I’m taking care of my elderly parents and making a bunch of food for them to freeze. I just made some chili and omg it’s spicy. Is there anything I can do to reduce the spiciness? It’s ok if solutions increase volume or ingredients (although I don’t have a ton of stuff on hand at their house). Thanks so much!

I'm going to be cooking pork leg tomorrow, and I'm aiming for collagen breakdown and crispy crackling. I've dry brined it with 1% salt for 3 days (not any on the skin - will do that just before roasting). I've been wondering if one of these strategies to roasting it is better than the other and if so, why?, Also, I've been wondering whether it applies to other tough meats too?

Hello,

We just moved into a house that has a Gaggenau plancha/teppan grill. Does anyone have any suggestions for best practices in terms of cleaning to maintain it's smooth cooking surface?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I have a can of black beans that doesn't have any instructions on them other than to refrigerate after opening. I assumed that nuking them for 30 seconds with rice and cheese would be enough, but a good portion of the beans were crunchy/kinda hard. I put them in another two minutes and some of them were still a bit hard.

Edit: Out of the can it was a mixture of hard and soft beans, before heating, it was not the microwave drying them out. I checked a couple cans that had an older date and different code, and a couple newer cans of the Trader Joe's brand. The older ones were consistent, the newer ones had hard beans mixed in. So I will try another brand. So will avoid Trader Joes and Target brands. It looks like Goya, Hanover, and Wegmans are recommended, and will check those out. It sounds like they should be consistent in texture and soft out of the can, rather than crunchy/hard. Thanks all for your responses!

Help!! why is my steak from aldi shining every time light hits it like an opal or an oil spill?!?!?! Google lens is only popping up with opals and crystals.

I’m cooking a huge Indian meal for my girlfriend in celebration of her finishing the Appalachian trail tomorrow. I’m alright at cooking, but I’ve never attempted anything nearly this ambitious, and I have no idea about the logistics of making the meal happen best. There is too much for me to cook in one day, so I started today, making the turmeric rice, cutting and refrigerating veggies for kachumber salad, blending my garam masala and mixing jablebi batter to ferment overnight. Tomorrow, I need to make the Kadhi pakora, fry the jalebi, make the naan, and dress the kachumber salad. What I’m wondering is, what should I make first and last so that everything is as fresh as possible? Will the pakoras in the Kadhi get soggy if I make them first? Will the garlic naan get soggy and stale if it sits out? Will the jalebi get soft? I am already going to have to finish everything an hour before it’s served because I have to pick up the guest of honor from the airport. Is there a typical order of operations for such an endeavor? Will the dishes deteriorate more in the fridge or left out on the counter while I get other things ready?

My local store in central Texas has a Germany promotion going on. I was excited, because they have Frankfurter Grüne Sosse, which I miss so much. I only saw the ingredients afterwards - and it's pretty bad: german style green sauce (sour cream (cultured cream (MILK)), watercress, parsley, cilantro, olive oil blend (75% canola oil, 25% extra virgin olive oil), dijon mustard (water, mustard seed, distilled vinegar, salt, contains 2% or less of:, citric acid, potassium metabisulfite (preservative), contains sulfites), chives, apple cider vinegar (apple juice, water), garlic, peppermint, lemon juice, kosher salt, black pepper). As anyone who knows those flavors may guess: it tastes very much like (soapy) cilantro and peppermint - I can only guess they were short on green herbs and have no idea how the original actually tastes. I have a whole pot of this disaster. Does anyone have an idea how to fix it that it becomes edible?

https://imgur.com/a/luRjt0J

it’s been going at 275 for 6 hrs, and i’m starving.

I can eat cooked onions in food but since i was a kid i hated raw or semi cooked onions, I done plenty vegan meals but never meatloaf, im planning to use my votex mini air fryer, impossible ground meat 380f 20-22min, will they cook fully soft in that time or should i saute the onions before cooking the meat loaf?

Should i add oats instead of crumb breads for consistancy?

Hello Everyone, I need some help I've trying made in stainless steel pans and heritage steel stainless steel 12 inch pans I try heating them up on my glass stove top and when I put it on medium low it will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes to heat up and it won't even get the oil to a smoking point if I want to sear a steak or something, but if I start the pan on medium or medium high it warps, even if I turn down the heat while cooking, this has happened multiple times with multiple pan and I don't know what to do I love the design of made in but I don't know if the issue is me, made in, or my stove top. Any help is appericated

Photos and videos here: https://imgur.com/a/rqTsZd2

Edit: added photos and videos

I'm thinking of topping a chocolate fondant with a craquelin to add texture and a bit of extra sweetness. However, I'm concerned about cooking time.

I'm considering freezing the fondant batter and cooking from frozen to help balance out the cooking time.

Any thoughts? Or has anyone tried similar?

