One thing to try is to let the cooked rice rest for a while.

My rice cooker's pot is non-Teflon and scratched, but I've found that if I remove it from the heating element and let it rest 15-30 minutes, there is virtually no sticking.

If I try to remove the rice immediately, there is significant sticking.

I have been using Rick cooker for my whole life.

The simple answer I can give you is the problem of your rice cooker.

There are older models of rice cooker that sticks a lot and there is very little you can do about it.

It happened to me when I was little that some of the rice cookers just did that regardless of what we did.

The newer models won't do it unless inside it's scrated.

The Japanese brand rice cookers are very reliable, so you won't have problem like this.

I don't recommend you putting oil in your rice as I don't think it's an healthy option.

If there is no obvious scratches inside your rice cooker, then I think it's time to get a better rice cooker.

In my experience, it has little to do with your rice cooker model, the amount of water

(so long as it's reasonable i.e. not extremely scarce), or adding oil whatsoever (frankly, greasy white rice sounds pretty disgusting to me).

As a red-blooded Asian who loves rice and have been cooking it all my life, in various rice cooker models, using various types of rice, I used to have this problem when I was a wee beginner but eventually figured out a method to eliminate that stubborn crust:

The key is to let your rice rest for awhile after it's cooked.

When the rice cooker tab pops up to indicate your rice is done, do not immediately open the lid.

Instead, let it simmer down for a minute or two, allowing all those boiled water bubbles to settle.

Following this, open the lid

(I usually pop the cable off the socket for good measure) and let the rice steam out until cooled to your taste.

I personally leave it for five to ten minutes, and that results in just the right level of rice warmth for me, which is on the cooler side.

Your mileage may vary so test this out with different times to find a temperature that suits your liking.

And If you want to reheat the rice, it should be fine by now to simply pop the setting back on to "warm".

Voila--no more crusting on the pan.

Take into account that rice is sticky by nature, and a small amount of sticking on the pan is inevitable, but this should work to reduce that overall layer of crusting.

This is my way to prevent a hard crust on the bottom of the rice cooker pan.

I'm sure others have other ways that have been proven to work, but this one works great for me.

Note: this works for white rice in general, which is the most common and the type I'm assuming the asker was talking about.

Other types such as red or black rice would require more water and tend to crust more around the top, I have yet to successfully handle those.

My mother came up with a simple solution - add a capful of oil (she recommended corn oil) to the rice recipe.

This time around the rice scooped right out perfectly.

There are many factors at play here.

My experience is: The right ricemaker makes a huge difference.

A heavy pot (to better distribute heat) goes a long way to prevent sticking.

Many ricemakers go into "keep warm" mode upon completion.

When the rice is cooked, unplug the pot and let it sit without any additional heat added.

Make sure you stir the rice and water before starting to cook.

Just putting in rice and pouring in water (without stirring) tends to cause sticking.

Stay clear of "quick cook" mode which I believe uses a higher heat setting.

Go for a low temperature over a longer period of time.

Instead of putting 1 capful of oil to the rice, why not brush the pot bottom with oil before putting in the cleansed rice and water.

Try this out.

There is another good idea.

You can keep another vessel inside the rice cooker vessel.

But don't forget to pour enough water surrounding the new vessel.

Now you can cook what ever you want on that in the inside vessel.

Only disadvantage is this will reduce the capacity of the rice cooker, which means inside a 2 L rice cooker, you can only place a vessel smaller than that.

Question: I have a  Cuisinart  dedicated rice cooker and I  love the benefits .  However I get a little bit of stickiness around the sides of the cooker. A friend recommends a capful of oil while cooking the rice to prevent it from sticking, but I am not sure if that's a good idea?  The rice is sticking to side of the pot itself but it doesn't get burnt per se, just enough to make clean up a hassle.

How do I prevent stickiness in a rice cooker?

Some older models of rice cooker are more likely to stick, and iti s difficult to prevent this. Try adding a capful of oil or brushing the bottom with oil before adding the rice and water, and make sure you stir before starting to cook. When the cooking is finished, leave the rice to rest for a while.

Make sure you rest the rice before serving it. You can also try adding a little oil to the rice.

Stir the rice and water before cooking and let the rice rest before serving.

Older models of rice cooker can have this problem.


Remember your stages of sugar boiling and how they come out, if it's too sticky or soft it is probably down to too low a final temperature (wrong texture) or more likely too much golden syrup.

Be sparing with the golden syrup / glucose syrup, the sucrose will set in to hard sugars, but the glucose/inverted sugar syrup acts as a crystallisation inhibitor, vinegar can be used to similar effect (though does not enrich the flavour so).

It sets too, but I find too much can lead to weeping.

Also, I have heard that an overly humid environment can be a problem.

People used to say not to cook toffee on a humid day.

In nigellas recipe she says to only let it boil for 3 minutes before adding bicarb.

When I make this I let it boil for 10 minutes before removing from the heat and adding bicarbonate and mine always turn out crispy.

Correct sugar temperature is the main factor, bring it just up to the heat required, sugar will overshoot because of heat latency To improve bubble action add one teaspoon of plain white vinegar at begining of sugar heating processn

Less golden syrup...

same happened to me, try 1 tablespoon instead of 4

Did you make sure to add enough bicarbonate of soda for your sugar/syrup, AND to ensure you are not stirring the mixture once heat is applied?

That's the only thing I can think of that would cause it not to set solid.

Most likely due to not letting the toffee come up to a high enough temperature.

