In addition to the fat content, making sure the meat is cold while forming can help.

I generally find that you need a binding agent in the pattie to ensure it stays together - either egg or breadcrumbs work well.

I always use a patty press when I make my burgers since it compacts them really well and helps them stick together.

Freezing patties before cooking them keeps them much more solid on the grill until they're cooked enough to hold together and reduces the amount of sticking to the grill.

Try refrigerating the patties uncovered for an hour after forming.

This will give the proteins time to cement together and can give seasonings time to meld.

Handle gently while cooking as jwiley suggests.

Alternately you could a finer chop or work it with your hands or a mixer.

The more it's worked the stickier it gets.

But that kind of texture might not be what you are shooting for.

Cheers

Your guess is correct.

Sometimes it also sticks to the grill and gets damaged while turning it .

You can use a bit of vegetable oil to make the grill surface less sticky.

How long into the process are you turning it over?

In my experience I try to only flip the burger once, after the side it is first cooking on is done (you can see browning on the edge of the patty).

If you try to flip it too soon before the meat has had a chance to fully cook on one side, the meat won't be done enough on that side to hold the rest of the patty together, and it will fall apart much easier.

Oil isn't going to help keep the beef together, the high saturated fats in the meat should be enough to handle this.

I'd suggest either using a spatula large enough to fit under the size of the patty you're making, or letting it cook longer before trying to flip.

Question: Sometimes when cooking a burger I have had it completely fall apart for no apparent reason. Is this due to using a ground meat that is too lean? I don't add anything to the meat and don't spend too much time working the meat in forming the patty.

Why do burgers sometimes fall apart on the grill?

You can add egg or breadcrumbs as a binding agent, and compact the patty with a burger press. Chilling or freezing the patties first can keep them together until they are cooked.

Make sure your meat is very cold and think about using a patty press or adding a binding agent.

Make sure the meat is very cold before cooking.

Use a binding agent like breadcrumbs and a patty press is also useful.


Alton Brown says never to cook a cheesecake in a springform pan.

He uses a regular pan and lines it with parchment paper so that the cheesecake won't stick to the bottom.

I always make mine in a 9 x 3" Fat Daddio's anodized cake pan.

You can buy precut parchment rounds for the bottom, and you can cut a 30 x 3" strip of parchment to line the sides of the pan

(I line the whole thing -

makes it come out easier, and WAY cleaner - looks picture perfect when it's done).

I use Crisco to "glue" the 30 x 3 strip to itself (not the pan)

so I don't have to hold it in place when pouring the batter.

The key is after it's set for a long time in the fridge (at least 8-9 hours), to cover the top with parchment too, that way when you flip it it doesn't mess up the top at all.

Then just use something to pop it out onto.

I use a cardboard cake round, and "pop" the sides and bottom of the pan with my hand or a butter knife handle, it takes a little practice.

You may want to run the knife around the pan on the outside of the parchment lining too, that helps.

Take the parchment off the cake and flip it back over onto whatever you want to serve it on.

I used to do springform, but once I got the hang of this, I'll never go back; it produces a much better end result.

And you can make it taller too because a regular cake pan is slightly deeper that most springforms of the same diameter.

You can cook it in a regular pan.

Even a non-stick pan without parchment paper is fine.

Just cut it like brownies.

You'll definitely need to adjust down cooking times given that your cheesecake will be a lot less thick, but be careful in doing so, especially if trying to add a brownie layer.

If you start making cheesecakes regularly, however, I strongly recommend a springform pan for 3 reasons: 1)

It's more traditional and improves presentation 2)

It's standard, so it's more compatible with recipes 3)

A springform can more easily be fit into a water bath, which is, IMO, the best of all methods for making cheesecake.

(and if surrounded carefully with foil, it will rarely leak, and even if it does the crust will provide some protection)

No, you do not need a springform pan.

I make both savory and sweet cheesecakes all the time.

You also don't always need a water bath, or a crust.

Alton Brown's cooking method is probably one of the best, just a regular pan, in a water bath, or without, cook at 225-250 for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in it for another hour.

Then pull out and cool.

In my experience, the best cheesecake is made in a glass pyrex pan, 9 or 10 inches, if you can find it or most likely have it or your mom or grandma or aunt.

Bake it on 300 degrees, making your own graham cracker crust with unsalted butter, vanilla, and sugar, using 16 to 24 ounces cream cheese, 2 to 3 eggs, one half to three quarter cups sugar, real vanilla, fresh lemon juice, baked 40 to 60 minutes depending on your oven, on the rack, then, take out of oven, let cool 10 minutes,

top with sour cream, vanilla, sugar mixture, put back in oven 5 more minutes, let cool complete, cover, put in fridge at least 12 hours.

Serve totally naked, please do not ruin with toppings, and enjoy.

The beauty is the cheesecake taste,

not how it looks but how a cheesecake fanatic ends up eating the whole darn thing.

No springform pan, no parchment, just a pryrex glass round pie dish, old as the hills which I'm hopeful you have and no waterbath.

Oops, I just also Just gave you a receipe that is simple and very much sought after.

Enjoy

In addition to springform pans, there are also non-spring removable-bottom pans, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-Aluminum-Removable-Bottom-3-Inch/dp/B000FEM2XO

In use, they look like regular cake pans.

They're simpler to make and use, and they don't wear out.

Most commercial bakeries use them rather than spring-form pans.

The downside is that they leak more readily, since the bottom isn't locked in place.

That's fine for a cheesecake: the crust will prevent the filling from leaking (and the filling is usually too thick to leak much anyway).

They are inappropriate for cooking in a water bath -- unless you wrap them in aluminum foil, which you really should be doing for spring-form pans anyway.

They're superior to regular cake pans for cheesecake and other cakes that are too fragile to turn over, since you can just pop them right out when done, and you don't have to fuss with a spring.

If they didn't turn the cake over to remove, they may have been using a removable-bottom pan.

I do a lot of baking, from cupcakes to cheesecakes, but one thing I struggle with is getting the cheesecakes out of a normal, pan even a glass pan.

I found out that you could butter the pan before doing anything in it and you can flip the cheesecake over and it comes out nicely.

Question: I don't have a spring form pan but I watched a show where they seemed to cook their cheesecakes in regular pans. Is this possible or did I just not notice that they were in fact spring form pans?  I like cheesecake but don't really have the space to add another specialty pan to the kitchen, so any alternatives would be worth considering.  This is referring to a traditional baked cheesecake.

Can cheesecake be cooked without a spring-form pan?

Springform pans are not necessary, and are soemtimes advised against. An anodised cake pan can also be used.

There is no need for a springform pan. You just need to use parchment paper.


There is no substitute for salt.

Sorry.

It has effects on the tastebuds and the body that cannot be replicated.

However!

They can be approached to a degree that most people will find interchangeable.

Acids can mimic the flavour-enhancing qualities of salt in a big way.

The more acid you have in a dish, the less salt you will need.

Beware of going too far, of course, as too much acid is just unpleasant and will need salt to counterbalance.

Heat--as in capsaicin, chili peppers--can produce much the same effect.

Echoing papin's information above; NA and K (sodium and potassium) exist in balance in the body.

Too far in one direction

and you have a heart attack (too much K), too much in the other and

(if memory serves; I could be wrong)

you essentially drown (or is it edema?

I can't remember).

If avoiding sodium is related to a health concern, please speak to your primary healthcare provider before adjusting your diet in this way.

Our taste buds are tuned for salt (NaCl), but potassium chloride (KCl) comes pretty close in reproducing the sensation.

There are a few commercial salt substitutes that incorporate KCl ( Nu-salt , Morton Salt Substitute in the US).

As sodium is an essential mineral and potassium may be hard to get out of the body, make sure you ask a doctor before completely eliminating salt.

When my doctor told me to start cutting my salt intake, I headed to the spice aisle at the grocery store and bought every "salt-free" blend they had and started trying them.

It was one of the best things I did, because I discovered how much I'd been relying on salt for flavor and how inadequate that was.

I now buy my spices from The Spice House (much fresher than the grocery store) and really like quite a few of their salt free blends .

Most spice suppliers have a similar category available.

Buy a bunch and start substituting when you would otherwise use salt.

Some of the experiments will be fabulous, some not as much, but rarely are they actually bad.

I use lemon juice and vinegars to approximate saltiness in foods.

Lemon juice works particularly well in soups.

I use 1/4 cup of lemon juice as a flavor enhancer in pots of soup of eight to 12 cups.

Obviously, this is a subjective measure, and I'd recommend adding the juice by the tablespoonful, tasting the soup, and then adding more juice until you achieve the level of "saltiness" you want.

Vinegars take experimentation because they tend to be stronger and there are so many different kinds, but I like to use them with sautéed vegetables.

Malt vinegar is particularly good on roasted potatoes and french fries (I also add it to my baked potatoes before adding other toppings).

Oh, and because broth is so common in cooking as a flavoring component (and store-bought broth is so high in sodium), I recommend Herb-Ox Low Sodium Bouillon in packets because, while it's not as tasty as homemade broth, it's convenient to use when one only needs a little bit of broth.

Most of the time you use salt for making the food taste better.

If this is the purpose, you can substitute lots of different spices and herbs.

I cook Asian-style food without the usage of any salt.

Instead I use a lot of garlic and onions.

Ginger powder is quite good enhancing other existing flavours what salt is sometimes used for.

Otherwise, it depends on the particular flavour you want to create.

If you have high blood pressure, then you may be looking for low-sodium salt.

LoSalt is the only brand I've ever sampled and there is no obvious taste difference.

If, on the other hand, you are looking to add a little taste variety to dishes, then you might try fish sauce, soy sauce or anchovies.

Using parmigiano-reggiano or dashi will also give you the umami flavour.

All of these however have a high salt content.

Avoiding salt altogether

, you might try various herbs and spices.