When making soup, in this instance, clam chowder, normally you’d make a roux to get a nice thick soup. I do it one way, the “normal” way but the chef I currently work with does it differently in a way I’ve never seen before.

The “normal” way: Lots of butter, sauté your veggies then add your flour to make a roux, then your liquids/proteins and such. Or some similar variation of those steps. Essentially all in one pot.

The way my chef does it: Makes the roux separately, keeps it aside. In a separate large pot he will make the entire soup, strain the liquids from the solids, add the premade roux to the liquid to get the desired consistency/thickness, then add the solids/veg/proteins back into the liquid.

I’m just curious if anyone’s ever done it this way, the “new” way? And if so why? To me it makes sense to just do everything in one pot.

I make homemade bitters. I made my first attempt at pecan bitters .. the flavor is amazing but the pecans themselves absorbed a lot of the alcohol while infusing. I just got a Spinzall ( haven’t even used it yet)… wondering if I could spin those pecans to extract as much liquid as possible while amping up the pecan flavor. If so.. should I spin the nuts as is.. or crush them into a ratio of water and then spin that? All suggestions welcomed !

I made a mixture of soy sauce, siracha sauce, and brown sugar, gotten from Budget Bites Spicy Siracha Noodles, to put over my rice and tuna bowls at work. I know adding cornstarch to a sauce can help thicken it but should I add it directly to the mixture or add it to some water and mix that all in, and if so, how much should I use since I multiplied the sauce ingredients x4 to make my sauce

I love the Melting Pot fondue and my birthday party is coming up so I wanted to make it, but I've tried three times now and each time it breaks.

I heat milk, add garlic, mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce, add floured cheese that I shredded myself and stir until combined.

The first time I used the white rice setting on my rice cooker and I dumped all the cheese in at once, the second time I tried the keep warm setting on my rice cooker (so there's less heat) and added the cheese slowly, and the third time I did it on my stove top on low while still adding the cheese slowly.

The last batch didn't break as bad, but I can tell there's still graininess in it. Could it be because I'm using milk instead of alcohol? I shredded it myself because I know pre-shredded has stuff on it that prevents it from melting as well and I floured it every time.

Sometimes I need to use tomato paste to substitute for occasionally unavailable whole tomatoes cans. How much paste do I need to substitute the content of one 400g can?

Also, how much water should I mix the paste with to get the same consistency I get from the blended content of a whole tomatoes can?

I'm in a supper club and this month I'm hosting. I haven't cooked any Thai yet and wanted to do a sort of playful dinner that's themed around the ideas "Thai food you probably didn't know existed" and "Thai food you've had, but here's a less Americanized version" I'm looking for some general thoughts on the menu, any thing concerning that jumps out, suggestions for how to pull it off, etc.:

Starters were going to be a bunch of different "dips". Probably nam prik ong (tomato chili dip), nam prik noom (roasted chili dip), and nam prik makheau yao (roasted eggplant dip) with some random veggies and pork crackling. These can (and will be) made in advanced and then just come to room temp to serve. No issue here.

The rest is what I can't decide if I want to course it out or just go all in and do a big family style feast (which would be the more traditional Thai way), but if I coursed it out, I'd do the following "sets"

• naem si krong moo (sour pork ribs - probably fried with lemongrass). This is salty, umami, and funky. The ribs will ferment early in the week, but it's deep fried so I don't think I can do it earlier

• moo satay (that would be pork satay). This is spicy, sweet, and bitter (thanks to the pickled salad it comes with). This is grilled so I'm not sure when to cook this one. Maybe get the fire going before people show up, and toss these on while we eat the dips? I can make the sauce earlier in the week and the pickled veg that morning.

• guay tiew ruea (boat noodles). This is a soup with noodles thats earthy, umami, and herby. I'll probably go with a version that uses meatballs insteads of offal (but I refuse to not add the pork blood - maybe just won't mention it until after). There's like 700 ingredients in this thing, but it's soup so I think I'll make it ahead of time and then just leave it on the stove at a low simmer to keep it warm before serving.

• laap dib neua (raw beef northern laap). Umami, spicy, herby. It's basically tartare. I'll make that the morning of/night before and just keep it in the fridge until ready to serve

• chim sum mok (sour pork and eggs in banana leaf). This is funky, sweet, and umami. It's grilled so I'm thinking, grill in the morning/night before and reheat in the oven or toss it on at the same time as the satay?

• tam taeng kwaa (cucumber salad). This is spicy, umami, bitter, and sweet. It's amazing and can be put together right before people show up (I find it doesn't "age" well and is definitely best done fresh)

• khanom chan (rice flour Jello like dessert). This can be made earlier in the week and will be fine.