Made it recently , and my candy thermometer said it was at 150 degrees C, but it turned out sticky.

When I made it using the old-fashioned "drop a bit of toffee in a glass of water to see if it is at hard crack stage", it was perfect.

3 minutes sounds far too short to bring it to a high enough temperature - mine took more like 10 minutes.

I think often it can depend on the stove and whether it is electric or gas powered, but overall, as others have said, just cook it for longer.

Question: I made "honeycomb" (otherwise known as hokey-pokey, not real honeycomb) using this recipe:  http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/hokey-pokey-36  It tastes delicious but it is supposed to be crunchy / cripsy (like the inside of a Cadburys  Crunchie bar) but it actually came out really sticky, like a soft toffee.  Is this likely to be due to overcooking, undercooking, something else? How can I make sure it comes out crunchier in future?

How to make "honeycomb" less sticky?

Make sure that the sugar temperature is correct, you don't use too much golden syrup and your environment is not too humid. A teaspoon of plain white vinegar at the begining of the sugar heating process can help, or let it boil for 10  minutes before removing from the heat and adding bicarbonate.

The sugar needs to be the right temperature and use less golden syrup. Try boiling for longer than in the recipe.

Make sure the sugar is the correct temperature.

A humid environment can affect the result.

You will need to boil it for longer than the recipe says.


Tea bags will be fine for at least a year in the pantry , but even long after that, they're still safe to consume.

They just might change colour or flavour.

If your tea has an expiration date then it's just for best quality, not safety.

I've personally found tea bags sitting at the back of the pantry that were more than 3 years old, the packaging had even started to fade, and the tea was still fine.

I just had to steep it for a little longer.

My neighbor gave me some old boxes of tea she wasn't going to use.

I use them to make iced tea.

When I threw out one of the boxes, I discovered it had a best if used by date of 1997!

That pitcher tasted a little off

but it wasn't terrible.

It's funny to see westerners asking "when does tea go off"?

Answer --- it doesn't.

Here in Asia, many people drink tea that is years old, including the Chinese who have a tea that is more than 20 years old and is highly desired and very expensive to buy.

Tea does not 'go off'.

It is dried, so like any dried herb.

Like someone else said, you may have to steep it a little longer but it will never hurt you.

Stop believing all this hype about 'sell bye' dates.

It's why so much food is wasted in the west.

For sheer profit.

Nothing more.

Yes, it should be fine.

I am drinking Japanese green tea right now which has been stored in a tight tin.

It was expired in 2009.

I heard that green tea is OK to dring after its expired when I was in Japan.

However, flavour is definitely not the greatest if you know the real taste.

They suggest to keep them in FREEZER if you can.

Similar to the comments above about "freshness" tea loses it's medicinal qualities as it ages.

If you're looking to drink green tea for it's health benefits the quality matters.

Green tea that is more than 6 months old has a significant decrease in the amount of beneficial antioxidants the body can absorb.

Personally I'm a big fan of loose leaf

but if you're going to drink any brand of bagged teas my vote is for Mighty Leaf.

They're big on flavor and high in quality.

If you're looking for creative ideas on how to use old tea I've heard they make good fertilizers and also have heard of people using them as air fresheners in their sock drawers.

I believe they are now putting an expiration for the famous word Profit.

Think back, when we were kids that word did not exist.

I will agree to the possibility that the flavor may be altered, but spoiled, No!

My guess would be yes.

Though they might not be as flavorful.

I have never seen any expire dates on tea before

, I'll have to look at my tea bags when I get home.

I've had them for a while.

cooking.stackexchange.com/users/814/Echo says Reinstate Monica

Generally tea, like other dry herbs, doesn't really expire, but may loose flavor and aroma.

So while your tea bag may not taste great, it should still be ok to consume, if the tea bag hasn't come in touch with too much humidity.

Only with excessive humidity, the dry leaves may absorb it and develop mold.

Green tea, fresh white tea Green tea and fresh white teas may deteriorate faster.

This is because it contains more water relative to other teas, and therefore the leaves will oxidate and change color.

Green tea should ideally be consumed within 6 months.

If you can't, I recommend to split it in several bags.

Then leave one bag in the cabinet and store the rest in the freezer to preserve the flavor for up to two years.

Black tea, oolong tea On the other hand, teas like black tea, have very little water content left, and will therefore last longer.

When stored in an airtight jar, you'll probably be able to keep the taste fresh for two years.

White tea, pu erh tea Pu erh tea (and other dark teas) as well as aged white teas doesn't really expire, but improve in flavor due to its aging ability .

For pu erh, the older the better, while for aged white tea, it's supposed to be the best around 7 years of aging.

This, however, will depend on the specific storage conditions.

If you're interested in all the factors which are important for storing tea, you may read my guide: how to store loose leaf tea .

It's about storage for loose leaf tea, but the same principles in fact apply for tea bags as well.

Question: This box of tea has an expiration date which has passed but I would like to know if I can still use it. What do you think?

My tea bags are expired, can I still use them?

Tea is unlikely to go off, but it may lose some flavour and aroma as well as beneficial antioxidants. Some aged tea is actually highly desired and expensive in China.

Tea does not go off. The flavour and medicinal benefits will reduce over time.

Tea does not go off. The flavour will reduce as time goes on.

Tea will lose it medicinal benefits over time.


Golden Syrup improves with age according to Heston Blumenthal's "In Search of Perfection".

