Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ginger

Substitutes for ginger

srrh — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:11:54 -0800

What can I substitute for ground ginger in a peanut sauce recipe? I plan on making peanut sauce tonight, using a recipe that I've used a thousand times before, but I forgot to pick up ginger. Here is the recipe I usually use:

2/3 cups peanut butter
3/4 cups water
3-4 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp.lemon juice
1 scallion, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. sweetener
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/3 tsp. chili powder

What can I use to substitute for the ginger? I read online that I might be able to use a combination of paprika and nutmeg. Does this seem at all feasible? What ideas do you have?

Bottles for home-made ginger beer

goingonit — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:59:54 -0800

Are there any good alternatives to 2L soda bottles for fermenting and storing home-brewed ginger beer? I've tried making my own ginger beer (with baker's yeast, if it matters) which I bottle-ferment in 2L soda bottles. It works fine---but I never buy any 2L soda bottles, and I worry about them getting flimsier as I reuse them. They also let most of the carbonation out the first time you open them.

Are there any good reusable bottles that I could buy that will handle the pressure of my ginger beer without exploding? Should I be considering glass bottles of any kind, or is it too dangerous to build up pressure in glass?

My ideal would be some kind of siphon bottle, so I wouldn't have to let the CO2 out by opening the bottle. But most of the seltzer bottles I can find online seem to have a CO2 canister in the nozzle, so they don't actually store any carbonated beverages inside. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

If we don't name him soon, he'll be Thumbsy Meowlebottome Junior the Third.

fiercecupcake — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:13:50 -0800

Name my kitten! Relevant info below. My family has always had a Big Fat Orange Cat. Since I moved out, my parents' BFOC has died, and my partner and I (and her Big Fat White Cat) bought a house. So: new kitten! But what to name him?

Previous BFOCs' names: Miro, Shrimpy, and Scooby.

Names of other pets in our household: Bella (cat) and Hazard (dog).

Previous cat names: Sprocket, Worm, Oreo, Foot Foot.

Kitten details: orange; male; blue eyes; he's got two thumbs on each front foot and one thumb on each back foot.

I've nicknamed him Thumbsy but I was thinking of something a little more . . . I don't know. Dignified? I like Salvador (as in Dali) or Dali (as in Dali), but with Dali he'll always be confused for a Dolly, Texas pronunciation considered. My partner's not that thrilled about Salvador, either. And nothing Hemingway related, though he's polydactylic; I'm not a Hemingway fan, to say the least.

Your suggestions are welcomed! I can't keep calling him Kitteh (there's some scale for ya).

Que pasa calabaza?

oflinkey — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:21:49 -0800

I love ginger snaps. I love pumpkin. How can I make pumpkin snaps? Most pumpkin cookies I have had are big and soft. I like thin and crisp cookies. For reference, my favorite cookies are ginger snaps or thinthinthin sugar cookies that are crisp around the edges.

Perhaps a ginger snap is close enough to the pumpkin-pie flavor, but I seem to have a finely-honed snap sensibility-- I want the rounder and more organic flavor of the pumpkin.

Any recipes or ideas?

Help me eat this delicious Chinese crab dish

ghost of a past number — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:40:48 -0800

Help me eat this delicious Chinese crab dish. Feeling adventurous at lunch time today, I ordered some ginger and green onion crab from a delivery place. What I got was one crab, cut in quarters, seasoned with delicious faux-chinese goodness, breaded and deep fried. Shell and assorted inedible parts where still attached, and I couldn't figure out how I'm supposed to eat this, with chopsticks no less.

Should I pick this up with my fingers and just eat the meat parts? Is there some trick to getting the meat out of the shell? Is the shell edible? Or is my local non-Chinese Chinese cook clueless?

Apologies if my display of ignorance is offensive to anyone. Anyway, it was really tasty and the people watching me were amused.

Un-Fizzy Lifting Drink!

Adelwolf — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:17:54 -0800

Just had the most divine chilled drink made with cinnamon and ginger - how do I make it?! My roommate and I just came from an incredible night of sushi binging at the local Korean/Japanese eatery nearby. Miso and Kimchi, Sapporo and Soju, sushi and sashimi. Spent a fortune, but SO worth it!

After I had signed the check, our waitress Yoo brought us a pair of bowls of this chilled drink. It was cinnamon and ginger and I don't know what else - but I'd LOVE to know!

Could anyone point me in the direction for a recipe to this incredible concoction?

Explain the ginger!

Pocahontas — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:28:31 -0800

Etymology of "ginger" to mean redhead? I think it's chiefly a UK kind of slang. I'm American, but I knew what they were talking about as soon as I heard it.

Ginger is from the tropics (and most redheads are Irish), it's not red, am I missing something?

