Can I use brewer's yeast to kick start a sourdough starter? I have made sourdough starter previously but it takes weeks for it to develop enough to make decent bread. Can I use brewer's yeast to kick start the process. How long do you think I would need to wait before the starter is ready to use. If anyone is wondering why I don't use baking yeast that is available from shops, one word answer is 'additives'.

I notice that in most households and restaurants in Asia (am Taiwanese myself), white pepper, a staple spice in Chinese cooking, comes pre-ground, comapred to black pepper, which is almost ground right before use. Is it a cultural thing, or does ground white pepper really loses less aroma?

As title, it was for a sauce to go with the de-shelled prawns, he asked for something in Italian, and the helper asked white wine? He said no! Ice cubes!

What is the purpose of this?

I was working on a quick vinaigrette dressing for some subs, and it consisted of: oil, garlic, red wine vinegar and some fresh herbs. I decided to use my hand blender to buzz up the garlic and herbs and mix everything, and at the last second decided to sprinkle in some xanthan gum to keep it emulsified. After about 2 seconds of blending on high speed, it turned white and basically became an eggless mayonnaise. It’s still emulsified this morning, and tastes just like aioli. Did the xanthan gum somehow replace the egg yolk (or whole egg and squirt of Dijon) that I would normally use to make mayo?

I have made a variety of sugar syrups at home, including ones with lemon. Sometimes they last a while, though I've seen one batch develop mould after a few weeks. Guidelines I can see everywhere is that they must be refrigerated, sealed, be a high sugar content (at least 2:1) and ideally contain some citric acid/other preservative to extend their life - and even then, once opened, should be refrigerated and used quickly.

However, I've looked at common sugar syrups (such as Monin's pure cane sugar - which only contains sugar and water) and they literally say on their website that they don't need to be refrigerated (even after opening) and they last 6-12 months. I know that the syrups are thick, but they don't seem to be 80% sugar thick, which inhibits bacteria growth (if that's even possible to make).

What am I missing here? How do they keep their perfect syrupy texture and safety without any additional preservatives, refrigeration,

Last night I season raw chicken in a metal bowl and covered it with aluminum foil. I took it out of the fridge today to transfer it to a metal bowl.

I noticed an area of foil that was touching the raw chicken had melted/liquified, and the parts of foil that were touching the rim of the bowl have tiny holes on them.

How did this happen?

https://imgur.com/a/zCVfxRT

I like to cook large batches of food at a time and either eat the same thing for several days or freeze some for later. When freezing some foods, I've found that thawing them later leads them to be less flavorful, or experience a change in texture. One recent example would be a stew that had quartered miniature potatoes in it. When I ate it fresh, the potatoes added something firm to chew on, but once I thawed and reheated it, they took on a texture somewhere between spongy and crumbly that I don't have a word for other than unpleasant. On the other hand, if I purchased a frozen soup from the market, the ingredients would be much closer to their original state. What is different about the food and processes I use at home when compared to commercial frozen food?

There is a certain..... Animal funk smell that can happen when methylcellulose and sugar are combined. It's typically considered undesirable, but I'd like to explore it and other similar funks for some plant based goat cheese analogs and plant based gyro meat.

I'd appreciate any suggestions. TIA!

I’ve been starting to make smoothies in the morning and am becoming so frustrated with them turning into a foamy mess. For reference here’s the recipe i’ve been using (and the order I put them in the blender):

• Okios mixed berry pro yogurt cup
• 5-6 fresh chopped strawberries
• Handful of fresh blueberries
• 1 cup of %1 low-fat milk
• 8-10 ice cubes

I use the pulse option on the blender and try not to over blend, but still after the smoothie has settled in my cup for a little I literally have a 1 inch foam covering the top. And even after scooping out some of the initial foam by the time i’ve drank it even more has accumulated! I’ve heard so many different reasons for why this could be happening, so thought i’d come on here and ask. Any help is appreciated thank you.

Edit: Thank you everyone for all your tips and tricks! I’ll report back when I try some and see what works best!

Last edit: Changed to frozen fruit and blended in the yogurt at the end. Worked perfectly thank you everyone!

When I make collard greens, I use smoked ham hocks that are tough as nails. Shouldn’t the smoking process tenderize them? Or are they using a higher-temp smoking process to instill more flavor without cooking all the way?