Here he analyses a 70 year old glass jar of Tate and Lyle Gold in the lab finding that the "older treacle contained the same flavour compounds as the normal stuff, but each was intensified".

In his recipe he fakes the ageing process by baking the tin at 70ºC (158ºF) for 24 hours noting that the flavour will continue to improve up to 100 hours.

My favorite saying is When in doubt throw it out .

Having said that you should throw that away.

The black can either be from the oxidization of the tin or it could be mold growth.

In either case golden syrup only has a shelf life of about two years; or one year after being opened, and it should be refrigerated after opening.

The granulation could be fixed by reheating but the black is not worth the risk.

Golden Syrup pretty much does not go off.

It is a blend of sugars and preserves as well, it should keep for many years.

It will crystallise slightly over time though that can usually be solved via warming.

Bacteria is highly unlikely, mould can form on it - that would be a reason to chuck it out, possibly not all of it.

The only serious issue is from the tin itself corroding, which is what the black area could be.

I've known households to use that stuff from a 20 year old tin and have no issues whatsoever.

It definitely does not need refrigerating any more than sugar does.

I've just thrown away an open tin of the syrup, as I thought it had a funny aftertaste.

Still within the sell by, but open for about a year.

Sweetheart, if you have doubts- just chuck it!It's not worth a couple bucks to eat something that you think will could make you sick full stop.

Question: I had a tin of golden syrup for a long time - longer than I care to admit. When I opened it up yesterday (to sweeten up some mulled wine), it was granular (a bit like honey can be), and black around the edges.   Is this 'bad', or just different?   Is the blackness the result of some chemical reaction with the tin?  And in general, does it eventually go off, or does it last indefinitely?

Is golden syrup with black around the edges bad?

Golden syrup is said to improve with age, but the tin might corrode and this could have caused the black area. If in doubt, it may be best to throw it out.

Golden syrup doesn't really go off unless the tin has started to corrode.

Golden syrup doesn't go off and improves with age. If the tin has started to corrode then you should throw it away.

Golden syrup has a shelf life of about 2 years.


Well there are a myriad of nice lemon recipes of course.

A decent lemon drizzle cake usually goes down well.

However, if you really have a glut, consider making a batch or two of lemon curd, or

even preserving/pickling them like the North Africans do.

I would cook a lot of lemon recipes, make salad dressing, and juice the rest of the lemons and freeze the juice in ice cube trays, then onto freezer bags after they are set.

If you are close to Seattle, WA I'll come over and pick a bushel or two. :)

I'd be most likely to go with Orbling's suggestion for lemon curd to use it up in large batches, but some other items that might be useful, depending on what cuisines you typically cook: preserved lemon (used in Moroccan cooking, basically just lemons & salt, optional spices) limoncello ( alternate procedure )

(sweetened lemon flavored alcohol)

lemon granita (sweetened lemon ice)

Candying it works too, but I had way too much candied citron as a kid, so refuse to suggest that as a solution, as I can't stand the stuff. ...

also, after juicing lemons, toss a peel down the garbage disposal (if you have one)

-- it's like a toothbrush, scraping things free and deodorizes, too.

Try making candied lemon slices or peel.

You can use any regular candied orange peel/slice recipe.

Since you probably want to use the whole lemon, check these out: http://userealbutter.com/2009/09/10/candied-lemon-slices-recipe/ http://www.browniepointsblog.com/2009/01/12/recipe-the-best-candied-orange-slices-in-the-world/ <-- takes two weeks (I'm trying it now)

If you have extra peels: http://userealbutter.com/2007/10/09/candied-orange-peels-recipe/

Put some of them in the freezer for later!

I think it works really great.

It allows you to have a summer cocktail in.. autumn!

or winter!

or spring!

And you don't need to rush to the supermarket.

I also have a stack of limes always ready.

You know: mojito and all..

Lemon pickle is popular in India.

This Sweet Lemon Pickle recipe here tells you how to prepare it in just 15 minutes.

You could try it with a small batch first to see if you like it.

Homemade lemon bars are always a hit with my family.

If you are a big pie fan, there is always lemon meringue pie.

Lemon butter is always good paired with seafood.

I am not sure how well it keeps since I have never personally made it, but thought I would give the suggestion.

Salad dressing (especially Caesar) Iced tea Marinades Sauces, especially tomato sauces Sautéed veggies Stir fries (you can use lemon in pretty much anything that needs a bit of oomph).

I agree with Izzydorio.

Use ice trays to freeze it into cubes.

You can then dump the cubes into freezer bags for longer storage.

When you need some lemon juice, you can pull out a few cubes.

I have done this for making ice tea.

A few cubes in a pitcher

and it mixes in on its own.

Need lemonade, its even better.

I have even seen it used for making a punch base.

Add a few cups of sugar to about a 1 quart container and freeze.

You can make the punch using something like Sprite, or even better Champagne. :-)

Question: We've got a lemon tree and an overabundance of lemons at the moment. Aside from lemonade, what should I do with them?

How would you use a lot of lemons?

Lemon curd, lemon drizzle cake, lemon bars, salad dressings, marinades, sauces, granitas, iced tea and other dishes can use a lot of lemons, or you can freeze the juice in ice cube trays and make candied lemon slices or peel.

Try making lemon drizzle cake, a lemon granita, candied lemon peel, lemon pickle or lemon bars. You can also freeze lemons for later.


Presumably the reason you're cooking directly on the oven rack is to let the fat drip down.

If so, do yourself a favour and get yourself a roasting rack .