When and who invented Ginger Ale in Ireland in the 1850s

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:47:57 -0800

Ginger Ale ( the soda, not the beer) was supposedly invented in Ireland in the 1850s. However, I can't find anything more specific. Do you know of any history links that have concrete information about the invention of Ginger Ale in Ireland around the 1850s? If it could be pinpointed to a certain person or town or custom, that would be great.

Ginger ale is a scam

Zozo — Mon, 15 May 2006 13:14:07 -0800

Is it possible to take a dangerous dose of ginger? I'm suffering from some kind of nasty and persistent stomach virus and can no longer afford to take any more time off work. I've found Gravol Natural Source Ginger tablets to be effective at combating the nausea/vomiting for about two hours per dose, after which it all returns with a vengeance.

I've been to three doctors who've all told me to wait it out, but I can't wait any longer: deadlines loom. I figure if I pop a couple of these ginger pills every other hour, I'll be able to get through a day of work, then come home and feel like crap until it's time to get up and do it again. It's obviously not an ideal solution, but I'm out of options.

The bottle advises not to take more than 6 tablets per day; at 2 every two hours during a ten-hour day, I'll be nearly doubling that. Am I going to do myself serious harm?

"Sorry honey, I don't feel well right now"

Jonasio — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:50:45 -0800

My girlfriend is often slightly nauseous -- enough that it is affecting her quality of life. She doesn't want to go to the doctor. How can I help? In addition to her constant battles with allergies and rare severe piercing headaches which could be related to this, I think she's also just very sensitive to food and stress. I've been trying to convince her to go see the doctor in case there's a more significant cause for her nausea and headaches, but she avoids it for fear of what she'll learn. We're working on it. So my first question is, how can I help my stong-willed girlfriend decide to see an allergist, and maybe a neurologist?

In the meantime -- and this is the more important question -- I'd like to find ways to help her feel better on a daily basis using less medicinal solutions. For example, when she feels slightly nauseous, she often feels better by chewing gum or eating ginger snaps. So, is there such a thing as ginger gum that I can get for her? Are there foods that I should encourage her to eat or avoid that might help her feel better more consistently? I'm so ignorant about all of this -- I've always been pretty healthy and don't know much about holistic medicine or nutrition. Any advice or anecdotal evidence is much appreciated.

What can I do with lots of ginger?

Etaoin Shrdlu — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:46:42 -0800

What can I do with lots of ginger? I've got pounds of fresh ginger that has to get used pretty quick. What can I make with it? Bonus points if I don't have to peel it.

ooh, (ginger)snap!

Vervain — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:22:06 -0800

Do you have the perfect gingersnap recipe? In my mind, the Platonic-ideal gingersnap is a lot like the Ginger Nuts I lived on while studying in Scotland (more than ten years ago now, ye gods)...very crisp, and so spicy they leave you with a gingery burning aftertaste. Now, I know you can find actual Ginger Nuts stateside at Cost Plus, but they don't have the spiciness I remember. And I'd rather make them myself anyway.

However! My go-to baking book, the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, is utterly failing me on this, and I'm not sure why. Using so-called "full flavor" molasses made cookies so dark and dense they didn't crisp up (or reflect light) properly, while the lighter/"mild" molasses made them crunchy, but incredibly bland. Upping the amount of spices--even adding a pinch of mace!--didn't seem to do much, either. Am I hallucinating this perfect gingersnap? AskMe, you're my only hope!

i am the ginger beard man!

knapah — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 11:13:00 -0800

I have dark brown hair, yet I grow a beard tinged with quite a bit of ginger hair. Why? Neither my parents nor my grandparents have ginger hair... in fact i can't think of any ginger people in my family (and paternity is not in dispute, hehe).

but i've noticed this occurring in quite a lot of people and i was wondering if there was a reason for it to happen.

53g of powdered ginger, what to do?

Rash — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 21:35:01 -0800

Just received a big jar of powdered ginger -- what to make with it? I slice up ginger root preliminary to most wok cooking, but don't know what to do with the powdered stuff. Baking? Cookies? I guess it's an ingredient in ginger snaps, but what's your recommendation?

Good ginger recipes?

the_W — Sun, 03 Apr 2005 20:16:22 -0800

In the spirit of this question on Chipotle peppers, I have one of my own: what are your favorite ginger recipes? I've tried it in stir-frys but I'm looking for more.

Can I susbstitute Gluhwein for ginger wine?

daver — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:49:52 -0800

Can I susbstitute Gluhwein for Ginger wine? [more inside] I'm making pears and ginger gelato for Christmas, and the recipe calls for poaching the pears in "Stones Ginger Wine". Can't find it locally, Gluhwine is the best I can do. Are they similar enough or should I keep looking?