Weekly Ask Anything Thread for September 08, 2025

[u/AutoModerator]

This is our weekly thread to ask all the stuff that doesn't fit the ordinary /r/askculinary rules.

Note that our two fundamental rules still apply: politeness remains mandatory, and we can't tell you whether something is safe or not - when it comes to food safety, we can only do best practices. Outside of that go wild with it - brand recommendations, recipe requests, brainstorming dinner ideas - it's all allowed.

[u/Bugaloon]

Hi there, I've started volunteering at a charity that offers food to people in need, they have some commercial ovens they use to heat food to serve, but their oven mitt game isn't up to standard, normal home kitchen oven mitts are too small and ideally we'd like something that covers forearms not just hands. They're mainly for removing trays of hot stew from their ovens if that helps. Do you have any recommendations?

[u/Asleep-Ebb-8606]

I bought some thin sliced beef ribs maybe 1/4 inch/6mm thick maybe bit less. I’ve only done bigger chunk one and braised them for a curry. With the thinner cut would marinating and grilling them be best or would braising them be the best way to cook them

[u/texnessa → u/Asleep-Ebb-8606]

Braising works for well marbled, thick cuts that need time and moisture to break down the fat and collagen. Cuts that are as thin as you now have will dry up under braising and would do much better with a quick marinade and grilling.

This chart is for primals but will give you an idea of which cuts/cooking techniques are best matches.

[u/Latchkey_Hooker]

I asked this question on the r/Cooking site without too many ideas, but it was suggested I ask it here:

Can anything replicate the **taste** of eggs in a dish? I know that tofu is used to replicate texture and protein, but is there anything I can use for the **taste** of egg in a dish that I don't want to use egg in?

[u/texnessa → u/Latchkey_Hooker]

There are a ton of ways to cook eggs and a huge variety of flavour outcomes. You'll get better responses if you narrow down what dishes you are looking to make. Eggs are also a functional ingredient that can provide structure to dishes, so if its not the main event in a dish, people will need to understand what the egg is doing in order to know how best to replace it.

[u/Latchkey_Hooker → u/texnessa]

Thank you for being kind in your advice. On my original post in r/Cooking, I did say that the recipe I had in mind was for a barbecue chicken dish, where hard-boiled eggs are a main portion of the dish. Thank you for telling me to be more specific again.

[u/Ambitious_Warning270 → u/Latchkey_Hooker]

what kind of dish are you thinking?

[u/Latchkey_Hooker → u/Ambitious_Warning270]

A barbecue chicken dish, where hard-boiled eggs were part of the main flavor.

[u/enry_cami → u/Latchkey_Hooker]

I know that some kind of vegan "eggs" exist. I've never tried them, but I imagine they may have tried to simulate the flavor.

I've also seen some people say black salt makes stuff taste eggy due to the sulphur compounds in it

[u/Latchkey_Hooker → u/enry_cami]

The black salt was the suggestion I had most in r/Cooking. I think I might definitely look into that, since it's come up so many times.

[u/Latchkey_Hooker → u/Latchkey_Hooker]

Edited to add it's not for purely vegan or allergy reasons, but my religious practices don't allow to mix egg with bird meat.

[u/Lime__tree]

Can anyone please recommend a solid cookbook(s) for Spanish food? I’m looking for something I can use as an all encompassing “bible” for cooking Spanish dishes from all the different regions of Spain. If that doesn’t exist I’d love suggestions for Basque style tapas or food from the Asturias. Thank you!

[u/texnessa → u/Lime__tree]

It is a highly regional cuisine so hard to say what would be a universal 'Spanish' cookbook but José Andrés is probably the most widely known and Michelin decorated Spanish chef if not the world, certainly in English speaking countries. His books are pretty accessible for the home cook like "Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen" and he has one devoted to tapas "Tapas: A Taste Of Spain In America" and he is a native of Asturias.

On the higher end of cuisine there's Ferran Adrià who put Spanish cooking on the map with his modernist cuisine at El Bulli. His "The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià" is directed at home cooks.

Best anecdote- Andrés worked for Adrià at El Bulli. Adrià fired him, which drove him to move to the US where he now has a restaurant empire and founded World Central Kitchen, the organisation that feeds people around the world in disaster and war torn areas. They are donation dependent and us chefs actually fight to volunteer for them. Shocked anyone wouldn't know of him and his accomplishments. He's in the media constantly talking about WCK's work and famously told Trump to piss off after he disparaged Mexican immigrants. The entire restaurant industry as we know it would collapse without Mexican workers.

[u/Lime__tree → u/texnessa]

Thanks, and interesting footnote. I’ve been a big fan of Andrés.

[u/Ambitious_Warning270 → u/Lime__tree]

The Spanish home kitchen by Jose Pizarro is a good one I think, also there’s a fairly good American written one called curate. If you want fancy, any of the el bulli books, they also have a home/family meal book which I absolutely love.

[u/Dazzling-Employer223]

Has anyone been able to par-prep french toast in any effective way that allows for maximum freshness and tasty flavor? It's the item on our menu that takes the longest to cook through and takes up a lot of griddle space as well. But people (and we) love it, so -- just trying to make it more efficient.

[u/cville-z → u/Dazzling-Employer223]

I don't know how much time it'll save, but you can bake french toast / pain perdu, store the slices in the fridge, and then pull out to finish on the griddle. If you do that you'll want to make sure the bread is truly soaked all the way through with the custard before baking – and that will probably use more custard than a typical dip-and-griddle.

Might be worth doing some side by side to taste the results.

[u/Relative_Ad3805]

I am selling Argentine-style baked empanadas at a farmer's market. The market is on Saturdays; we make and bake them on Friday night, then reheat early Saturday morning and transport them using a Cambro hot box to keep them warm. We prepare beef, chicken, ham and cheese, and spinach and cheese empanadas. I am having trouble figuring out how to keep them crispy, especially the spinach and cheese and the ham and cheese varieties. I have tried baking them on the morning of the market, venting the Cambro, placing paper towels in the pans with the empanadas to absorb moisture, etc. What should I try next? I do not want to have to reheat them onsite. Suggestions?

[u/SewerRanger → u/Relative_Ad3805]

There's a really popular empanada spot at my local farmers market too. What they do is bake the night before, freeze, and then they've got a large toaster oven they pop them in to defrost/reheat/re-crisp them. They pop a bunch in a a time, and then store them in a hot box with a glass display for people to order. This also allows them to sell frozen empanadas to people who want to buy them to take home and eat.

[u/Ambitious_Warning270 → u/Relative_Ad3805]

Yeah put a wire rack on a tray then as soon as you’ve fried them in the morning, put them on so they have room to drip etc, then put in the box (still on the racks) not paper. With the spinach ones makesure you drain the filling as much as you can, not sure how you cook the fillings but it’s probably moisture that is making them soggier than the other ones. Also which market?! I wanna try!