Really anything will add flavour, but sage has a certain saltiness, as does vanilla for sweet dishes.

You might also try a little lemon juice or vinegar in sauces.

If you are used to eating a lot of salt, you may first need to accustom your palate to enjoying the natural, un-salt-enhanced flavours.

Lemon juice, spices, or other pungent/aromatic ingredients are a good way to keep your dishes flavourful without salt.

You may initially find that you're missing the "salty" taste itself.

The cure for this is just to wait for your palate to re-adjust.

Lime juice, tamarind paste, vinegars, mango powder, sour yogarts are what I use with a little as possible of table salt.

Question: I try to keep my sodium intake fairly low to ensure that my blood pressure doesn't get too high.  Salt is such a common part of cooking, and it's especially difficult to cook Asian-style food without a lot of salt due to its reliance on salty sauces such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, etc.  I have tried salt substitutes such as potassium chloride but that can be particularly nasty on the palate, giving the food a chemical taste.  What are some good substitutes for salt in food?

What are some good substitutes for salt for those on low sodium diets?

Our tastebuds are tuned for sodium chloride, so substitutes will often taste wrong. Potassium chloride is a common substitute, which may taste acceptable. If you are used to a lot of salt, try accustomising yourself to more natural flavours. Acids like lime juice, tamarind paste, vinegars, sour yoghurt and mango powder can also mimic the flavour-enhancing properties.

While you cannot fully substitute for salt, acidic foods can be a good replacement. You can also try low-sodium salt.

Try low-sodium salt or potassium chloride.

You will need to accustom your palate to eating unsalty foods.


The point of leaving the cookies to sit on the pan is to dry out the skin so it'll solidify better.

I'd suggest resting longer (up to 50 minutes) or using a hotter oven.

The key to the feet, according to the cookbook I used , seems to be letting the mix rest for at least an hour before baking at 145C for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size.

This method did yield some pretty nice feet, though my first few batches also had a bit too many cracks to look perfect.

Note that I'm assuming you mean the type of macaron pictured on the book in the link above, since there are many variations.

I have the same problem.

During my experiments I found out that the cooler the dough is before you put it in the owen, the better.

The trick is to work fast, work with it as little as possble.

Also, I use food processor with metal bowl for mixing the dough (Kitchen Aid Artisan).

Before I start mixing, I fill the bowl with cold water and let it cool for few minutes.

i think your oven is not hot enough, if you have dry to touch tops, it should always pop the base.

these can be cooked as high as 180 deg ,time will depend on the size you make them humidity will only affect the drying time for the tops.or mabey try raising the oven temp 20 deg to allow for the drop in temp when you are putting them in to cook this can be a common fault with baking good luck

Did you leave your macarons out to dry after piping them, before putting them in the oven?

They need to be left out about 1hr (depending on humidity) until they develop a skin and do not stick to your finger when lightly touched.

Overmixing can also cause feet to not form.

You should mix the almond flour and meringue just enough to get a 'lava' consistency.

Keep scooping up with the spatula as you are folding in the flour to test if the batter would droop down.

Once it starts to droop down in a thick ribbon, stop mixing.

My first batch of macarons had no feet too.

I overmixed and didn't wait for them to dry.

On my second batch I resisted overmixing, and allowed the macarons to dry before baking, and they turned out beautifully.

Most of the recipes/info I've read says humidity plays a big factor in these.

Definitely don't make on a humid day and try to have as 'dry' a kitchen as possible when you start these.

The fridge might be too wet of an environment to let these dry out.

Also, all the recipes I've read say to let the eggs "cure" on the counter for at least 24 hours.

To be fair - I haven't had much luck with these

but I only tried once and it happened to be a crazy humid day.

Of course I read the "no humidity" bit after my somewhat sad results.

The Bouchon cookbook (page 310) recommends letting them rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours "to dry the tops", which I believe helps the development of the feet (the tops raise during cooking and the feet stick out).

The instructions in that book are detailed and have worked really well for me (even on my first try).

Letting them sit and dry is very important.

If it's more humid that day I turn the ceiling fan on on medium and leave them on the table under the fan for 30-60mins.

That helps A LOT.

They dry very nicely.

Question: I've tried many macaron recipes, and all have tasted very good.  The problem is they always end up as a meringue, or looking like cookies.  They usually don't have the "feet" that macarons are known for.  My success rate on every recipe I've tried is about 1 in 6.  Does anyone known what my mistakes are or know a recipe that easily makes macarons with "feet"?

How can I make macarons with "feet" in my oven at home?

The macarons should be cool and should be left to dry for at least an hour before placing in the oven. The correct humidity can also be important.

The macarons should be rested so that they dry before cooking. Avoid baking them on a humid day and make sure the dough is very cool before baking.

Make sure you rest the macarons so that they dry before baking.

The dough should be very cool before baking. Humidity is also a factor.


This is a very subjective question.

For example: I find the recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess to use excessive Xanthan Gum (bouncy balls do not make good cupcakes).

That being said I highly suggest you start with the basics and make your own flour to learn the balance of how different flours effect the texture and flavor of baked goods.

A few good books with recipes (and discussions) about gluten-free flour are: Gluten-Free Quick and Easy

The Gluten-Free Gourmet

Cooks Fast and Healthy

Although I don't have personal experience with

The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert or The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread , I do trust Bette Hagman enough to suggest them as potentially good resources.

There are also a number of gluten-free flour mixes available which can be used as flour replacements in regular recipes to achieve gluten-free results: Pamela's Baking mix Arrowhead Mills

Gluten-Free flour

King Arthur Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour

Just a warning: Be careful!

Many mixes say that they are 1-to-1 replacements, however they contain baking powder and sugar, so can cause things to go wonky.

Additionally you need to understand that most gluten-free flours don't hold moisture as well as typical wheat flour, and you have to replace the elasticity provided by the missing gluten

(for some recipes the prepared flour mixtures take care of this for you, however you may still need to tweak things).

While I can suggest that you use meringue to help give cookies structure without having them crumble when picking them up, or that you use apple sauce in cakes to keep them moist.

A lot of this kind of information comes from simply understanding the science of cooking (and baking).

Suggested reading includes: On Food and Cooking BakeWise

Honestly there are a lot of resources out there and google is a great way to find them.

If, however, you have specific questions about what went wrong with a recipe this is probably a better forum for that question than this current one.

This is an excellent site to learn about gluten free baking: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

I have personally tried many of the recipes and they have been excellent.

A handful of resources my wife (who is gluten-intolerant) suggested: Gluten-Free Girl Gluten Free Gobsmacked Books by Bette Hagman

One concern my wife mentioned (especially for others who come across this question who may not be aware) about non-gluten-free people preparing food for gluten-free people is the awareness of cross-contamination.

If your kitchen is not completely gluten-free, you have to be very careful to segregate anything that may have had exposure to any flour, bread, etc.

This includes things like spreads, tubs of butter, and the like that people frequently use with bread.

The best bet is to buy all your ingredients fresh, and keep them in a separate tote or shelf so that they cannot ever get mixed up with potentially-contaminated items.

The same goes for baking dishes, utensils, and other food preparation surfaces.

So, if you're making peanut-butter cookies, use a fresh jar of peanut butter. :-)

I believe it is important to consider that those who are cooking gluten free are often under a considerable amount of pressure to learn new cooking techniques in a short amount of time, as they are working with unfamiliar ingredients.

Finding reliable resources is often difficult.

A supportive and understanding environment is essential on this topic as the complexity of the diet is overwhelming to those who are just starting out.

The above link is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in cooking for those with Celiac Disease or Gluten sensitivities.

Often those on a GF diet have multiple food allergies and sensitivities, this resource takes that into consideration, providing a wealth of information and recipes.

The site and magazine offer simple and delicious GF baking recipes.

The comprehensive approach on the subject of baking GF made it possible for me once again enjoy fresh baked goods in my own home.

Yes, this is an old question, but the book's new -- America's Test Kitchen's " How Can It Be Gluten Free ".

In the book, they discuss the advantages/disadvantages of different pre-made gluten-free 'flour' mixes (as some worked well as flour replacements for some types of recipes, but not all ...

so one good for bread might not be so great for brownies or cookies).

They discuss some of the issues with wheat flour replacements (

off tastes, too dense, too crumbly, no browning, overly starchy, etc.)

and things you can do to counteract them.

They have a lot of gluten free recipes, including one for making your own flour replacement.

They discuss using different hydration levels to reduce grittiness, adding powdered milk to improve browning, using potato flakes as a binder in recipes instead of bread crumbs.

etc.

(I'd list more things, but I gave my copy to a co-worker who's gluten free).

Question: I have several members of my family who are GF. Baking for them has become a real challenge. I'm looking for good references to learn to understand how to work with this limitation in my baking.  What are good references (online or print) for good GF baked goods?

What are good references for Gluten free baking

Bette Hagman, or the Gluten-Free Gourmet, is the author of several relevant books on this subject. Learning the basics of making flour can also teach you about the various options and their effect on texture and flavour.

There are many good books out there for learning to cook gluten free. You can also try making your own flour.

Try making your own flour to experiment with different mixes.

The Gluten Free Gourmet and Cooks Fast and Healthy are good books for learners.


Also see @Pulse's answer.

Check out the China town for 'vegetarian food', they have all sort of fake meat from chicken to beef, from abalone to fish, all made of modified tofu fibres.

Seitan is good, and very easy to make at home.

(Just a little time consuming.)

My measurements are not metric, so if anyone can translate, I'd appreciate it.

Bring to a boil about a gallon of water.

Add to that any particular flavors you like.

I usually add dried basil and oregano, some vegetable broth (about a cup), vegan worchestershire or soy sauce, and dried minced onions.

While waiting for that to boil, take one cup of wheat gluten.

Add just about a cup of water and mix until combined.

You'll have a ball of sticky dough.

