Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ingredients

Fancy ingredients for a home cook

ihavepromisestokeep — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:45:30 -0800

What fancy pants ingredients should I buy for a foodie? This is for a Christmas gift and the recipient (my bro) is getting more and more into food and cooking with every second. He loves experimenting in the kitchen and I want to get him some fancy ingredients he wouldn't necessarily go out and buy himself. My initial thoughts are saffron, vanilla beans and/or truffle oil. Any other ideas?

A few things to note:

* he doesn't have a sweet tooth (so no chocolate, how sad)
* he will be flying back to the west coast after Christmas (we're on the east coast.) I want him to have something to unwrap, I don't want to just have stuff delivered to his house on the left coast.
* I'm open to giving him cool kitchen gadgets as opposed to ingredients.
* Where can I get this stuff? Whole Foods? Sur la Table? Can I order it online?

Chinese food ingredients in DC?

inara — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:13:20 -0800

Does anyone know of anywhere in Bethesda or the DC Metro area in general where one could get Chinese food ingredients? I'm specifically looking for wonton wrappers. Also, preferably someplace Metro accessible. Thanks.

Is there a single govt website to get ingredients used in food products?

raghuram — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:38:03 -0800

Every food item we buy has the ingredients listed in its cover. Is it required by law? If yes, which govt agency checks for the validity of the claims in the ingredients? I am asking this because, recently, two high school kids found that a well known company was lying about the presence of vitamin C in its products. 1. Is it required by law, that every food item sold should list the ingredients used?

2. Who (which govt agency, in US) checks for the validity of the ingredients list, their amount and other claims made by the manufacturers?

3. Is there any govt website (in US) that can give me the ingredients used in any food product?

Delicious date-based falafel seasoning

hattifattener — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:14:47 -0800

Help me find a date! Powdered dates, that is, in Seattle. Some falafel and gyros places season their food with a coarse, reddish powder which I find delicious. I've been told (by one falafel-counter guy) that it's made from toasted, ground dates. I'd like to use it in my own cooking. So my questions are: what names does this stuff go by? And where might I be likely to buy some in or near Seattle?

What to make when supplies are short?

BusyBusyBusy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:48:52 -0800

Are there some tasty dessert recipes I can make that don't require baking or any of the things I have trouble getting in Ghana? I love desserts, and would like to make some for my lovely hosts here in Kumasi. I probably could find some ingredients if I really searched, but I'd prefer to make things using what is readily available. I cannot use an oven or a microwave, but can cook on a stove top.

Things that are available are... oatmeal, sugar, peanut butter, cocoa, margarine, digestive cookies, condensed milk... I also brought with me a few boxes of chocolate instant pudding.

Things that are available, but inconvenient to get are... butter, milk, breakfast cereals (rice krispies, special k), flour (I have about 2 cups).

Things I cannot find are... chocolate chips (though I could get chocolate bars), flavorings like vanilla or almond extract, marshmallows, corn syrup, brown sugar, cream cheese.

I've had some trouble finding recipes on the internet that fit this strange criteria. So far I've made oatmeal no-bake cookies, which I loooove, but I would like to make something different this time. Thank you so much for your ideas and help!

Chili When It's Chilly

netbros — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:19:44 -0800

I'm going to make a pot of chili tomorrow. Besides the usual kidney beans, tomato schtuff, burger and trinity, what do you like to put in yours to liven things up? I'm going to the grocery before I start, so please help me out with some favorite ingredients and recipes. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Must-have ingredients for Asian recipes?

specialagentwebb — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:28:42 -0800

What are some useful, delicious, and hard-to-find ingredients for Asian cooking? My brother enjoys cooking, and also likes Asian Food. I live next to an Asian grocery mart, so for Christmas I figured I'd fill a basket with all kinds of hard-to-find ingredients that he can use for his cooking. Unfortunately, I don't know all that much about Asian cooking, so I figured I'd turn to you guys for help. Here are my criteria:

1. Useful in several recipes.
2. Relatively non-perishable. I can do produce, but only if it will last for a few days un-refrigerated.
3. Not readily available (like sesame seeds, soy sauce, etc).

Examples I've come up with: Pepper paste, dashi, packs of nori, tonkatsu sauce, good sake.
Examples of things that won't work, for various reasons: Whole durian, whole freeze-dried squid.

So what are your "must-haves" for Asian cooking?

Yes, I cook for my dog. How can I do it better?

taz — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:39:17 -0800

I'd like nutritional advice for homemade dog food and maybe treats, using easy-to-find ingredients. I haven't been able to find high quality commercial dog food where I live, so I make most of her food myself, but I would like to make her homemade food as healthy as I possibly can with the resources I have, which are somewhat limited. Current routine, and many(!) more details inside. Our dog is a rescue that we've had for five months, and she's a completely different animal than we got - in the best way, so I know we are doing pretty good now, but I'd like to know more and do better.

We don't have access to most fancy health food ingredients, so I want to use ordinary ingredients as much as possible.