It's an inexpensive piece of equipment that you place in a baking pan or on a cookie sheet; the food cooks on the rack and the pan/sheet catches all the drippings.

Way better than trying to replace an entire oven rack.

And if you really hate cleanup, you can line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and just throw the rack in the dishwasher when you're done.

I would suggest that the answer is that it isn't common.

I would normally use sheet pans/trays and a rack on top of that.

It's much easier to put food in and out of the oven that way.

If you want to continue to cook on the racks in this way there is no need to ever replace them.

When mine get really dirty

I use this oven cleaner you just put the racks in a bag with the cleaner and the next morning they look brand new.

It's probably horrible for the environment but can't be worse than producing new racks just beacuse mine are dirty.

I roast directly on rack as well using the broiler, mostly poultry(thanksgiving turkey on the rack divine).

I put the bird(breast side down)

as close as possible to the upper heating element(my broiler is the top of the electric oven), and i set the temp to 320 or so, then set the drip pan on the bottom rack, as far down as it will go.

I check back every 30 mins or so to make sure that that there arent any areas that are burning.

I flip the bird right side up at about 1 hour just to brown the skin on the breast side a bit.

Once the bird is done(at your own discretion), i let it rest for 20-30.

I dont like the idea of putting a pan directly underneath an extra rack, because in my mind, the pan limits the flow of heat to what you are baking, and still creates a humid environment directly blow that that limits the development of a crispy skin.

The cleaning aspect kinda sucks, but some oven cleaner a hot rack along with some patience is all your need

Personally, i dont clean the rack every time i roast on it, unless i plan to use a pan, or have used a pan on the rack.

Before I got a pizza stone I'd put store bought pizzas straight onto the rack as it gave a better crust.

The only reason I can think of doing it is basically laziness - I'd do it with cheese on toast if the grill pan was too dirty to use.

I'd also sometimes do baked potatoes without a tray as Id cover them with tin foil.

I would simply purchase a wire rack for cooling cookies (not coated) and place it on top of a cookie sheet.

Alternatively, place it across a glass Lasagna pan for more air flow underneath and better drip catching.

I dont know if it's common, but I use my racks to grill pork chops and steak.

I don't like the grilling outside taste

so this works for me!

A leg of lamb slow cooked directly on the rack is delicious and l would never cook lanb in a pan again.

Line the pan underneath with foil and the clean up is easy.

I have never heard of this until 5 minutes ago when I found a recipe for it.

I don't thinkit's common and I've never done this but am considering doing it with an 8 lb bone in ribeye roast because I saw a recipe for it to be placed directly on the rack.

Someone said it was lazy and many of you said to use a roasting pan, but you're missing the point: airflow.

When you use a pan, you restrict airflow

and when you combine a pan with a rack, you're still limiting airflow.

I t sounds like a brilliant idea If you want your meat crispy or crusty all over.

I don't see why you'd have to replace your oven racks, just take them out and wash them.

If you put a pan underneath,that should catch the fat.

I have a roasting rack

but I'm going to try this for Christmas tomorrow.

I suspect my dinner guests will find it odd

but I'm keeping fingers

crossed dinner willBe

so delicious they'll overlook the cooking method

Question: Is it common to cook food directly on the oven racks?  I often do this (with a container for drippings) and was wondering if this is common or if there is a better solution.  It has worked out fine for me, but sometimes replacing these racks can be costly.  I do not replace them often, and they are not very hard to clean, but I would like to get some ideas on if I am doing this wrong.

Cooking food directly on oven rack

A roasting rack over a sheet pan/tray would be a better way to do this.

Use a roasting rack with a tray built in.

It would be easier to roast on a rack with a special tray underneath for easier clean up.


Put the bowl on a scale and put the difficult ingredients directly from their packaging into the bowl.

That way, you don't have to clean up any measuring utilities and waste no ingredients.

Another option is to get one of the plunger type measuring cups.

Once you push out the ingredient, you can use a spatula or spoon to scrape the end of the spatula.

This works great for honey, molasses, syrup etc.

Concerning "difficult" ingredients and measuring volumetric amounts with a scale: You only have to measure volumetrically ONCE!

Once I know that my honey weighs 20 grams per tablespoon (I tared the scale with the wax paper, the measuring spoon and the lid that I used to balance the spoon)

I can take that weight and run with it.

1 cup of my honey will weigh 320 grams.

1 teaspoon will weigh 7 grams (my scale doesn't do fractions of a gram).

I never again have to dirty a cup or a spoon to measure honey unless I buy a dramatically different product, then I'll double check the weight of that honey with a tablespoon.

King Arthur Flour has a pretty good chart for converting all kinds of ingredients from volumetric measurements to weights Master Weight Chart .

It doesn't always completely mesh with my findings, but you're probably less likely to go wrong relying on it than measuring a "difficult ingredient" volumetrically over and over again.

Spray whatever you are going to measure it into with pan release (Pam) first.

Or if you don't have that, rub it with a tiny amount of vegetable oil.

You can do this whether it is the bowl for the scale as eckes rightly mentioned, or a measuring cup.

Same trick works with molasses and honey.

Besides the methods already mentioned, you can also measure by displacement if you're working with volumetric measurements and one of the other ingredients to be added at the same time is a liquid -- use a measuring cup large (and precise) enough for both measurements, add the liquid first, then add the stickly item until the liquid is pushed up to the measurement necessary for them both together.

Of course, if the sticky item floats, then you'll need to push it down with something.

