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1500 questions
20
votes
10 answers
How can I improve the presentation of the food I serve?
Cooking great tasting food is an art of it's own, but to create a restaurant quality dish requires the food to be professionally presented.
I have no formal training in cooking and really struggle trying to make my dishes look as stunning as you…
Mark McDonald
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votes
5 answers
What varieties of potato would be good for chips / french fries?
What varieties of potato would be good for making chips / french fries that can be cooked in a deep fryer to give a nice golden crunch on the outside, but still be nice and fluffy in the middle?
lomaxx
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20
votes
7 answers
Can meat freeze from the inside out?
We received a turkey recently which was meant to be 'fresh'. When it arrived it was frozen on the inside. We are told that the fridge was probably set a bit low so the turkey froze on the inside.
I'm not rocket surgeon, but I would have thought…
Mr. Flibble
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20
votes
3 answers
How can I tell whether an egg has been hard-boiled, through the shell?
At my workplace, there's a mysterious carton of eggs in the common refrigerator. Nobody I've asked knows whether they're raw or cooked.
Is there a way to tell, without cracking one of the eggs open?
Andres Jaan Tack
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20
votes
4 answers
Can/should I use baking soda when cooking beans?
My recipe for hummus says to cook the garbanzo beans with a little baking soda to soften them. Does this work with other legumes?
I've often seen the advice against salting the cooking water for beans, as it supposedly toughens them. Will a…
Rob Lewis
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20
votes
5 answers
What kind of frosting doesn't need to be refrigerated?
I'm looking for a frosting I can leave on the counter (under a cover of some kind) for a few days.
What kind of frosting (for a cake or cupcakes) would stand up to this?
Ideally, I would like this to be something that I could make from scratch.
KatieK
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20
votes
10 answers
Why did my attempt at pan-searing beef filets fail miserably?
Background: I am very much an amateur cook; I would consider myself a novice at best, so pardon my ignorance!
I decided to try to cook a nice dinner for my family recently. Part of that dinner included some small (~6-7 oz., 1.5-2" thick) beef…
Jason R
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20
votes
9 answers
What's the best way to make Béchamel sauce?
When I make Béchamel sauce I keep getting different results.
Sometimes the sauce becomes too liquidy and never seems to firm up. Other times it might get quite lumpy, despite my use of a recipe that has worked fine in the past.
Are there any general…
Willbill
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20
votes
7 answers
Is there such a thing as "food grade CO2"?
I'm thinking about building a setup to make my own carbonated water. Should I be concerned that I'll be filling up my CO2 tank at Dick's Sporting Goods?
John Berryman
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20
votes
9 answers
Is there any danger to letting food cook in a slow cooker for a very long time?
I've recently started using a slow cooker and I was thinking about recipes that could be cooked for days. My main concern is if there are any side effects for leaving food cooking for days that would make this plan unfeasible (dangerous to try). …
Lawtonfogle
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20
votes
11 answers
What can be used as a substitute for tomato sauce in typical italian dishes?
I have a friend that has developed an allergy or sensitivity of some kind to tomato sauce in foods. She has been craving pizza, pasta, and lasagna for a while now and I've been searching for a way to make those sorts of dishes without using…
Aaron Thomas
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20
votes
6 answers
What is each side of a 4-sided grater for?
We own a standard 4-sided grater, but only ever use the side with large holes.
What do the other sides do, and what kind of recipes are they for?
We have:
Medium holes with a cutting edge on bottom (look like large raindrops)
Small holes with…
Brian Ballsun-Stanton
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20
votes
2 answers
Where can I buy borosilicate (Pyrex) bakeware in the U.S.?
Because of the shattering dangers of the apparently inferior lime glass that Pyrex uses for manufacturing in the U.S. as exposed by Consumer Reports, I'd like to replace my Pyrex with borosilicate bakeware. Apparently Pyrex used to manufacture…
Jeff Axelrod
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20
votes
3 answers
What is the difference between butterscotch, caramel, and toffee?
I've always thought they were the same. Tonight I noticed a slight taste difference as compared to caramel when I had some "butterscotch" for the first time in a while. Now my assumptions have been thrown to the wind. Is butterscotch essentially…
Doug T.
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20
votes
2 answers
Are N2O and CO2 chargers interchangeable for culinary purposes?
Cream whippers seem to use N2O chargers.
Soda siphons seem to use CO2 chargers.
But both chargers appear to be physically identical. The MyPressi espresso device, which uses chargers to force water through a coffee puck at 9 bar like a benchtop…
jontyc
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