I currently feed her one of: turkey, chicken, fish, or liver, + brown rice or crumbled whole wheat bread, + vegetables (shredded carrot and zucchini with a bit of cooked spinach, or cooked and lightly mashed frozen veggie combo - peas, green beans, carrots, potato, lima beans). I portion these (protein, carb, veg) as roughly 1/3 each. At one point I upped the protein, but she began straining to poo and her poop was very hard. Normally her poop is very good/solid - never soft or runny, but not too hard, either. That may have just been an adjustment thing, so I'm not averse to increasing the meat to veggie/carb ratio if it's a better diet. I once tried cooked oatmeal instead of rice, and she seemed to really dislike it, but it was probably just because it wasn't what she expected, and we can give that another shot - if it's better for her. (She's really not picky or spoiled - she'll eat what we give her to eat, though I might have to feed her from my hand a bit at first to get her going...)

To this I add a spoonful of nutritional yeast, a small bit of chopped or dried garlic, a half a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, a small splash of olive oil. About once a week I give her a scrambled egg or two instead of meat/fish, and a couple of times a week I give her a few spoonfuls of low(er)-fat yogurt as a treat.

Her regular treats are slices of banana, frozen peas (which she is inexplicably crazy for), or a small bit of feta cheese. She'll eat a couple of bites of pear and apple as well, though not her favorite stuff. She's not crazy about fruit, generally. We don't feed her our leftovers (we eat 'em ourselves!)

I worry, expecially, that she's not getting enough calcium. I don't really find the proper sorts of raw bones for her here (we once asked our butcher for a dog bone, and he gave us something that looked like it came from a dinosaur... really, there was no way that was happening). And she could probably benefit from other additives, but I can't find a lot of health food ingredients here. The nutritional yeast, which should be available as a powder, I have to buy from the one place I can find it in pill form (and expensive), which I then grind up. There just isn't a lot of health food stuff available here yet.

I got the very nice book Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, but I can't find most of the holistic ingredients in the diet section. I ordered a book of dog food recipes that are supposed to be "Veterinarian approved" and the recipes were totally silly, plus even from my little knowledge, not really that healthy. So I'm up for a good book on this, but it has to be something that relies on regular ordinary ingredients that you could find anywhere, and of course it should actually have some canine nutrition science or background. I'm really, really not looking for something like "Bow-wow Brownies" with "Bow-wow Brownie Frosting" (actual, real recipes from the second stupid book I got).

Where to buy thai ingredients in Schaumburg IL

ets960 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:14:05 -0800

Where do I buy Thai food ingredients in Schaumburg, IL? Specifically: Kaffir Leaves, Lemongrass, Galangal, Thai Tea. I checked Mitsuwa, but they don't seem to sell Thai ingredients? Where do the restaurants get these things?

Ingredients and nutrition facts

Mr_Zero — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:54:46 -0800

I am working on a label for a steak seasoning container. I have an ingredients list but need to have a qualified entity analyze and finalize it. Where can I find a service that can do that and give me other stats like calories, sodium content, total fat, etc.

What am I eating?

Challahtronix — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:41:17 -0800

What's in my food? can I trust labels? With the stories and paranoia over tainted food, and specifically Chinese imported additives of questionable origin (like the "wheat gluten"/melamine in pet food), how do I find out what's in my food or if the information on the label is correct short of using a bomb calorimeter and gas chromatograph? Is there a lab I can send stuff to and get an analysis for a reasonable fee? And how detailed or reliable is it? Google has led to places like Bodycotetesting.com and Microbac.com, but I have no idea how reliable, affordable, or accessible to non-commercial types they are.

Good recipes with fewest possible ingredients.

flibbertigibbet — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:56:48 -0800

What are the best minimal (2-6) ingredient recipes you have? Yes, I've searched the archives. But although they are great questions (especially this one, which is similar to my question, but with a very different focus) they're not quite what I want. I've also seen the NYT's 101 Summer Recipes. I could google recipes, but I trust the recommendations of MeFites (who seem to be predominantly foodies) more than I trust PageRank.

Bonus points if they travel well, and don't contain some of the foods that immediately get stuck in globs in braces (like just about every bread known to man) when you take a bite. Yes, I can cut, but knives aren't always available when I'm out and about, and it gets... impractical (read: messy) to cut large sandwiches up.

What is UP with this Shisha?

