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1500 questions
16
votes
5 answers
Do German or Japanese knives hold their edge longer?
I want to buy a chef's knife, but I can't sharpen, and I don't plan to learn it. I will have to send my knives for sharpening, so I obviously prefer this to happen as rarely as possible.
I am leaning towards a Solingen style knife, probably a…
rumtscho
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16
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2 answers
What effect do different slash patterns have on bread oven spring?
Slashes in bread loaves are designed to promote oven spring but there are many different patterns. Some running the length of a loaf, some in a checkered pattern. I've been told this is to promote oven spring in different directions.
What patterns…
rfusca
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16
votes
5 answers
What are the optimal conditions in making wild yeast starter?
I recently learned that I don't need to buy packets of yeast to make bread. I can create a sour dough starter by utilizing the wild yeast floating around in the air. Take a look at this article for more…
Jay
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16
votes
11 answers
Why put a stone in the soup?
I was surprised by the added stone in the soup of this question:
"Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot"
What would be the reason for this? For the minerals in the stone? As far as I know, minerals do not infuse water…
BaffledCook
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16
votes
4 answers
Does oil evaporate?
The oil is said to be evaporate at very high temperatures but while cooking something in pan with oil, is the smoke that goes upwards because of oil evaporation? If not why does the chambers of chimney get greasy after some time?
Cob
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16
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8 answers
Can I continue to age store bought cheese?
I know that many cheeses are considered to be better when aged. After I've purchased a nice block of Parmesan or such, can I continue to age it at home?
Is it practical? Will I get the same result?
rfusca
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16
votes
1 answer
How to make deep fried beer?
I remember reading about the 2010 Texas State Fair "Most Creative" deep-fried food winner, who made fried beer. The news stories I've read were all published around that time (August 2010), where Mark Zable (the fried beer inventor) said he had a…
Laura
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16
votes
13 answers
Reusing coffee grounds
Besides using it as a fertilizer, how else can I reuse my coffee grounds?
zachary
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16
votes
1 answer
What makes a pasta shape pair with a sauce?
Spaghetti goes well with tomato sauce with ground meat. Fettucini goes well with a creamy sauce. Why? What general principles about the characteristics of the pasta and the sauce make them work well together? When is angel hair superior to…
Gregor Thomas
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16
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3 answers
How to treat your saffron right?
Similar to this question, but not the same (by the way, I like Hobodave's answer).
What's the correct way to treat saffron to get most of the flavor?
I've seen the following methods:
Let the stems soak in a cup of lukewarm water.
Warm the stems in…
BaffledCook
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16
votes
21 answers
How to ferment dosa batter?
I have never been successful in fermenting dosa batter properly in the US. I generally soak urad dal, rice and fenugreek seeds for a few hours and grind them together. Even if I leave the batter in 30°C temperature, the batter does not double in…
Avinash Bhat
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16
votes
2 answers
What is freezer burn?
What causes freezer burn?
How can I tell if meat has freezer burn?
George Edison
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16
votes
5 answers
How do you halve a recipe that calls for 1 egg?
How do you halve a recipe that calls for 1 egg?
Clarification: I do not want to have to make the full recipe just to use half and I don't have powdered egg substitute.
Dinah
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16
votes
3 answers
Use Avocado instead of Butter to bake a cake?
This may sound extravagant, but I have tried a very nice chocolate pudding made of avocado, chocolate, and some other ingredients. You could not tell there was avocado in the pudding and the texture was just perfect!
So I was wondering if avocado…
mhttk
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16
votes
7 answers
What to look for in a mandoline?
I've bought two mandolines recently and I've returned the first and will return the second. The first was a stainless steel contraption that:
Broke my food instead of slicing it.
Was ever so hard to clean. At first I thought this was because the…
BaffledCook
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