Put that ball under running cold water for a minute, then knead underwater for five minutes.

You'll end up with something firm and rubbery.

Drop into the boiling broth.

Watch it for about five minutes to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot, then leave it to simmer for two hours.

That's all!

In the UK, you may want to have a look at the Vegan Society .

They endorse a range of products which can be recognized through their sunflower logo.

I'm rather fond of products made by a company named The Redwood Wholefood Company , they produce quite an interesting range of vegan meat substitutes, including ready-to-use slices.

You should be able to find these products at a wholefood shop; Hollands & Baretts carry them sometimes (and they may have other vegan offerings as well).

What about Tofu

It's essentially the coagulated soy milk, pressed into blocsk.

It's great in all kinds of recipes, especially Asian dishes, it really absorbs the flavours from the rest of the ingredients.

Quorn have introduced some vegan products themselves since that question was asked (as of 2017).

Along Pulse's lines, seitan may work well.

Depending on the dish, sometimes I prefer seitan's texture over tofu.

In the US, you can find it in many health food stores in the refrigerated section, often by tofu, and sometimes regular grocery stores if you're lucky.

If you are looking for lunchmeat sliced thingies, I recommend the following companies: Gardein Tofurky Yves

GO TO HOLLAND AND BARETTS

they are soooo good.

Get the vegetarian's choice sausages and burgers they are vegan and their texture is far better than anything i've tasted before.

They also do lots of vegan cheeses, ham, pepperoni.

It depends what holland and barrett store

you go to some also have fresh pasties and sausage rolls etc.

For mince my favourite is Sainsbury's own brand.

They use eggs in other meat-like products but not in the mince soya protein.

It is by far the best I've tried and is about £1.5 for a whole bag.

You find it in the frozen section.

For everything else

Fry's Family is my first choice.

You can find them in most health shops and at online at Ocado.

Question: It seems that almost all meat replacements in the UK have eggs. Are there any good vegan alternatives?

A vegan alternative to Quorn?

Quorn now offers vegan options, and The Redwood Wholefood Company has a range of vegan meat substitutes. In the UK, Sainsbury's own brand and the Vegan Society are good places to look.

Look to the Vegan Society for suggestions in the UK. You can also try seitan, tofu and quorn for just a few examples.

You could try products such as seitan, tofu or quorn. Some supermarket brands also do vegan meat.

The Vegan Society has good suggestions for vegan meat.


I've noticed that salty food has somewhat of an addictive quality; people who eat a lot of it (i.e. fast food or other processed food) tend to bury their meals under a mountain of salt, whereas people such as myself who do a lot of home cooking hardly use (or want) any.

"Season to taste" means pretty much what it sounds like; add however much salt (and other spices)

that you, personally, like the taste of.

If you have a habit of eating a lot of salty foods, then you might want to add a little less than that, for the benefit of people like me who gag at heavily-salted foods.

If you use a lot of other spices, you won't need much salt -

a few shakes of the shaker is enough.

If the food is basically bland aside from the salt (and maybe pepper), then you'll need to use more.

The best thing to do is add a little, then taste, and repeat as many times as it takes to get the flavour you want.

If the food you're seasoning is still raw (and can't be eaten raw), then just put in a small amount the first time you make it and keep track of how much table salt you needed to add.

Just remember, you can always add salt later, but a dish that's too salty is permanently ruined.

Salting food has a predictable trajectory.

Think of it like a roller-coaster. /\

At first it's not great, then it's great, then it's not great again.

Food with no salt will taste one-dimensional and flat.

The flavors will not "pop".

Add a little salt and the taste of a dish will start to both integrate and become more complex.

With the perfect amount (differs by palette), the dish will just taste great, with all flavors easily identifiable and balanced

(this partly depends on getting other elements of the dish right).

As you oversalt somewhat, the dish will begin to have a sharp but one-dimensional quality, an edge to it.

Some people like this.

It is what many people become addicted to.

As you go beyond this point, the dish begins to taste like, salt.

It has a briny quality that will make your mouth uncomfortable.

As many have mentioned, it's a lot easier to make something more salty than less, so add salt gradually and regularly .

Few beginning cooks know that adding small amounts of salt multiple times enhances the cooking process, allows flavors to meld, and lessens the likelihood of oversalting all at once.

It's a little more complicated to ask how much.

Different people have different palates, depending on what they're used to.

But more importantly salt doesn't just make stuff taste good.

We shouldn't jut sprinkle it on the end of a dish.

Otherwis

the dish just tastes...

Salty Salt affects the water balance in the cells, it can plump up moisture ( brining a turkey- brings in other flavour, and it can remove moisture

( salting sautéed mushrooms extracts more water, creating more browned / flavorful mushrooms.

We really should season as we go.

Salt a little at various stages of your cooking.

Err on the side of caution.

And season at the end- to taste.

The idea is that you shouldn't have add too much salt to get it right.

You'll end up with a much tastier, more complex flavor profile.

And you'll likely use less salt as well.

Unfortunately, there isn't much replacement for experience in this area.

With experience, you know exactly how much salt to use, which type of salt, at which time.

Practice and screw it up a lot.

In the interim, just keep trying General rules though:

Foods served cold need more salt.

A properly seasoned hot dish will be under seasoned when cold Starches absorb salt - potato salad needs to be salty, the next day it will be less salty Or potatoes in a stew will suck out the salt, you'll need to reseason

For these reasons, chefs always season their mise en place, then when finishing the dish, alwfays check the seasoning.

I would say it depends.

Some recipes need salt to work.

If you use yeast, you need salt to control the gross.

If the usage of salt is for taste, I first look if I can use a healthier substitute.

This depends on the particular dish, however, since in my family we all like hot spicy food, we usually do not need any salt.

Instead we enjoy the healthy benefits of turmeric, ginger and other spices that even make the food tastier than with salt.

Salt to taste means exactly that.

You add a bit, taste it and then repeat the process until you like the result.

Of course that once you've done the process a lot on different dishes, you will have a feeling for how much to use and you'll have to repeat the process less or even skip it completely, but what's the fun of cooking without tasting.

For things you cannot taste and repeat (like when cooking meat on a grill) my taste is to add a pinch on each side of the meat, evenly distributed.

No way to tell what's yours so... Rule of thumb: It's best to err on the side of missing salt than the other way around, so be shy.

At worst you'll have to use salt on the table to fix it, but it'll be edible.

Salt to taste.

As others have written.

Add a pinch of salt.

Stir.

Wait.

Taste.

Repeat.

I use very little salt for myself, so my rule of thumb is that when I start tasting it's salty , I'm done.

My wife need far more salt than that.

Question: I find it hard to figure out how much salt to add to dishes. I'm always afraid I'll make it too salty. Recipes always call for salt to taste, but what does that mean?  Is there a good rule of thumb?

How much salt should I add to a dish?

There is a wide range of personal preference here, but when cooking it is better to add a little at a time throughout the cooking process to avoid over salting and allow the flavours to blend. When using a lot of other spices, less salt is usually necessary.

It is better to be cautious and add a little salt but do it several times, then adding lots of salt at the end. It really depends on your taste.

The more salt you eat the more you need.

It is better to salt a little but do it several times during cooking.

If you use other spices then use less salt.

You will need to develop your own experience.


There's a replacement, but it's not an ingredient most people have sitting around -- flax seed.

I use it when I'm cooking for a few of my friends who are vegans.

Grind up some flax seed in a coffee grinder.

For each egg, take 1 TB of flax seed meal, and 3 TB of water.

Stir it up and let it sit for a while -- it'll get kinda slimy.

Use that in place of the eggs.

Obviously, this won't work for anything where the whites and yolks are used separately, but I've used it for years for Christmas cookies -- the only problem is that the dough doesn't hold together quite as well when you're dealing with refrigerator cookies.

update :

it's also a good idea to make friends with your neighbors.

I've known the folks living in one of the houses behind me since high school ...

we've been known to call each other up when we're short on sugar / flower / eggs / milk / vanilla, etc.

I've cooked a number of batches of cookies based on small variations of this recipe , which is very simple and requires no eggs.

I generally use a little more oil and water than the recipe recommends, but perhaps that's just my preference.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this question

the Tool song "Die Eier Von Satan".

Its lyrics are a recipe for cookies that have no eggs in German .

After reading the recipe in English, it had occurred to me that it is probably not far off a recipe for shortbread.

I realize that you had asked for substitutes for eggs, but maybe a better alternative is to make a different kind of cookie.

Shortbread cookies are awesome and tasty and the recipe is simple. ...

and no eggs!

From allrecipes.com

* 2 cups butter* 1 cup packed brown sugar* 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour Directions Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Cream butter and brown sugar.

Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour.

Mix

well.

Sprinkle board with the remaining flour.

Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough flour to make a soft dough.

Roll to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut into 3x1 inch strips.

Prick with fork and place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

I just make no-bake cookies when I want a quick dessert with no eggs.

There are a number of recipe variations available with or without peanut butter, marshmallows, oatmeal or coconut, cocoa or chocolate chips.

I usually have the ingredients in the pantry for some version, and the nice thing is that I don't have to turn the oven on and heat up the kitchen - however these cookies do not travel well here in the American southwest as it is hot enough outside (currently 111 degrees F) to remelt them

and you just end up with a bag of melted cookie goo.

This is a pretty good page of vegan egg substitutions .

You can substitute canned pumpkin for eggs.

I have a very simple recipe for egg less almond cookies...

**Ingredients:** 1.5 cups whole wheat flour / atta 3/4 cup sugar (powder coarsely if using regular white sugar)

1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sliced almonds 3/4 tsp green cardamom seed coarsely powdered 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature About 2-3 tablespoons of milk (only if you need it)

*Method:** 1.

In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.

Next add soft butter (and milk if needed) to the flour mixture to make dough.

Dough should be very soft.

Divide the dough into small balls.

Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 0.5 inch in thickness.

Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper about an inch apart. 4.

Pre-heat oven to 360F / 180C.

Bake the cookies for about 18-20 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.

After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven.

Let the cookies cool down for 5 minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

Note:

Make sure that the butter is completely soft and at room temperature, otherwise you will get crumbly dough when you mix and end up adding more milk than necessary, which will make the baked cookies more crackly and hard.

These are absolutely delicious and the flavour of cardamom makes it extra special.

Question: I'd like to make some biscuits (cookies), but I have no eggs, and I don't want to leave the apartment.  Can I use something else?

How can I make cookies with no eggs?

Flax seed and pumpkin can be used, but a better option may be to use a recipe for a different kind of cookie without eggs.

Why not trying make another kind of biscuit that doesn't need eggs. Otherwise, you can try flax seed or canned pumpkin as replacements.

You can use flax seed or canned pumpkin as a susbtitute.

Try making no-bake cookies or a different kind of biscuit that requires no eggs.


Put salt on the eggplant and let it sit for an hour to drain out the bitter fluids.

Rinse with water afterwards to remove the salt.

One old trick is to cook the aubergine in a pan without adding any fat or water .

Just put them in a covered pan on moderate heat.

After a while the aubergines will start "sweating".

Uncover and continue cooking and stirring until they have lost about half of their volume.

Then add oil and proceed as directed by your recipe.

You will notice that, since the spongy structure of the aubergine has collapsed, they will absorb much less oil.

As @jmoeller says, slice and salt the eggplant.

Preferably wait for an hour, but even 15 minutes takes out some.

I usually just use a papertowel to remove bitter fluids and most of the water.

If you then desire them fried, but not too much oil.

Frying in the oven requires much less oil.

If you want to make eggplant Parmesan without frying the eggplant at all, you can slice, dip in egg and breadcrumbs, then place on a baking sheet in the oven at 350F for 5-7 minutes on each side.

Then use to prepare Parmesan as usual.

In this dish, it never tastes bitter to me.

Grill them.

Slice, salt, wait, rinse as per previous answers.

Lightly brush them with oil, garlic, and herbs provencal.

Put on a grill until you get zebra stripes on both sides.

Move to top rack, and let them bake while you do your steaks.

You're half right, after slicing (I do 1 to 2 cm slices; 1/2 to 3/4 inch) and salting, stack the slices and put a towel or plate at the bottom of your stack(s) of slices and a weight at the top.

Have come up with some interesting weights, rocks from the stream, large cans of vegies, gallon jug full of water, etc.

After the stack has shrunk by half, remove the eggplant and rinse and dry it; the texture will be more like a very tender meat slice than the mushyness you are talking about.

Question: I love cooking with eggplant (or aubergine/brinjal in your specific English flavor).   However to get rid of the bitter taste and slightly spongy texture, I end up using huge amounts of olive oil, which tends to make the dish heavy overall. I've had some success with grilling the eggplant, but for sauté or oven baking I always grab my oil and apply liberally.   Are there any tips/preparations I can use to reduce the bitterness and sponginess of eggplant using less oil?

Preparing eggplant with less oil

Slice and salt the eggplant, then leave for an hour to drain. Paper towels can be placed underneath and a weight placed on top to help the process. Eggplant can be fried without fat or water, or breaded and baked in the oven at 350F for 5-7 minutes on each side.

You can salt eggplant to draw out the bitterness. You can also add a weight to speed up the process. You can also try coating in egg and breadcrumbs or dry frying.

Put salt on the eggplant to dry the bitterness out.

Dip in egg and coat in breadcrumbs before frying.

Slice and stack on a plate, add salt and a weight on top.


Never tried anything like this, but you asked for ideas...

Can you even frost the cake with them w/o them reacting?

If they only react w/ water, you may be able to get them in a fat-based frosting.

Especially if you use this for the middle frosting of a two-layer cake, this may work.

If you really want them in the cake itself, and they don't react with the baked cake (it has water still, I bet they do)

you could make a double-layer cake, and insert them into the hidden surfaces (e.g., the bottom of the top layer and the top of the bottom layer).

Just make some slits and put them in.

I was speaking to a chef at the weekend who makes chocolate with space dust in it, and this works ok because the chocolate doesn't have any water.

You might be able to make chocolate chips which have space dust in them, mix these in to you mixture and hope that the cake sets before the chocolate melts and lets the space dust get into contact with the moisture in the mix.

Not sure if there is anything you can do to the chocolate which will raise the melting temperature, which would also help.

EDIT

: I asked this question which might help.

As stated, moisture is your enemy in this endeavor.

Do some tests to see what does and does not react with the pop rocks.

Then if you find something that will be able insulate the pop rocks from the moisture involved in making a cake, experiment in coating the pop rocks to protect them.

After this, you can go about your cake making being careful of the pop rocks.

My guess is that something fat based might coat the pop rocks without making them fizz.

This might not end up in a very desirable end result though.

I've had success before making a rich chocolate torte, then putting the pop rocks in the base mixture.

There is a light crackle lost initially but it's good enough to refrigerate and still have a decent pop that day and the next.

I certainly surprised my guests with it!

Here's the original Heston Blumenthal recipe I used .

Pop rocks is a candy made with carbonation, so that while it dissolves on your tongue, the embedded bubbles pop.

Any exposure to water will make the pop rocks into just an expensive brand of sugar.

Same goes for thorough mixing, which would break down the candy and release the bubbles.

I would try folding the pop rocks into butter cream frosting, or sprinkling on top.

Hopefully the relatively low water content of the frosting will keep the pop rocks from dissolving before the cake is served.

Time is your enemy here, since it can absorb water from the atmosphere.

Question: I want to build a cake with Pop Rocks / space dust. Has anyone got any ideas on how I would do this? If I add the Pop Rocks straight to my cake mixture, then I believe it'll just react. Any suggestions?

Cooking cakes with Pop Rocks / Space Dust

Moisture and time are the enemy here, but a rich chocolate or fat-based frosting might prevent the pop rocks from absorbing water and reacting.

Moisture and time will make this difficult to achieve. You can try mixing into something fatty, like butter cream frosting.

Moisture will be a problem here. You will need to work fast.

Try mixing into the base of a torte or into butter cream frosting. The fat might protect them from moisture.


The recipe on my bag of brown rice says: 1:2 ratio of rice and water

No salt in the water Cook for 35 minutes Rest for 5 minutes

Remove any surplus water

They always come out good and soft :-)

I usually pop my rice into a pan, shake the pan to even the rice out across the bottom of the pan.

I then add cold water to cover roughly half way up my thumb where my thumb is touching the surface of the rice.

Place onto the hob and quickly bring to the boil and then immediately turn down to the lowest setting on the smallest ring and cover with a lid.

Leave the rice to cook for around 30-35 minutes.

Don't be worried if it looks like it's going to dry out, the steam in the pan under the lid will keep things moist.

Don't be tempted to remove the lid to check on things, you'll lose all the moisture/steam and it'll dry out/stick.

I don't worry about the ratio at all when I cook brown rice.

I find the following pretty bullet proof: Fill with enough water that it won't all evaporate / absorb and bring to a boil.

Add brown rice and simmer 30 minutes.

Drain the rice and Put it back on in a steamer basket to steam for 10 minutes.

Great quality and a very consistent result.

Before I got my fuzzy-logic rice cooker, I would use 2.5 cups water per cup of long grain brown rice.

Take it to boiling, and then 45 min.

covered, with the heat about as low as it'll go on a gas stove.

If you see much boiling, you've got the heat too high.

After 45 min., turn off the heat, fluff, and let it sit 15 minutes before serving.

If the water is evaporating on you, you have the heat up too high, or a poorly fitting lid.

Rice cooker does the job perfectly, every time.

You're not doing anything wrong.

Brown Rice can be weird like that.

Just pop some more water in, and keep cooking it.

If there is no water - add some more water.

If the rice still tastes undercooked, cook it some more.

Brown rice can be a bit chewier than white rice, so it may be worth finding someone who cooks with brown rice to tell you when it's done.

My grandmother always let her rice sit in water a couple of hours before she even cooks it.

Since it is already measured out all she has to do is turn it on.

We usually used the electric cooker for convenience but the stove works just the same.

Most Koreans and Japanese let their rice soak in water even overnight.

The rice comes out perfect, not soft not hard just the right amount of bite.

A new article from America's Test Kitchen suggests that the best way to cook brown rice is by the immersion (or pasta) method, cooking the rice in rapidly boiling water.

They suggest the advantages are: The hotter water cooks the rice faster, reducing cooking time to approximately 25 minutes (not counting the time to bring the pot of water to a boil)

The rice is all immersed, and so evenly absorbs water, preventing hard or under hydrated patches

Question: Apparently the ratio of water to rice for brown rice is 1.5:1. I simmered my rice for about half an hour with the lid on the pan and the rice was still hard and the water nearly all gone. What am I doing wrong?

What's the best way to cook brown rice?

A 1:2 ratio may work better, but brown rice is less predictable than white and may actually cook better using the immersion method like with pasta.

Brown rice often needs more water than it says on the packet. It doesn't matter if you have to add more.

Don't worry about the ratio, brown rice sometimes needs more water.

The best way to cook brown rice is to immerse it in boiling water, like pasta.


For your application you may want to use agar.

It is easy to find, gels at room temperature, and will remain so to about 90C.

The acidity of the orange juice will slowly (a few days) break down the agar, but it should give you enough time for a dish.

Other agents include: sodium alginate carrageenan xantham gum

A good description of the gelling agents from a cooking perspective can be found in the sites on molecular gastronomy such as tech blog of the French Culinary Institute or Martin Lersch's hydrocolloid recipe collection.

Corn starch will set acid fruit to a soft jelly, but it will go very soft at high temperatures.