If there's a lot of liquid vs. the sticky item, you can always just use some of the liquid, so you can use a small enough measuing device with precise enough markings.

Question: Glucose syrup is a liquid sweetener used in a lot of candy making. Unfortunately, it is incredibly thick which makes it difficult to measure. Imagine corn syrup except about three times thicker. When I measure it, a lot tends to get stuck on the spoon (or more often spoons) and then even more gets lost in the bowl I use to measure it. Are there any tricks to measuring thick syrups and other difficult ingredients?

Measuring glucose syrup without wasting it

Spray the measuring instrument with Pam first, use a plunger-type measuring cup or put the difficult ingredients directly into the bowl placed on a scale.

Weigh directly into your bowl or use a plunger measuring cup.

Weigh directly into your bowl and not into a measuring cup first.

Cover with pan release first so the syrup doesn't stick to the surface.


Brown the chicken in the pan where you will cook the risotto.

This will give your risotto some nice flavor if you make sure to scoop up the browned bits during cooking.

Then remove it.

Let it rest on a plate, tented with foil,

throughout the whole time you are making the risotto.

Towards the last few minutes, put the chicken and any accumulated drippings from the plate back in.

This will warm the chicken and add the flavor from the drippings.

I use this technique whenever I am doing any sort of single skillet dish with meat, starch, and veggies.

Cook the chicken separately, and add it to the risotto towards the end.

Whenever I make risotto, I usually cook everything but the rice and some aromatic vegetables separately and add it towards the end of cooking.

just an opinion.. Wouldn't cooking the chicken together with the risotto add extra favour to the risotto?

Also, which part of chicken did you use?

Have you tried to use chicken thigh which is harder to get dried out?

Brown the chicken in the risotto pan on both sides.

Put in an ovenproof dish/casserole and add chicken stock approximately 1/2" (1cm) up the side of the dish.

Roast for around 20-25 minutes @ 395F (200C).

When done, pour the remaining stock into the risotto stock for extra chickeny flavour.

Slice/chop the chicken and add to the risotto just before serving (though this depends on how long you've left the chicken sitting).

Roasting the chicken beforehand removes any worries about the chicken not being cooked, providing of course you cook it through (and believe me, undercooked chicken is not good ).

Adding the stock to the dish helps keep the meat moist and imbues it with extra flavour (breast meat especially is often quite bland).

Restaurants often cook this way.

Cook ingredients separately, to carefully control each cooking time/ process.

If you want to meld flavones use chicken stock for the risotto, or a vegetable stock for deglazing chicken.

Add it all together at the end.

Question: I was following a recipe for a chicken risotto, which said to brown the chicken (breast meat, cut into small pieces, maybe 3/4 of an inch or so) in the pan after browning the onions, and then add the rice and stock to the same pan afterwards (so the chicken was in the pan the entire cooking period of the rice). However, when the dish was complete, many of the chicken pieces had unfortunately dried out.  What can I do to prevent this next time?

Cooking chicken in a risotto without it drying out

Cook the ingredients separately and add them towards the end of the cooking process to control the cooking time.

Cook the chicken separately and add in at the end.

It is common to cook the chicken separately and add it in at the end.


I agree on the Goodwill thing, but it pains me to think of putting tape on a knife blade -- someone's going to have to clean it off, and that risks someone getting injured.

Instead, find a piece of cardboard that's longer than the blade of the knife, and more than twice the depth of the blade with an inch (~3 cm) or more to spare.

Fold the cardboard in half, so it's now roughly larger than the size of the blade, and then place the blade so the back of the knife is against the fold (you can do it the other way, but you'll risk dulling the knife ...

cutting paper isn't good for knives), then tape it down.

You want to make sure it's well compressed, so the knife is being held in by friction.

You could always sandwich something rubbery in there with it to help with the friction.

(this is how I used to transport my knives when moving between apartments) ...

Another alternative, if you're really disposing of it, and don't mind dulling the blade, is to poke it into a piece of corrougated cardboard.

Just find a piece that's longer and wider than the blade, set it on the edge of your counter, put a hand on top to hold it steady, and then slowly push the blade in.

First of all, consider donating it to Goodwill or another charitable organization.

Even if it is barely usable by your standards, it might help someone else out.

Whether giving your knife away or throwing it out, I think it is sufficient to put some duct tape over the edge and then wrap it in a couple layers of bubble wrap.

Check with your local recycling companies.

We have a metal recycling facility that will accept kitchen items such as small appliances, utensils and dishes made of aluminum, tin, stainless steel, etc.

It may be worthwhile to simply add the knife to their scrapheap where things will be melted down and recycled.

Far better than disposal, in my opinion.

(But consider the goodwill option as well.)

Just wrap in some newspaper and the tape the package up.

This is how my knives always come back from a professional sharpen.

It surprised me a little the first time I saw it, but it will render the knife harmless.

If you are dumping a whole set in a block, just glue them into the block and throw away.

Fold some foam rubber around the blade, then wrap it all up with duct tape.

The foam rubber should hold against the blade and be resistant to being cut.

Since you're throwing the knife out, take a hammer to the edge.

You don't need to hit hard -- the edge is obviously pretty thin, so it won't take much to roll the edge.

Just place the back edge of the blade against something hard and heavy -- anvil, concrete block, etc.

-- and tap firmly all along the sharp edge until sufficiently dull.

You're over thinking this.

Just toss it in the bin.

There are plenty of other dangerous sharp things in bins already.

