes have had the hell tested out of them? After seeing "Julie & Julia" I have a hankering to get back into the workshop and start cooking again. But I've been burned (ha) many times in the past by recipes that don't seem to have been tested on a five year-old, let alone a gourmand. Some cookbooks suffer from poor or nonexistent editing, and I hate the whimsical drifty line drawings which illustrate some of lamest of them.
My current stand-by is a 1980 edition of Fannie Farmer; a serious, tried-and-true gem. But I want something in addition, and nothing too terribly difficult.
I'm looking for a general cookbook; not a particular cuisine. And actual photos of the process, in addition to the end result, is a plus.
In short: if a cookbook were a personality, I'm looking for a Type A.

that would be known as clarified butter after the ayurvedic tradition

Mutant — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:23:49 -0800

So I made ghee and bombed. I made ghee but things didn't turn out as planned. I'm left with a brownish mixture that won't set at room temperature, a concoction with a strange, granular texture and rather off putting taste. Not ghee like at all.

I suspect two points of failure: first, my filter didn't properly separate out milk proteins as needed. But that is easily fixable next time around.

But secondly while boiling the butter I perhaps allowed the milk proteins to carmelise a little bit too much, as manifested by black, not brown dairy residue, both left in the pan as well as mixing in with my faux ghee, destroying it's taste as well as colour.

Any tips or pointers newbie ghee cooker? I've seen enough recipes to think I'm executing the process correctly, but I blew it when I should have stopped boiling.

Other ghee makers - how many times did you have to try before you were producing a standard product? Anything else I cook (muffins, puddings, bagels, cakes, casseroles, etc) I can crank out time and time again. But ghee seems very process & temperature sensitive, at least much more so than anything I've cooked in the past.

I realise that making ghee is an exercise in both paying attention and being patient. I think I just let the ghee heat for a little bit too long, but I'm not totally sure.

I spent a month in India in 2005 and want Mrs Mutant to acquire a taste for ghee like I did while there, but as its a little pricey at stores here in The East End I'd like to make it myself.

Ghee goes well with pretty much everything, and now that I've got a little time freed up, making ghee is top of my to-be-acquired-skills list.

Any tips from consummate and polished ghee makers would be appreciated.