If you coat sweet moulds with chocolate and cool them well, you can fill them quite successfully with cooled but not yet set jellies.

You might try modified tapioca starch, if you can heat the base of the jelly enough to set the starch; I've only used the regular form, but the processing of "modified" tapioca is supposed to remain stable at temperature (somewhere near 50C)

I'm also not sure how well tapioca handles acids (which 'orange jelly' might be); I know agar has issues with acid.

For a list and description of alternative gelling agents, see Cook's Thesaurus:

Gelatins (and possibly, Starch Thickeners )

The only ones I'm familiar with are" Leaf gelatine - made from animal protein Powdered gelatine - made from animal protein

Agar Agar - made from seaweed Arrowroot - made from plant material

Pectin - made from plant material Any of the above are, suitable for making a variety of items.

such as jam, jellies, marmalades etc.

The degree of 'firmness' of the product is related to the quantity of gelling agent to the amount of water.

I haven't used it, but I've heard that Agar-agar can be used to solidify hot things.

Question: I recently was making some orange jelly which was going to be dipped in chocolate.  I couldn't use gelatine to set the jelly as it returned to a liquid below the temperature of the melted chocolate.  What other gelling agents could I have used, and what are their properties?  I'd like to expand my knowledge of what does what so I can choose the best agent for setting a jelly in a particular situation.

What are alternative gelling agents to gelatine? And what are their properties?

Agar and tapioca starch can remain solid at higher temperatures, but cornstarch will go soft. Increasing the amount of gelling agent will increase the firmness.

You can make firmer jellies by adding more setting agent. Agar agar would work well in this case. You can also use corn starch and modified tapioca.

Corn starch will work for soft jellies. You can also try tapioca starch.

The firmness of the jelly will depend on the amount of product used.


You can rescue it by starting the process again, with an egg yolk in a bowl over a bain-marie which you whisk until it starts to thicken a little. then incorporate a little warm melted butter into the egg yolk.

Once this is incorporated you can slowly start to add the split hollandaise and this should then incorporate into the new base, unsplit.

There is a video here

Jacques Pepin, in his book "Complete Techniques", recommends to try first save the mixture as soon as you see it starts getting oily around the edges, by adding a tablespoon of cold water or an ice cube and beating well.

If that doesn't save it, then: Separate the mixture completely by stirring over heat.

Tilt the pan and let rest for 5 minutes

so the oily part comes to the top whereit can be removed (but don't discard).

Start with 2 tsp of warm water in a bowl and add 1 tbsp of the thick sauce at a time, whisking in until smooth at each addition.

Start adding back in the oily part, beating it in like you were making the sauce from the start.

If any parts have scrambled, put through a strainer.

This technique works well.

If your sauce starts to split take the pot off the heat immediately and put he entire pot in the sink in an inch of ice cold water to cool it quickly.

Add a tsp of ice cold water to the sauce and whisk vigorously.

May have to add a 2nd tsp but don't add too much at once.

If you find your sauce splitting often try a little lower heat or a copper pot for better heat distribution.

To hold the sauce at temp a thermos works well.

What I do is to take the pot off the heat, then put a clean pot on the heat and add between a tea spoon and a table spoon of lemon juice.

Then gradually add the split sauce from your original pot a table spoonful at a time, or at a very slow trickle.

Whisk the sauce all the time.

It works like a charm.

We put it back in the blender and pulsed a few times.

Good as new!

If a sauce has separated, take it off the heat, throw in an ice cube, stir.

Saved me many times.

Add a splash of cold milk and whisk.

It is smooth and glossy within seconds.

Question: I made a hollandaise sauce on the weekend and it split so I threw it out and started again but I was wondering if there is anything you can do to save it once it splits?

How can I fix a hollandaise sauce after it has split?

Remove from the heat and add a teaspoon of water, cold milk or an ice cube as soon as it starts separating, then beat well. You can also restart the process by whisking an egg yolk over a bain-marie until thickened, then adding a little warm melted butter. You can also pulse it in a blender a few times to recombine.

You can add some melted butter and another egg yolk. Alternatively, add some cold water, cold milk or an ice cube.

Add some melted butter to an egg yolk and add in.


My wife loves bacon that's cooked to the cusp of burning, so I've got a good knowledge of the properties of bacon on that fine line.

It's so brittle, you can powder it very easily.

I myself would probably just stick it in a plastic bag, and whack it a few times with a pan, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't put it in the blender.

I have a nice mortar and pestle I use for powdering things, but that's probably overkill in this case.

You can make bacon powder simply by frying some bacon until it becomes crispy (don't let it burn) when done place on paper towel for until cool then wizz it in a food processor with a little fine powdered sugar.

Keep wizzing until it stops sticking and you have a fine powder.

I suggest cooking the bacon in a fry pan with some water.

This allows the fat to render and produces crispy bacon.

Add enough water to cover the bacon in a fry pan Cook until fat is rendered and water evaporated Cool bacon Pulverize in a food processor Alternate Modernist Method 1. Render bacon as in step 1 and 2 above 2.

Separate the liquid fat and cool 3.

Combine bacon fat with tapioca maltodextrin in 60:40 ratio by weight 4.

Pulverize in a food processor

To make the bacon to make power out of I have a trick.

Place

the bacon on a wire pan grate and let them cook in a oven on medium heat.

The fat will then drip off leaving a bacon-chip.

(Remember to have something below collecting the dripping fat.)

/L

( Wire pan grate : An non-English, I am not sure I use the right term.

Normally in for the oven there is a wire-grid which you can place pot and pans on.

Am I using the right term?

So please edit here!)

You could try to freeze the cooked bacon.

Then quickly put it in a cold blender or coffee grinder.

I don't like bacon that's well done

I think it tastes burnt.

Using this method will allow you to get it in a powder before the fat starts to melt.

The ultimate would be to put the bacon in liquid nitrogen then blend it.

If you literally want a powder, you can use a standard blade coffee grinder.

Not the ones where the coffee goes in one end and then comes out another, but the ones where you take off the lid, fill it up, put lid back on and grind, then dump it back out (just a blade at the bottom of a bowl).

I have used this device to powder many different things.

Just get some nice crispy bacon and use a paper towel to get the grease off, then crumble it up and stuff it in there.

It will powder it very quickly, like 8 seconds.

Again, this is if you really want a powder rather than just bacon bits that you would get from pounding it with a hammer.

Render out the bacon fat by cooking the bacon in the oven on a broiler pan.

The fat will drain off the slotted top into the bottom Rough chop the bacon with a chef's knife or meat cleaver Place chopped bacon in food processor or blender and process to desired texture.

Cook bacon in oven or frying pan to medium well, drain, pat dry and place in dehydrator afew hours, checking often till desired doneness is reached.

Then either powder in grinder or pulverize for bits.

Dehydrating will make for a long lasting product

I am mixing up a batch right now.

I use store bought bacon bits, and a dehydrator.

Dehydrate bits for 3 hours at 155 degrees, then grind in a coffee grinder and back in the dehydrator for another 3 to 6 hours.

Then grind again to a powder.

Question: I want to make bacon powder, I assume the means cooking all of the fat out without burning the meat.  Is this right?  if so how should I do this?  If not what should I do?  How should I turn the bacon into powder?  just in a blender?

How can I make bacon powder?

Fry the bacon until crispy, then crush or blend it when cool. A dehydrator can also be used with bacon bits.

You can create the powder by whizzing it up in a food processor, using a coffee grinder or a dehydrator.

You could try using a food processor to blend it up.


Use a salted ice-water bath.

The water increases the contact and heat dissipation, and adding salt allows the temperature to go below freezing.

The mythbusters actually did this one once, and their conclusion was that the best and easiest way was indeed to simply add some salt to the water.

Using a paper towel, wrap it around the bottle 2 or 3 times

Gently wet the paper towel.

You want it to be damp, but not soaking.

Enough so that the paper sticks to the bottle, but not dripping.

Place in the freezer for 5 - 7 mins.

I've used this for chilling wine and long necks .

This works for cans of beer.

Make a pile of crushed ice Lay the beer can on the ice on its side Press the can into the ice so about 1/2 of the can is under the ice

Start spinning the can, it should spin freely on the ice

Continue spinning until the can is sufficiently cold Using this method

I can cool a beer that's been sitting out in the sun in under two minutes.

I agree with Kevin's salted ice-water bath, but I find chucking a few tinnies in the freezer works as well.

Just remember to remove them on time or you're going to have a bit of a clean-up job.

Here comes the science!

The Goal:

Transfer heat from the warm object to the surrounding environment, as quickly as possible.

Theoretical concepts:

Heat is transferred via the surface area (which is fixed in a beercan)

But, we want as much of our heat sink in contact with thesurface as possible.

This suggests that a liquid is better than asolid.

(as solids, such as crushed ice contains voids, which are insulators.)

Keep in mind the square-cube ratio -- Volume varies as the cube, Surface area varies as the square.

This means that small beers have a better SA:V ratio than large beers, and will cool faster.

The rate of Heat transfer is related to the difference in temperature between the heat source and the heat sink.

(Which is changing, as the source cools and the sink warms up).

Phase change (Latent Heat of Fusion) allows a sink to absorb heat while staying at the same temperature.

Discussing point 3, the corollary is that when ice melts at 0 degrees C, it takes a whole lot of heat to break the crystal lattice and convert to liquid.

This means that melting ice will "grab" heat out of the beer faster than solid ice warming up, or liquid water warming up.

So at this stage, what we want is ice mixed with water, just below the melting point.

Add beer cans, and the beer will "suck the cold" out of the ice as it melts, bringing the entire system near to freezing fairly quickly.

(in a matter of 10 -15 minutes).

Still not fast enough?

Then we need to go to a different universe where the melting point of water is colder.

(Or add salt to the water, which will lower the melting point, causing the whole reaction to occur at a lower temperature, giving us a speed boost as to Bullet #2.)