Eg, broken glass, tin cans/lids, etc.

Anyone going through bins (eg Freegans , garbage disposal workers, super spy's jumping out of buildings) knows to take precautions (or will learn quickly).

Odds are that no one will go through your bin on that particular day anyway.

You can decrease that further by putting in in the bin the night before collection day .

If you must do something active, it's not worth

the effort/waste to find something to wrap it, just stab it through anything plastic or cardboard you are throwing out (so I am seconding the news paper suggestion).Eg Milk Carton, empty plastic meat tray.

It doesn't need to be perfect, you are just trying to add another chance on top of what is already fairly safe (just throwing it in the bin).

While performing on stage I adopted the "lob a full 360" approach but my juggling partner usually returned them.

Now I would take it to my dump, tip, recycling centre, and present it to a member of staff.

This has three advantages:- 1/

No wrapping or unpleasant bending.

It's a day out.

It becomes an S.E.P. [Someone Else's Problem]

My brother, a chef, would have lodged it in a Kitchen Porter, thereby also creating an S.E.P.

Question: How do you throw away a kitchen knife (or for that matter, any knife)? It seems extremely dangerous to just throw it in the dumpster, even if it's wrapped up real well.

What is the proper way to dispose of a kitchen knife?

You could donate it to a charitable organisation or find a recycling facility that will dispose of it properly, but otherwise you could wrap it in duct tape, foam rubber, newspaper or something else, or blunt it with a hammer. There are plenty of sharp and dangerous things in bins already, so this may not be so much of a problem.

Wrap the knife in bubble wrap and duct tape. You don't need to worry about it too much. You can also try a local recycling centre to see if they will take it.

Consider donating it instead of just throwing it away.

Wrap it in bubble wrap or newspaper and seal with duct tape. You can also take a hammer to the knife so it is no longer sharp.

Try a local recycling company. They sometimes accept small metal items.


The biggest thing you can do is peel it.

If a cucumber's bitter, it's much more in the peel than in the flesh.

It's also usually more bitter at the stem end, so you might want to start from the other end, and possibly ultimately discard an inch from the stem end if it really is too bitter for you.

Unless you're unusually sensitive to the bitterness, that ought to cover it.

Bitterness is also fairly variable from cucumber to cucumber, so it's possible that you could shop for less bitter ones - maybe a different variety - or buy them only during more favorable seasons.

I buy at the farmer's market from a gentleman that I know grows his well

and they are always sweet- peel or no peel.

He told me that bitterness in cucumbers is primarily a factor of how they were grown.

Cucumbers with a consistent watering schedule will be sweeter than those that are grown with less attention.

The amount of sunlight and heat makes a difference too.

Cucumbers contain a bitter compound called cucurbitacin that can be found in the skin and just underneath.

There is a trick you can do to reduce the bitterness without having to peel the cucumber.

Cut 1/2cm off the stem end and rub it in a circular pattern against the cut flesh in a circle.

This will yield a slimy white substance - this is the stuff that makes the cucumber bitter, and by drawing it out, there will be less in the cucumber :)

No need to peel!

I find that more than anything, getting a sweet cucumber comes down to selecting it correctly.

I have purchased hundreds of cucumbers (and I prefer to eat them with the skin on).

What I've noticed is that cucumbers whose skins are both shiny and smooth (and not waxy), and the cucumber itself is firm when you squeeze it are almost always going to be sweeter than a cucumber whose skin is even slightly wrinkled, is rough to the touch, has a more matte appearance, and/or the cucumber is a bit soft.

And when I say smooth, I'm not referring to the bumps that you often find on cucumbers (that kind of remind me of a humpback whale ;) Bumps or no bumps, what I mean is how the skin itself feels to the touch.

The smoother it is, the better the taste.

These factors might be an indication of how the cucumber was raised, which as others have suggested, could be the reason behind whether the cucumber will be bitter or sweet.

I have never encountered a bitter cucumber.

Or maybe I just like the bitterness they have

-- I bemoan the selective breeding of brussels sprouts to remove bitterness, after all.

Something that works for courgettes, though, is to slice them, salt them, and allow them to stand for 20 mins or so.

The salt will draw out the bitter juice.

Rinse away the salty water before cooking.

This is probably no use if you want to eat the cucumber raw, as it will ruin any crispness the cucumber has.

Try growing “Lemon Cucumbers”.

they grow to about softball size, are very sweet and never bitter.

They pickle great and always are crunchy and sweet.

The only drawback is that they do not last but 2 days in the fridge before they start drying out.

The skin is more edible than regular cucumbers.

My kids pick them and eat them, after washing, right from the vine.

Theya re a great novelty when given away to frinds and family.

The vines continue to provide cucumbers later into the year than regular cucs.

You can order them online.

I found that some of my cucumbers this year were bitter and did some reading up on why: heat and eratic watering . . .

But I discovered a way to salvage the bitter cukes: I peel them and then soak them in cold salt water for a half hour - the salt seems to take out the bitterness and still leaves them crunchy for salads or sandwiches . . .

Thought someone else might want to give it a try!

It works for me . . .

Chilling them in the fridge seems to help.

Question: I am a cooking dummy and I hate bitter cucumbers. :) Help!

How to prevent cucumbers from tasting bitter?

The peel and ends contain most of the bitterness, so removing those will help. Choosing the right type of cucumber with shiny and smooth (not waxy or wrinkled) skin will help, and a bitter cucumber can be salvaged by storing in the frige or peeling and soaking in salt water.