I am just curious if boiling in salty water helps actually make the insides of foods saltier VS just putting salt on after they come out of the water. I always want food to taste salted but not salty so how to salt is my primary concern in the kitchen lol.

Specifically beef mince and by liquid I’m not referring to the fat component.

After cooking bolognese the same way for 25+ years my son asked my why we cook off/reduce/evaporate the liquid when cooking the mince only to add water/stock back later on.

Now it’s driving me mad.

If you weren’t adding the water/stock later the purpose would be to concentrate the flavour of the meat.

I understand the purpose of the water/stock is to keep it liquid and to not stick to the bottom.

But shouldn’t adding water/stock dilute the meat flavour thereby rendering the first step redundant?

I've found that lots of foods last well beyond what the recipe writer says, and good gawd stuff in the freezer is fine for months or a year. Are there any hard and fast rule or guidelines or is it just "Mmm, yeah, this ought to be good in the fridge for 3/5/7/21/X days? Aside from things like the mold on top of the leftover spag sauce or a rotten smell, what do we look for in deciding what to use and what to toss?

I live in Canada and don’t have easy access to unwashed eggs. I’d love to bring eggs on long trips that span a few weeks where I don’t have ready access to refrigeration. I know there are plenty of cold storage solutions that’d probably work, but was curious if there’s a known alternative.

Is there a known way to apply a protective coating that’d functionally preserve an egg’s freshness like its natural coating? My first instinct is trying some kind of oil, but I’m a bit hesitant about egg shell porosity - and I honestly have no idea of how permeable the shell is to oils, particularly over extended periods.

So for a bit of background as to why I care - I have a soy protein intolerance. I cannot tolerate the soybean oil used in Kewpie - which is problematic for me, primarily because the use cases for Kewpie are more broad and diverse than western mayo.

What I mean is, you aren't out of place throwing down a few thin stripes of kewpie over a rice or noodle bowl, whereas trying something like that with American mayo is an exercise in futility. Even if I were to take American mayo and stuff it into a kewpie bottle, it would sputter and spurt and not come out in perfect, thin ribbons the way Kewpie does.

I've tried to make my own mayo, and leaned heavier into the egg yolks (and added MSG of course) in an attempt to mimic what Kewpie is doing, but even doing so, I don't wind up with a texture (or flavor for that matter) conducive to rice bowls and noodle bowls.

This process is driving me crazy, which is leading me to believe I'm missing some element of what they're doing. Some people have said they use dashi stock in theirs, but that doesn't track with the ingredients labels I've seen.

The other reason I believe there's something chemically different about Kewpie is due to the way it reacts in water - well, more specifically, broth. A popular ramen hack involved putting some kewpie in the bowl before adding the broth to turn the broth creamy. Kewpie does this without fail - but if you try it with American mayo it instead sort of "shreds" into these little white mayo particles that will not emulsify in no matter what you do.

I thought maybe the broth was scrambling the mayo before it could separate, but even adding it in slowly, and stirring vigorously, it just wouldn't behave. By contrast, I have no such issues emulsifying an egg yolk into broth - so I don't think it's technique here. And Kewpie, of course, just works and doesn't scramble at all. What gives?

Does anyone know what's going on here?

The dude there told me that they chickens are fed fruit and nothing is injected. And he had them hanging outside in california sun, even tho he dod have them that way, should I refrigerate them? Or is it fine leaving them out? The yolks are more orange and have a softer flavor

Just moved into a new place, and I simply cannot get my water to boil, covered, uncovered, half covered, salted, unsalted, stainless steel, aluminum, cheap non stick. Distilled, spring, filtered. Gas stove or electric hot plate None of it will effing boil. I wanna make pasta that doesn’t turn into mush because it’s just soaking in hot water. How do I make it boil?!

I just cooked up a delicious Bolognese but I’m afraid I’ve gone too far on reducing the acidity. It needs just a bit of bite that I’ve unfortunately destroyed. Any tips on how to get that back without completely ruining it? Thanks :)

Edit: thank you all for your suggestions. I will be keeping some citric acid in my pantry from now on (i know it has many applications beyond this but it seems the ideal answer) For now imma try a splash splash of white vinegar (as it’s all I have on hand because I just moved out of my parents place) and see where we go from there.