Still not fast enough?

Well, if you've got liquid nitrogen on hand, you're over prepared for your unpreparedness.

You could have just stuck the beers in the fridge.

I throw my brew right into the ice cube reservoir in the ice-maker in my freezer.

This way it sits in ice as well as is in the freezer at zero degrees.

I apply this to champagne as well, and it actually works well.

Wrap the beers in wet paper towels or wet rags and put in the freezer.

Its really is quite effective and doesn't need salt or ice.

This video shows what a difference it can make: http://youtu.be/Nf8rKvZWQrY

A bit un-exciting

but.

I usually put a bottle/can in the freezer and put a timer on 15 minutes.

Or, if it is really urgent, pour into a glass and add 3-4 ice cubes.

Heresy, I know, but it creates something cool to drink fast. /L

Water bath is best as suggested (I am not going to write that out again), but if you want to do it even faster then get the water moving around too.

A small pump that just pumps the water back in at an angle will do

(I am thinking large fish tank one OR water fountain).

A good whirl pool effect is fine if it is white wine but not so much as to fizz up the beer mind!

You should be abel to cool a whole case in just a few minutes.

Question: We all know the situation.  The party is about to begin, it's really hot outside and we forget to put the beer (or similar drink) into the fridge...  What is your way to chill beer really fast?

How to chill beer quickly?

A salted ice water bath was the best and easiest way in a Mythbusters study, but putting the bottle or can wrapped in wet paper towels or rags into the freezer for 15 minutes is also effective.

You can cool drinks quickly in a salted ice-water bath or in the freezer.

You can cool drinks quickly in a salted ice-water bath.

You can cool drinks quickly by putting them in the freezer for a short time.


I don't believe there is a fool-proof way to determine 'ripeness' without taking a slice out of it.

The best you can do is look for certain signs: Ripe melons have a hollow sound when you tap or slap the outside Look for the patch where the melon would have been on the ground (called the field spot).

If it's a yellow colour its probably ripe, if it's white, it's probably not.

It should feel relatively heavy when lifted Weird areas on the skin aren't necessarily bad.

insects may have tried to start eating the fruit because it is ripe, but have only marred the surface.

Unfortunately, melons don't continue to ripen once picked, unlike fruits such as apples, bananas etc.

which contain ethylene.

As a tip don't store melons with these kinds of fruit, they may well go 'soggy'.

Extra:

NYtimes video on picking the right watermelon .

As pulse said, colour is a good indicator and give them a tap

and they'll have a nice hollow sound.

The other thing I do is pick them up...

I don't know why, but ripe melons tend to feel "heavy" for their size.

Shake it.

If you hear things moving inside, it's overly ripe.

Press it.

If it squeaks a little, it's just OK.

If it doesn't, it's either unripe or already wilting.

Knock on it with your finger, like if you'd be knocking on a door.

It has to sound just a tiny little bit hollow.

Too hollow means overly ripe, not hollow at all means unripe.

For melons other than watermelon, always smell them, they should have a good aroma.

Unfortunately this does not usually work for watermelons.

The color and weight are usually the best indicators.

I just saw a post on rulesofthumb.com that says: A watermelon is ripe when you hear "punk" rather than "pank" or "pink" when you tap it with your finger.

I have found that if you look on the bottom of the watermelon, (where it sits on the ground), if it is yellow and the lines are straight and yellowish green then the watermelon is sweet and ripe.

If the lines are a light green and wavy then the melon is not sweet or ripe.

Knock on it lightly.

If someone answers, you've got a very special melon!

Actually, if it sounds somewhat hollow, it is ripe.

As a child we would "plug" the melons by cutting a 2" x 2" trianglebout of it.

That's a fool proof way to see if your melon it ripe.

For a sweet melon it normally takes a high sulfer soil for a sweet melon.

So you may not find any sweet ones to buy.

Thump or knock on the melon it should sound hollow.

Melons can not be picked ripe.

They bust to easy to ship in totes.

So set them in the sun for a few days.

Once you wax them to hold in moisture.

Question: Lately, every watermelon I bring home form the organic section of the supermarket has not been sweet.  Among the small, seedless varieties, I try to pick the densest. How do I know if it is ripe?  Can I ripen them at home?  Should I keep them in the fridge?

How do I pick a watermelon at the supermarket?

While it is difficult to know for sure without opening the watermelon, the patch where the melon was resting on the ground should be yellow with straight and yellowish-green lines. When you tap the watermelon, it should have a hollow sound. For other kinds of melons, a sweet smell is a good indicator of ripeness.

While there isn't a full-proof way of telling that a melon is ripe, you can look for a good aroma, color and weight. Try tapping it to see if it sounds hollow.

There is non full-proof way to tell that a melon is ripe.

Try tapping it to see if it sounds hollow. This is a sign it is very ripe.

Color and weight are good signs of ripeness.


I usually dredge the fish in plain flour first

and then the beer batter.

I actually made beer battered fish tacos for dinner last night and the batter stuck perfectly.

It probably also depends on your batter consistency.

The recipe I use says the batter should be slightly more liquid than pancake batter.

Give your fish a light dusting of corn starch before dredging in the batter.

Flour works to some extent but without gluten formation flour is working as a drying agent more than anything else.

Corn starch is, as its name implies, a starch which will actually act as a weak glue when heated wet.

Just don't pile it on.

dredge each fillet in the corn starch and tap off the excess until you're left with a thin, uniform layer.

Your batter will stick to the corn starch, which will stick to the fish.

If you did AB's recipe , you need to lightly dredge the fish in cornstarch as @yock mentioned.

You should also make sure that the batter is cold -refrigerate for 15 minutes to an hour at most.

It turns out pretty good if you follow that recipe.

If it's English style beer battered fish

the batter "shouldn't" stick to the fish

otherwise it will be too dry or soggy depending on which way you go rather than light and crisp.

To be light and crisp it should not adhere to the surface of the fish too closely.

Breaded fish is a different matter.

Take a look at the pic here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7785/golden-beerbattered-fish-with-chips

Pretty sure that the problem you are having is moisture; here's how I do it.

Take the fillets, pack them with flour and set them on a wire trivet and let them dry a bit and then shake them off then let them dry some more.

When the outside of the fish is dry to the touch I dip them carefully in the batter and cook them.

This method seals the fish inside the batter 'envelope' holding in the juices for that first delicious bite.

Note that if the batter is too thick the outside of the batter will contract so much faster than the inside that it will crack, allowing fat in and letting the juices out.

While the last of the fish is cooking I will add an egg, some cornmeal and spices etc to the left over batter and make hush puppies in the same pan I cooked the fish in.

Be sure to pat the fish dry as completely as you can.

Don't salt the fish beforehand to avoid drawing out any moisture.

Also, like Frankie suggested, dip the fish slowly into the oil.

Dipping it slowly allows some of the initial moisture to escape and lets the batter cling to the fish before there's a shell of batter holding in all the moisture.

Question: A few months back I made beer-batter fish.  I don't remember the exact recipe I used but I think I got it from foodnetwork.com.  I fried in vegetable oil at 350.  Everything came out OK, but the breading seemed to peel clean off of the fish while eating rather than sticking to it.  Are there any tricks for prep/cook to prevent this from happening?

Beer batter fish, keeping the breading from peeling right off while eating?

Don't salt the fish beforehand to avoid drawing out moisture, use a batter that is slightly more liquid than pancake batter and dust the fish with flour or corn starch before dredging in the batter.

You should coat your fish in flour or corn starch before soaking in batter. Your batter should be slightly more liquid than pancake abbter.

Soak your fish in flour or corn starch first.

The batter should be slightly more liquid that pancake batter.

Don't salt the fish as this will draw out moisture.


I second Joe's advice.

Your pans may be too thin, that would make your dishes burn easily.

You can test your pans with a simple experiment.

Place a thin layer of water in your pan (an eighth of an inch, or just enough to cover the bottom).

Turn on your burner to high.

If you have an electric stovetop let the burner glow before placing the pan on the burner.

Watch how the bubbles form in the pan.

If they are uneven over the bottom, you have hot spots.

This photo is actually uneven heating from the burner, not from a bad pan, but it shows the idea: you have hot spots.

If your pans have hot spots you need to stir more often and maybe lower the heat from what the recipe calls.

Pans with thicker bottoms and made with good electric conductors (copper or aluminum) have fewer hot spots.

Then there is what I call the Remick Maxim .

Three years ago when I decided I would learn to cook better, I went through many cookbooks and asked a lot of people for advice.

A great friend (a French restaurant level cook) told me the best advice he ever got was from the actress Lee Remick , a good cook herself.

She said: “the secret to great food is to cook it in low heat.”

Best advice I got on cooking.

Cook something in a relatively thin layer on the bottom.

See if it is obviously hotter in some places than others.

Or see if you're constantly cleaning burned food off of some places and not others.

The major selling points of pricey pots are heat distribution and nonstick.

You already know if you want more nonstick, so what you want to look for is heat distribution.

This seems like it would be a difficult thing to objectively measure.

I personally have never done that.

However, I will offer some nerdy ideas and suggestions.

These are approaches I would actually try myself if I ever had the time or inclination.

First, I think bmargulies suggestion to try cooking things is a good approach.

The intent is to see if there are hotspots.

However, I think you might be better off with objective measureable results.

I'd suggest getting a hand-held infrared thermometer (e.g. Fluke 62

Mini Infrared

Thermometer

[I haven't personally used this]) and measuring different things.

Some ideas: Measure heat distribution and try to find hot spots.

A good pan will have an even distribution, and should have no strong hot spots.

If there are hot spots, how much hotter are they?

Timing how long it takes the pan to reach a specific temperature, given a specific flame setting.

Turn off the heat source once the pot is at temperature and measure how well it retains heat.

Does it cool evenly?