The bitterness is in the skin so try peeling them instead.

Try peeling the cucumber to remove the bitter peel.

Look for cucumbers that are shiny and smooth.

Chill them in the fridge or soak them in saltwater first.


Rinsing the sauerkraut absolutely does work - we do it all the time, both with store-bought and homemade sauerkraut.

Every batch of sauerkraut is different, so rinsing & tasting is the only way to ensure that your dishes turn out appropriately salted.

Yes, some of the salt has entered the cabbage itself, but most of it will be in the brine/on the surface.

If rinsing in a colander isn't enough (and if you used twice the recommended amount of salt it's likely not to be), then you can drain the liquid as best you can, then add clean water to cover, and let it soak.

Rinse and repeat until the salt level tastes more acceptable.

Adding more cabbage and letting it ferment some more is also an option, although the twice-fermented parts can end up rather mushy.

Adding the missing cabbage is a viable solution.

You could also just remove some of the brine and replace it with water, until it's salty to your taste.

Finally, you could just rinse some of the brine off of it before eating it.

Unfortunatly, the amount of salt you used will not allow the fermentation process to occur.

It will preserve the cabbage and is perfectly safe to eat, but it will not be fermented, therefor not saurkraut.

I would advise just tossing it and making some more.

After it has fermented it will be tasty, and if you want you can rinse some salt off then but it will affect the taste somewhat but still be tasty.

J W

I too made sauerkraut that was too salty, by adding more water and salt when the level of liquid dropped.

Fortunately the too salty part was mostly on top, but the kraut by itself was still too salty.

I drained the liquid from each jar onto a glass measuring cup (or bowl) and rinsed the kraut in a colander with cold water, squeezing the kraut throughout the process.

Once done, I put the kraut back into the jars and added back the fermentation water (has salt) and the result was good kraut.

Just don't add salt if you are cooking sausages or ribs with your kraut and it too will taste good.

Next time, I will just add more water when the liquid level drops down and no additional salt.

Since I didn't want to wash off the good bugs along with the salt, I solved the too salty by adding some of my kraut to another recipe from which I had omitted the salt.

In this case, I added two teaspoons of kraut to a bowl of made from scratch coleslaw.

It was delicious.

I think you could also add it to unsalted potato salad, but I haven't tried that one yet.

Question: I recently finished my first batch of sauerkraut and tasted it only to find that it's way too salty. In referencing the original recipe, I realized that I used the amount of salt recommended for 5lbs of cabbage but I only had 2.5lbs.  What, if anything, can I do to salvage the sauerkraut? Because of the way it's made, I wasn't sure that just adding the missing cabbage is a viable solution and part of me wonders if the salt is just part of the food now.

Recovering from Over Salted Sauerkraut

You could rinse the sauerkraut to remove some of the salt before eating it, but excessive salt may impede fermentation and rinsing may wash off some of the good bugs along with the salt. Instead, you can add some of the kraut to another recipe without salt added.

Try rinsing it and using in recipes that don't have any salt already. It should even out.

You can rinse it before eating or replace some of the brine with water.

There is too much salt for fermentation to occur.

Try using the salty sauerkraut with recipes that contain no other salt.


Aaronut's answer to a related question outlined the differences between non-oil methods of cooking onions (such as steaming or sweating).

The taste will be different because different chemical reactions are occurring.

If you want to sauté onions without a lot of oil, try oil sprayers (Pam, or hand-pump sprayers loaded with your favourite oil).

This will minimise the amount of oil you use.

Using less oil means you have to move them around more often to prevent burning.

(If you fry onions by themselves, they will probably just dehydrate and burn.)

There are plenty of ways to cook onions without oil.

It sounds like you're trying to mimic the effects of a sauté without actually using any oil though.

Cooking onions in a non stick pan without oil would probably be more akin to grilling.

I would not recommend attempting to cook onions on the stove top without oil.

Another answer suggests that it's a bit like grilling; in theory, it is, but a traditional outdoor grill has a minimal contact surface.

That minimizes sticking and makes it fairly difficult to burn food by contact alone.

Using a dry fry pan for onions is more akin to searing , except that you generally only sear meat or fish.

If you try with an onion, you are likely going to burn it before you ever get to the sweated/caramelized consistency you want.

You really have two options here.

The first, and the one I highly recommend, is dry roasting in the oven.

Cooking an onion involves the Maillard reaction and the dry, radiant heat of an oven is great for promoting it.

Simply toss the onion on a baking sheet and roast it inside the skin for about 20 minutes at 450° F / 230° C. It will peel easily and you'll have a nice, soft, roasted onion.

Don't overdo it or it will burn -

the skin will help prevent this but keep an eye on it!

Your other option is to simmer or steam it, which will soften them substantially and cook some of the volatiles out (make it less pungent) but won't brown them because the Maillard reaction requires high temperatures and the boiling point of water is too low.

Simmering should be obvious, just toss it in some water or stock.

For steaming, either use a steamer basket or just put a small amount of liquid in a pan, heat it up to a simmer, place the onion in and cover it until cooked to your desired consistency.

Those are pretty much your only fat-free options.

If you want to use a frying pan and expect to get them browned, then you'd better use at least a little bit of oil.

If you're concerned about trans, saturated or polyunsaturated fats, use olive oil.

If you're on an ultra-low-fat diet, use a blast of cooking spray.

If you're avoiding "fried" foods out of an assumption that even a tiny amount of oil is unhealthy, I suggest consulting a dietician (if you haven't already) to validate that assumption first.