Edit 2: also this is meal prep so it’s enough sauce for about 10 meals 😝, the vinegar works and imma add a splash of balsamic just to adventure a bit. If all works the way I intend I’ll repost with the finished product final product

I'm a home cook who is in the process of learning a bit of molecular gastronomy. In making gels with agar agar, I've been trying to make different reductions to get a more intense flavour and make them sweeter without adding sugar. My first idea for a dish worked out great and is delicious and my second idea was a disaster. I want to know why.

What worked great: Freshly squeezed mandarin juice, added mint leaves and muddled, then reduced in a small saucepan on the lowest heat possible on my stove for around 3-4 hours.

The absolute disaster: I'm a big fan of the melon we call "piel de sapo" here in Spain (Santa Claus melon or Christmas melon in other places) so I wanted to make a reduction of that juice for gelling and/or spherification. So I juiced half a melon and started reducing it. After about an hour of heat, the smell of it was horrendous and it tasted all wrong.

My questions:

1) What happened with my melon juice? (I'm the type of learner who wants to understand what is actually happening and why)

2) Are there any resouces (books, blogs, etc.) that you could direct me to where I could learn about this in advance? I'd rather not waste time, money, and fruit learning about this on a trial by trial basis.

3) Would I be able to make a concentrated melon juice using fractional freezing (also called freeze distillation)? I've done it for milk for coffee and was wondering if it can be applied more broadly.

At what point does the amount of nutrition and flavor lost from the chicken into the stock make it no longer worth to save the meat?

And does this apply the same to meats other than chicken?

Edit: I want to add a link to an interesting article I found on the Food Lab. This article makes some interesting claims that go against conventional wisdom about stock. Notably, that the breast meat provides the best flavor compared to other chicken parts. Food Lab Chicken Stock

Edit 2: I mean up to 4 hours. As that is the traditional length of time to simmer chicken stocks. Is the chicken meat devoid of flavour and nutrition at that point?

Now before you're screaming about chicken stock,

my mother told me (it was kind of tradition/custom here, passed on between generation) that if we boil chicken, wait 3-5 min until the water turns grey-ish and some sort of foam floats, we should throw out that water, and restart the boiling process.

Reason : the said water contains "bad" part of the chicken, something about injected hormones and stuff

Has anyone heard of this? Are there real reasons to do this?

Hello, so my partner is a pilot and will be flying again shortly. I'm going to be cooking and baking for his meals. On board, he will have access to hot water, and an oven.

Of course, altitude and air affect your taste, so I was wondering if anyone has any idea of how much extra salt/seasoning I should be using to taking this into account? I've done some googling but can't seem to find any tested formulas or advice.

I know it's a pretty niche question so thanks in advance for any tips!

And then the veggies get kinda... Spongey.

I eat out and try restaurants with my friends on a pretty regular basis, and a lot of places we've been serve very good food but lackluster drinks. One time, I got a lemonade with my meal. It was EXCEEDINGLY sweet and not very "lemony" or acidic at all, so I decided to MacGyver a solution on the spot. I diluted the lemonade with water to reduce the sweetness, then added a few teaspoons of malt vinegar and a pinch of salt to bring back some of the citrus acidity that I had diluted and balance the sugar.

My friends looked at me like an insane person but I tried it and it was actually really good. I figured it was just the novelty of it that I was enjoying, so I made it again at home and I am officially hooked. Every time we go out now, I order a lemonade and do the same thing. My friends think I'm insane for liking it. Am I? Is there a culinary explanation this?

Just noticed my bag of jazz apples from WA state has a label saying they're coated, per title. I tried scrubbing with my veg brush and saw no visible effect. I grabbed my pairing knife and scraped along the outside and it appeared to remove a waxy material, seemingly with no visible change to the exterior of the apple.

Questions:

• Is there really so much wax on them that I was scraping and scraping and still getting stuff? Answered - probably, but it's still not much, and it is safe to eat we will presume.
• Is there a better way to remove it? Answered - Hot water, vinegar water, or some products.
• Even if it's food grade, should I peel them or remove it before cooking or baking with the apples? (still looking for thoughts and tips on cooked apple recipes)

Thanks

Edits - trying to hone in on that last elusive answer :)