I surmise this is likely to be related to the previous ideas.

@Harlans's flour trick works, but the problem is in looking at it afterwards, as it might get stirred up too much to give a good picture.

I would think a crepe would be a good test -- you'd be able to flip it out and get a good picture of how the heat was across the bottom of the pan.

An omelet might work well, as well, but they both sometimes have problems with sticking.

You could also try a thin layer of water (maybe 2cm or 3/4"), and put it over high or medium high heat, and watch to see which areas are bubbling.

+1 to the flour trick.

An IR thermometer would be nice to test the temp of your pans, but for evenness the flour trick is best.

Although I am curious about how hot they actually get--just not $85-curious.

Here are my results with the flour test:

My cast Iron pan has a huge hot spot right in the center.

I tested 3 different levels, high (9), medium (5), and low heat (3) on an electric range.

The high heat had the greatest hotspot and the coolest edges.

The lowest setting heated more evenly but took a long time to heat up, 25+ min.

Cast iron conducts heat poorly and unevenly but retains it.

I also believe the hot spots occur because the high sides sap heat away from bottom's outer edge.

It would be interesting to compare a the pan to a griddle.

My stainless steel pan with the aluminum sandwich core heated very evenly on medium (5).

I only tried one setting.

Yes, there were minor variances, but nothing compared to the cast iron pan.

Also, it heated much faster.

Overall I was really impressed by the pan's ability to heat quickly and evenly.

The photos speak for themselves.

This is the cast iron on 3, 25+ min vs. stainless w/alu core, ~8 min.

Edit: I tried to post images

but I can't because I'm a "new user".

I wish SE would let me carry my Stack Overflow credits into other forums.

I'll try to post images once I have the 10 points. :(

New answer to an old thread since commercial conditions have changed: The actual heat distribution in a cooking vessel (in combination with heat source) can be well examined with a thermal imager - technology which was hardly commercially viable ($1000+) to the curious enthusiast in 2010, but has gotten more affordable looking at it from a 2017 standpoint (especially devices using existing smartphones as platforms, available below $200).

Question: Am I looking for the ratio of burnt dishes to fine dishes? Well-cooked to not? My general happiness? When should I replace a pot or pan? I am unsure where to begin.

How can I measure the performance of my stovetop pots and pans?

If you regularly burn food, the pans may be too thin or have uneven heat distribution. Thermal imagers are now a lot more affordable, and can show you if the surface is heated evenly.

Think about if you are often cleaning burnt food off pans. You can test heat distribution with a thermal imager, infrared or thermometer.

If your pan is too thin, then it will burn easily. See if some pans are burning more than others.

A good pan should be non stick and have good heat distribution.

You can test heat distribution with a mini infrared, a thermometer or a thermal imager on a smartphone app.


If you have a metal strainer then I Fill a large pot with water.

Just enough

so it almost comes up to the bottom of the strainer when you place it on top.

Insert

the strainer so it is balanced above the water.

Fill strainer with vegetables and cover with a lid Boil Take off when the vegetables are steamed to your specifications Enjoy

I can't understand why all posts suggest putting enough water to reach the bottom of the strainer containing the vegetables.

That way you are boiling them!

They call it steaming because you use steam to do the cooking, the more water there is and the closer

it is to the stuff being steamed the more nutrients and flavors that will be washed away.

When steaming on regular pots I only use enough water so that it won't evaporate.

Some lids for regular pots have a hole to let steam off, If that's the case I close it with a bit of kitchen paper.

Additionally, you only need enough heat to keep the existing steam in gas form, more pressure just means the steam will leak and you will need more water.

It might take longer than your methods, but it tastes better, try it!

If they're frozen I often stab the bag a few times with a fork and then throw it in the microwave for a few minutes.

To be safe make sure your bag is a plastic known to be microwave safe.

It will either be labeled "microwave safe", but you can also check the recycling stamp.

Type 4 LDPE is considered microwave safe plastic.

Why does your question imply that vegetable steamers can only be obtained via wedding gift?

Buying a generic steamer insert/basket is relatively inexpensive.

For example: Progressive International Easy Reach Steamer Basket

I prepare/chop the veggies, put them in a glass bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water, lay a microwave lid over it and nuke for 3 or 4 minutes.

Carrots take a bit longer, so if I'm including carrots I'll give those a couple of minutes first and then add the other veg.

Use a large pot and a metal collander.

Fill the pot with enough water so it is just below the bottom of the collander and bring it to a boil, add your veges and cover with a loose lid or kitchen towel.

Steam until desired doneness.

I had a metal steamer basket (as suggested by hobodave ), but I prefer a silicone steamer basket ...

it will last forever, is dishwasher safe, and doesn't rust or get hard to fold up.

I don't care for the steamer bags because they are wasteful (and expensive), and I don't care for the microwave because it is too easy to overcook, particularly small quantities.

My procedure ... Chop the veggies into whatever size/shape desired. Put the steamer in the pot, and fill to just below it with water.

Boil the water.

Add the veggies, keep the water boiling, cover.

Wait a few minutes, then check every few minutes.

Turn off the heat when done to your preference ..

time depends on the amount and type of vegetable and desired crispness.

Glad and other plastic bag manufacturers make microwave steaming bags - they're basically heavy duty zippered bags with a vent.

Pop the veggies in, microwave the specified amount of time, and you're done.

Here's Glad's version .

If you don't want a dedicated steamer, my rice cooker doubles as a steamer (or even at the same time).

It has a round piece of metal that sits on top of the rice bowl with holes in the bottom of it, solid sides and then the lid fits on top of it.

While you have the rice cooking, your veggies cook above.

If you don't need the rice that time, just toss some water in it and use it just as a steamer.

This is the one I have, I'm sure others also include the steamer piece.

Forget the steamer.

The easiest, fastest, cheapest, and best way I've found is to put three tablespoons of water in a large pan, put in the vegetables, and counting from when the water starts to boil, boil for two minutes on high heat with a properly fitting lid.

This makes then perfect every time.

Not mushy, soft, but perfect.

Cook another minute to make them softer.

Seriously, this method is cheap, fast, and requires no extra gadgets.

Question: Assuming you don't have a "vegetable steamer" that you received as a wedding gift, how do you steam vegetables?

How do you steam vegetables?

You can steam vegetables with a metal colander in a pot of water or a rice cooker. Alternatively, microwave the vegetables in a covered container with a couple of teaspoons of water, or boil for two minutes in a large covered pan with three tablespoons of water.

You can steam vegetables over a pot of boiling water or in the microwave with a small amount of water.

Fill a pot with water and put the vegetables over it in a metal colander.

A rice cooker will also steam vegetables.

Put them in the microwave with a few tablespoons of water.

Put a small amount of water in the bottom of a pan, add the vegetables and boil for a couple of minutes.


It's actually spelled 'roux', and is a mixture of oil and flour, cooked to remove the starchy taste of the flour.

It's a great thickener any time that you don't need the sauce to be clear, and you have time to cook it down.

I typically use it for cream sauce (including cheese sauces, such as for mac & cheese) and gravies.

As for benefits -- it's habit at this point, so I'm not really sure --

I guess it's made from things I always have on hand.

You can also get flavor from the roux, if you cook it longer , but you'll adversely affect the thickening ability.

Gumbo is normally made from a dark roux (the Cajuns have a series of names for the color of roux, including 'brick', 'peanut-butter' and 'chocolate')

A "Roux" is a mixture of 50% butter, 50% flour that is used as a starch thickener for a number of "mother" sauces (notably Béchamel, Espagnole, Velouté).

For a white sauce base, you may heat both butter and flour together in a saucepan over a low flame while combining with a wooden spatula.

After just 30 seconds mixing, you will get a consistent semi-liquid that is your "Roux".

Now, turn the heat to medium and continue stirring rapidly.

Gradually add milk, cream or other liquid as required.

As you add more liquid you can slow down your stirring speed.

The sauce should thicken in just a few minutes.

For a dark sauce base, heat the butter first on a medium/low heat for about 5 minutes until the butter takes on a nutty flavor.

It will also darken due to the sugars caramelizing.

Once you have the desired color, add the flour and continue as above.

See Sauces for more information.

as mentioned by others a 'roux' is flour and oil/butter mixed together, while under heat.

a roux is normally used for thickening sauces (usually cream/cheese type sauces).

the benefits of using a roux, are that your sauces will not get lumpy.

Try just adding flour directly to the sauce next time.

All you will get are lumps of flour in it.

Not nice!

the roux keep everything nice and smooth.

Same thing can be said about thickening with corn starch.

You mix corn starch into water (or broth) first.

Why?

because if you directly add the cornstarch to the sauce, all you get is cornstarch lumps

Typical procedure: Heat shortening (oil or butter), add flour, cook, stirring continually, for a few minutes.

Add liquid a little bit at a time.

Many sauce recipes (e.g. Mac & Cheese white sauce) are just built up this way; in other cases you'll in turn add the somewhat thinned roux to something else.

You can get roux in a jar You can also make roux in the microwave

You can even make a dry roux without any oil!

The most difficult part of making a roux on top of the stove is that you could burn it and have to start all over again.

For making gravy I prefer to make dark roux in the oven.

Melt 1 part butter in a baking dish, sprinkle with 1 part flour, bake for 30 minutes (stirring and re-spreading half way through).

This works great once you have taken the turkey or roast out of the oven to rest.

Once you have your roux to the desired color starting adding your drippings and broth for a great gravy.

Many have already answered: What exactly is a roux and when is it used.

I would only like to add more to answer your question of "what are the benefits of using it versus other cooking methods?"

As many have also said smoothness and uniformity of texture.

I would also add "Mouth feel" and flavor.

Most other thickening agents will not have the same "Mouth Feel".

Especially corn starch which tends to be more like a "Gel".