235w103 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:43:43 -0800

No tobacco? Ingredients in Pig Latin? Sugar cane bagasse? What is in this sketchy, sketchy shisha, and should I smoke it? I just bought a new hookah, and the kindly old lady at the tobaccionists hooked me up with some complementary shisha. However, upon leaving the store, I looked at the box. It said it was "Herbal Hukka" and promised no tobacco, nicotine or tar. Oh well, I can just get real, nicoteeny goodness elsewhere. Then I looked at the ingredients, which read:
Ugarsay anecay agassebay+Molasses+Flavour.
Reading it, I was like, huh.....Ugarsay? That doesn't sound like Urdu or Hindi or....it sounds like pig latin!
And it was! "Sugar cane bagasse" is what's left over after you get all the sugar out of sugar cane. Does anyone know if this is a thing you CAN use as a base for shisha? Why would they put the ingredients in pig latin, for god's sake? What's going on here?

what to replace onions with?

mirileh — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:10:34 -0800

Onions give me stomach aches. So many recipes start out with fried onions (meats, sauces, soups, stews), and I have a craving for spaghetti tomato sauce. What can I use instead of the onions?

Trying to find chocolate chips and flour tortillas in London

potsmokinghippieoverlord — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:28:15 -0800

Where can I purchase chocolate chips and flour tortillas in London? No -- I'm not making some candy burritos. But I find myself in London, forgot to pack my bag o' chocolate chips (the future father-in-law lurves my freshly-baked cookies), and I'd also like to make fajitas, but I couldn't find flour tortillas at the big Sainsbury's in Islington.

I've seen smaller bags of milk chocolate chips for sale, but I'd prefer to get the bigger semi-sweet bags -- either Nestle, Guittard, Hershey or Ghiradelli (a long shot, but hey).

Am I SOL? Thanks for any help (or reccos of Mexican restaurants in London, if I can't scare up some tortillas)!

Is it me or the Twinkie?

esereth — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:34:01 -0800

Twinkies, have the ingredients changed? They don't taste quite like they did. Twinkies and Ding Dongs and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Coke. The aroma, the fantastic first bite. I figured it was cuz I was a grown up. The sweet flavors seem flatter and less textured now.

But I'm wondering. Maybe they really ARE different.

I don't suppose anyone has a ingredients list for a Twinkie in 1985 to compare with today, but is there anyway to find out if the ingredients have changed?

What can I make?

6am — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:24:53 -0800

Is there a website that lets you input the contents of your cupboard and fridge, then shows you recipies you can make with what you have? Because if there isn't, someone feel free to make it for me.

Adding dry ingredients.

Framer — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 04:11:46 -0800

Why do recipes that call for certain items in small quantities -- salt, baking powder, etc. -- instruct you to mix the item in with the other dry ingredients first, rather than to add them right to the wet? It would seem that adding 1 tsp. of salt to the eggs/milk would mean that it would disperse and disolve better than if you added it to the flour/sugar and then added that whole mix to the wet.

Good, basic cooking ingredients, please!

elquien — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:55:57 -0800

AlwaysPreparedFilter: What are ten (give or take a few) ingredients that are handy to always have on hand to cook a good meal? I love to cook, but I just don't have the time to sit down every week to plan meals in advance. I try to make a big grocery shopping trip every couple of weeks or so. What are some ingredients (both perishable and non-perishable) that tend to show up in a lot of recipes or can be adapted to make simple meals?

Some more information: I eat meat, but don't require it in every meal. I love all different types of foods, and suggestions specific to certain types of cooking would be appreciated.

What the heck are "artificial flavors?"

lucidreamstate — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:03:49 -0800

What the heck are "artificial flavors"? I've always thought it was strange that food companies were allowed to include "artificial flavors" as an ingredient on their packages. It seems like this catch all phrase for "and other non-specific ingredients."

What the heck are in these "artificial flavors" and is there anything that I should be worried about consuming?

What else should I put on my salad?

Aghast. — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 18:12:57 -0800

What else should I put on my salad? These days, I've often been making a salad that consists of mesclun greens, ripped up red plums, and chunks of fresh mozzarella. It's very delicious but I'd like to add some ingredients. What would go good on top of this/amongst this? My imagination is failing me.

Using off the shelf ingredients for my food product

jikel_morten — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 07:57:37 -0800

If I had a tasty recipe for a snack of some kind and wanted to bring it to market, would it be legal to use an already existing product as an ingredient - Rice Krispies or Planters Peanuts for example? The ingredient names would be something like 'puffed rice' and 'peanuts' respectively, and not the actual product name. I guess the real question applies to using any product on the market; no-name products as well as the brand names mentioned above. Obviously if my product were to sell boatloads, the Rice Krispies folks would be making more money as I'd be using their product like mad. Would this require the company's permission?

how are dark and light soy sauce different

jdroth — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:08:08 -0800

What's the real difference between dark soy sauce and light soy sauce? Fish sauce? If a recipe calls for light (or dark) soy sauce, can one substitute fish sauce? Does fish sauce go bad? Should it be refrigerated, or is it okay to leave it on the shelf for years (which is how long it takes me to use a full bottle)? Also, if it's not okay to substitute one sauce for another, is there a way to approximate one? For example, our supermarket (in a small town) has an ample supply of food ol' Kikkoman soy sauce, which I assume is dark soy sauce. Is there a way to make it approximate light soy sauce?

I love Asian cooking, but sometimes I'm lost about what I can substitute, and my cookbooks just aren't any help.