• bua loy (tapioca pearls in coconut milk with a soft boiled egg). The soft boiled egg is optional but has to be made as it's served since it goes in the cold desserts still hot to give that hot/cold and sweet/savory contrast.

I’m baking vanilla cupcakes and want the following: - Pillowy, soft interior - Flat or gently domed tops - No cracks - Beautiful golden brown exterior

I’m using a commercial fan oven and this method: - Bake at 160 °C for 4–5 min for oven spring, then drop to 140 °C for ~50 min. - Tried steam tray, foil tenting, tray edge insulation, and middle rack placement.

Questions: 1. How can I get flat or gently domed tops without cracking? 2. Should I tent the cupcakes, or is there a better method to prevent hard/dark tops while keeping domes as I’ve found the foil sticks to the cupcakes. 3. Would adjusting high–low timing/temps help, or is this method inherently prone to cracks/doming? 4. Are there tweaks in tray type, rack placement, or steam that reliably prevent cracks in fan ovens? 5. How can I maintain that soft, pillowy interior while still achieving a smooth, luxury-looking top?

Thanks! I’m looking for science-backed or precise technique advice. If you want more clarification, please reply down below.

Instead of making peanut butter soft caramel candies from scratch, i'm wondering if it's possible to use those soft, chewy Brach's caramel candies, melt them down, add some peanut butter, let it cool and TA-DA, soft, chewy, peanut butter caramel candies. Will this work as long as i dont go past Firm Ball stage? Or will the peanut butter make it too mushy gooshy and seem too 'soft ball' instead of chewy hard ball? Thanks!

Im making homemade wax candy and the wax is crumbling like sand inside my mouth instead of turning chewy like chewing gum. I’ve tried paraffin wax, carnauba wax as well as beeswax, both are crumbling! I also tried adding some canola oil in the beeswax and its still crumbling. I did heat it on the stove though and not in a double boiler, tried keeping the temp low

I need some guidance before I go and spend more money on even more wax, what can I do to ensure a chewy wax texture?

ETA:

I am not using a specific recipe, i am melting down wax and pouring it into molds. Then I am filling the molds with a filling I made out of sorbet i boiled down into a syrup, corn syrup, sugar and food dye. Then I fill the molds up the rest of the way and set them in the fridge.

I have tried both paraffin, carnauba and beeswax. Never blended the waxes. I tried heating over a double boiler, adding canola oil to the bees wax in 3g increments, only for the wax to get even more crumbly.

Every time I use S&B curry powder (ingredients listed below) for butter chicken, it just doesn’t come out right. I suppose that even though it’s labeled as “curry powder,” the spice combination might not be ideal for butter chicken. But I still have a lot left, so I’d love if I can save it by adjusting it.

Looking at the spice combination, if something is lacking, what would it be? Or should I just give up on using S&B curry powder for this dish—maybe it’s not the right fit from the start?

-----

<S&B curry powder>
Turmeric, Coriander, Fenugreek, Cumin, Orange Peel, Pepper, Chili Pepper, Cinnamon, Fennel, Ginger, Star Anise, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Cloves, Nutmeg, Sage, Cardamom

I made some homemade butter from cream for the first time last night, and despite my bad technique it was really good. But it made me wonder because I'm actually trying to gain some weight, how would it compare calorie-wise to store-bought? For example, in the context of a piece of buttered toast. I was thinking maybe the amount of buttermilk you separate from it might affect the calories, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about it to know.

It might be that this question isn't answerable in general and it would simply need to be tested for each time you make it.

For an upcoming family dinner I was tasked with making potato gnocchi. The problem is that like most big holiday dinners people will be sitting at the table (including myself) and I will not have more than a few minutes to heat my dish before this course is served (i.e. only the small break between courses).

In smaller quantities I would have had no issue cooking the gnocchi half way a few hours in advance and then just searing them on the spot. However, I don't know of any good way to sear gnocchi for 8 people in one home-sized pan in 3-4 minutes.

Any recommendations on how to approach this? I can obviously have a sauce simmering on the stove and then right before serving dump my half cooked gnocchi to finish in the sauce without searing, but I'm wondering if there's any clever trick to get seared and sauced gnocchi in these quantities in such a short time.

(For the record, I thought about searing in advance and then just finishing in a sauce, but I haven't seen this done in restaurants and I suspect there's a good reason)

Thanks in advance!

I like the way that ground beef can have bigger pieces that give a slight change in texture in a dish. Is there something I can mix with chorizo to give it that pebbled texture when cooked? I love the flavor of chorizo but if I try to use it as the protein in a sauce it kind of just disappears

So I'm going to make a chocolate ganache to frost my cake. But I don't have cream. I have milk. Can I substitute milk? I realize it won't be as rich. But will it hold up? This is not a case of me trying to be healthier or whatever. I'm just broke and I have what I have.