If thickening agents were paper, roux would be "matte" and corn starch would be "extra glossy".

lol

Also the final flavor and color of roux can be dramatically altered merely by adjusting the cook time.

It is truly a fundamental flavor skill to master.

I encourage you to buy some starches and thickening agents and make some small batches and taste for yourself the differences.

It is a great way to sharpen your palette.

Question: I've had excellent Macaroni and Cheese that I was told was made with a "roux."  What exactly is a roux, when is it used and what are the benefits of using it versus other cooking methods?

What is a "roux" and what are its uses?

A roux is a 1:1 mixture of flour and oil or butter, cooked to remove the starchy taste of the flour. It is used as a base for a number of "mother" sauces or to thicken sauces that don't need to be clear.

A roux is a mixture of butter and flour and is used to thicken sauces.

A roux is a mixture of butter and flour mixed together under heat.


Infrared thermometers work very well when measuring the temperature of hot oil.

For deep frying it's not a big deal, as standard probe thermometers work fine.

But for shallow frying or sauteeing, the IR thermometer does an excellent job at providing the temperature of the oil.

(Note that IR thermometers are not accurate when measuring the temperature of a dry steel pan, as the shininess makes the pan look much cooler than it is.

IR thermometers work fine on dry cast iron pans, though!)

IR thermometers work rather poorly when measuring the temperature of hot water, however!

Rather than measuring the temperature of the water surface, which is usually similar to the mass of the water due to convection, it measures the average temperature of the water vapor coming off the surface!

In my experience, boiling water measures about 200 F with an IR thermometer.

One thing I've found surprisingly useful is how accurate it is measuring the temperature of microwaved liquids.

This can be handy when bringing milk or water to 100 degrees when making yeast breads.

The convection of the liquid when heated by microwave means the surface temperature is within a degree or two of the center of the liquid, at least in my experience.

For hotter liquids, where the water vapor is cooler than the liquid, it may better to measure the side of the pan below the water level.

They can also be used to get a quick reading on the grate temperature of a grill.

Probably not as accurate as a grate mounted thermometer (sometimes seen inside a smoker) though.

Great for making yogurt & checking temp of boiling milk @ 185f + cooling to 115f.

Its critical to get the correct temp or you will kill the culture used to make the yogurt.

Works like a charm!

I bought one to measure the temperature of a firewood oven.

Immediately I noticed it was useless.

In order to bake on those ovens, you must have enough temperature in the bricks, not just it their surface.

Using the terminology: They have to be soaked.

Luckly I had built the oven with plenty of sensors between them.

But there is one dish which needs a lot of temperature in the surface of the oven: pizza.

Unluckly my I.R. thermometer could only read up to 325ºC (or so) (600 ºF).

That wasn't enough for pizza.

So I bought a new "expensive" I.R. thermometer that reads up to 900ºC (1650 ºF).

Now I know greater pizzas are made between 400ºC and 450ºC. (750~850 ºF))

You can't measure the inside temperature.

You will just get the superficial temperature which is usually almost useless.

You need a thermometer that can be inserted in the food (for example a meat thermometer) and then you will be able to do exciting things, for example the perfect temperature for frying oil (just under the smoke point) or the steak grade (raw, medium, well done).

The best use, imho, would be to make sure your oven was hitting the correct temperature.

Other than that, I can't think of anything cooking related.

As a BBQ master, I use IR thermometers to measure grills for correct temp or find hot/cold spots.

However you cannot just read the grill straight down as the IR will read the flame or flame tamers down below.

However if you cast your eye at an angle to the grill until you cannot see below and take a reading at that angle, It will read the surface accurately.

I also use the IR gun for pressure frying where the oil temp is critical before sealing.(Dont try pressure frying unless you know what you are doing)

Question: Infrared thermometers have plummeted in price in recent years, and are now inexpensive gadgets for the home cook, not to mention the pros.  What are the primary uses of an infrared thermometer in the kitchen?

What can you do with an infrared thermometer?

IR thermometers are useful for measuring the temperature of grills, hot oil or liquids other than water.

IR thermometers are useful for measuring hot oil and milk but less good for boiling water. They can be used for a BBQ grill.

IR thermometers can be used for measuring liquids like hot oil or milk and to test the temperature of a BBQ grill.

IR thermometers are not very useful for hot water.


You should throw them out.

Mussels that don't open were quite possibly dead and decomposing for an unknown period of time prior to cooking.

You don't want to take a chance here.

Just in case future readers don't know, mussels, clams, and other in-shell shellfish are still alive when you buy them, and they should be still alive when you cook them.

In the future, I would recommend the following: When washing the mussels before cooking, if any are slightly open try gently closing them.

If they react by snapping closed themselves or they stay shut, it means the mussels are alive and well.

If instead they react by immediately popping back open, throw them out (they are dead).

I've found that the majority of the dead mussels are slightly open before cooking; they rarely are completely, tightly closed.

Using this method, when you actually cook the mussels, you have a reasonably good idea that they are all alive and therefore safe to eat, regardless of whether or not they open all the way during cooking.

After cooking there will likely be none that are closed, but if there are, there will likely be few and you can discard them if you like.

When mussels don't open when cooked, it means that they were dead before you cooked them.

Don't eat them you risk becoming very very sick.

A friend of mine (professional cook) told met to steam mussels extra hot, lid closed.

In about 5' they should be open and done.

They are done when they open.

Don't leave them cooking any longer than necessary as they'll toughen up.

As far as I know, if you spray fresh live mussels with cold water they will open slightly.

If they don't open, throw them out.

Question: I bought 1/2 pound of mussels and cooked them in a cast iron skillet with a little white wine and some shrimp stock on boiling heat.  Almost all of them opened after about 15 minutes, some did not. The ones that opened were done perfectly, and those were the ones I served.  Still, in the future - should I just throw away the rest, or would a few more minutes in the skillet be in order?

How do you know when mussels are done?

Mussels that do not open when cooked were probably already dead and decomposing for an unknown length of time. Before cooking, try gently closing mussels that are slightly open, and spray closed mussels with cold water — they should open slightly if they are alive.

Mussels that don't open when cooked should be thrown away. Try to spot any open ones when washing and try to close them to see if they are still alive.

If mussels don't open when cooked, it means they were already dead and should not be eaten.

When washing, try closing any mussels that are open to see if they are still alive. You can also spray them with water to see if they react.


If you cook the sausage low, slow, and covered (with a few table spoons of water and/or onions) until properly cooked then brown to desirable crispness you are guaranteed to be eating fully cooked sausage.

Since you love bacon, I strongly recommend getting a George Foreman grill .

That way, you can cook both bacon and sausage at the same time.

I'd slice the sausage to about 1/4-1/2" thick and lay them on the grill.

Takes less than 10mins to cook both bacon and sausage, and you don't have to flip either.

Another good thing about the grill is that the slanted surface drains the grease.

Cast iron pan dedicated to cooking meat.

Once the pan is seasoned well, you need very little oil.

If you fry bacon, you can simply use its oily remnants.

Would recommend medium to medium-high temp.

Fry until golden brown on outside and fragrant, and slightly firm.

Don't be afraid to cut into one to see if the inside is finished adequately, then you will learn a timeframe that works for you.

I don't know if it's 'foolproof', but one trick I've used, when I'm not rushed, is to put some water in the pan -- you'll render off the fat in the sausage, and once the water boils off, you'll be able to brown the outside of the sausage in the rendered fat.

And yes, you can even use a stainless steel pan for this. ...

and it'll take longer to cook, as you have to take the time to boil off the water.

It helps to use a pan that's not much larger than what you're cooking, so you don't have to boil off lots of water.

I adopted a slow frying method recommended by some web site or other, and I've since stuck to that, except when I'm in a rush, because it's foolproof.

It takes an hour, but needs very little attention during that time.

Don't prick the sausages.

Fry with a tiny coating of oil, on the lowest flame you can achieve, for an hour, turning the sausages a few times.

With this method, the sausages are thoroughly cooked through.

You get beautiful sticky caramelisation on the outside, and the inside remains moist and delicious.

Since the skin won't split, pretty much all the fat remains in the sausage (which is why they'll be moist) -- so this technique is best for high quality sausages.

You should be able to tell by plumpness, color, smell and if in doubt, taste.

Additionally, if you suspect they are done but aren't sure... give them a prick with a fork.

If the juices run clear, you should be good to go.

I recommend a 6 dollar digital thermometer, available at your local grocer: you'll use it all the time once you have one.

For the record, 140F for 10 minutes, 160F for one minutes is food safe.

Pork is still going to look pink at 160F, so you're probably fine if you're at all squeamish about this.

I haven't tried it recently, but I always had problems with the sausage skin sticking to the pan.

I always cook bacon on our George Forman-type grill and sometimes do sausage on it, but these days when I have sausage I usually buy a big package of sausage meat and either slice or form it into patties and fry those.

The patties

fry fine in a stainless pan w/ grapeseed oil.

cooking.stackexchange.com/users/266/Ward - Reinstate Monica

Question: I love fried sausage with breakfast; it goes great with bacon. But I've always been a little freaked out about under cooking sausage and I don't prefer cooking the crap out of it. Is there a fool proof way of frying sausage, and if not are there any guidelines?   And for bonus points can I get away with frying it in a stainless steel skillet?  Update : I guess the meat of my question is: How do I know when it's cooked enough for eating?

Is there a fool proof way to fry sausage?

Add a few tablespoons of water to the pan, which will render off the fat in the sausage and help with browning. Test cooked sausages based on plumpness, colour, smell and taste, where necessary. A George Foreman grill may provide a better result, and a digital thermometer will give an accurate reading of the inside temperature.

Cook the sausage slowly to make sure it's cooked through but not overcooked. You can also try a George Foreman grill or a thermometer to be really certain.

Try cooking slowly with a little water in the pan.

The sausage should be plump and well browned when ready to eat.

Try a thermometer to measure the internal temperature.