Use a very small amount of stock to soften the onions (although as per Aaronut's linked answer above, you'll get a different taste).

Alternatively, if the rest of your recipe includes any meat, fry the onions when you brown the meat to take advantage of the oils which are already going to be present in your dish.

As an alternative to onions, try roasting some garlic cloves (or a whole bulb!)

in it's skin and 20mins or so and use the resulting pulp in place of onion.

It will lose a lot of harsh garlic flavour but still give plenty of onion quality (same/similar plant family?).

It might be worth drizzling a bit of oil when baking garlic to protect the skin, but I doubt too much would be absorbed.

A good quality nonstick saucier pan is a good choice to brown onions without oil.

Start with a very fresh onion that has lots of it's own juice.

Older dryer onions are not a good choice for this method.

Preheat the pan on medium.

Let the onions sit untouched for a couple minutes on medium heat so that they may sear.

Stir and let them sit again for a couple minutes.

Repeat until onions are relatively dry and onion fond starts to build up on the pan.

Deglaze with just a teaspoon of water to lift the fond off the pan just before it burns.

At this point you cannot let the onions sit for long and you will have to stir often.

Continue browning and deglazing until the onion reaches the desired consistency.

If you want the onions dryer, you can reduce the heat to low and cover with a paper towel in between the pan and the cover to absorb the steam.

The pan should be small enough so that you cannot see the bottom of the pan.

Otherwise the onions may burn rather than brown.

I use a 2-1/2 qt Analon anodized copper saucier pan for one medium onion.

But I must say that just a spray of olive oil will make the onions darker with richer flavor and it will enable you to use stainless steel for better control.

For browned onions, I'd suggest cooking in a pan or a griddle with just the bare minimum of oil -- enough to stop it sticking.

To cook onions without browning, blitzing them in the microwave works well.

Question: For a while now I have been trying to reduce my intake of fried food, or food otherwise cooked with oil. However I still make a lot of things with onions, and I end up sautéeing them with vegetable oil. If I use a non-stick pan, can I sautée onions without oil? What are some techniques to cook onions without oil?

Cooking up onions, without oil

You can steam, sweat or microwave onions without browning them, use very little oil to saute or dry roast or fry to brown them.

You can try different cooking methods like sweating, steaming, grilling or oven baking that don't need oil.

You can get oil sprayers or try grilling or oven baking instead.


It depends on what chorizo you're using.

If you're using soft (i.e. uncooked) chorizo then

no, you don't need to remove the skin, because it should cook with the sausage.

If you are using the cured, ready to eat chorizo you should take the skin off as it will be tough.

This may well vary by brand, incidentally.

Certainly, no chorizo skin is going to poison you.

On that basis, if you're happy with your results, then carry on.

I have used chorizo where the papery skin peels off quite easily -- but I have never seen a need to remove it.

The cured chorizo available at my local grocery store actually has a plastic skin so obviously that must be removed in order to make it edible.

It also has metal clips holding the ends closed, so it's pretty clear that you're not supposed to eat it.

So, if you do choose to eat the skin, make sure it's not plastic.

Again, it should be pretty obvious.

When talking about chorizo, it's worth specifying Spanish (papery skin, fairly dense, often cured) or Mexican (often plastic skin, loose, usually uncured).

Same name for two very different products.

Mexican should be peeled, Spanish usually shouldn't.

Slice off a chunk you need, shallow cut length ways, run under tap and ensure all skin is damp, peels away easily.

I purchased los angelitos chorizos in NJ the casing is hard has metal on ends.

it says remove casing before cooking.

It makes sense-the casing is plastic and I am more concerned with bacteria.

I have always peeled my chorizo before using because I thought they were wrapped in some kind of paper as opposed to being skinned.

My brother doesn't peel his

and he's still alive

so I guess it's a preference thing.

As for the difficulty in peeling them I have found that the more I pay for my chorizo, the easier they are to peel!!!!

I don't know why this is

but it seems to be the case, although the more expensive ones don't taste much different to the cheaper ones, they just peel easier.

The cheaper ones usually end up with a bit of a sorry looking chorizo and the more expensive ones seem to peel really easily.

I score the chorizo along its length and then peel.

I find the answer depends on what you are doing.

If the recipe is one where you add whole chorizos to a bean stew say, for slow boiling with the beans, then you will need to keep the skin on.

This will tend to hold it together and limit oozing to either end of the sausage.

the lovely paprika flavours will seep out into the stew, but the sausage will be intact for cutting up when serving.

If you are frying slices, eg before adding some mixed up eggs, like for a chorizo omelette, then remove the skin.

I find this best done with a small sharp knife peeling from the ends of the sausage (the chain links naturally give you an opening when you cut through them.

Put on your glasses and try and peel like an onion, ie upwards and roundwards.

The skin should come off reasonably easily.

On cooked chorizo slices, prepacked, eg for tapas, appetisers, try a slice.

If its rind is annoying, your decision will be to peel them.

Finally, I had some thin chorizo for grilling recently.

It said so on its packet.

I used it for frying into chorizo omelettes, and results wre that it was frazzled and hard.

So it may be a lesson to check what it says on the pack, just in case it has a type of use.

Personally, I keep it on; it tends to lose its form if you remove it, and it's just a matter of personal taste.

It's not only extremely difficult to remove the soft casing, but it mushes up the chorizo.

It really depends on what you're cooking with it.

If it's going to be ground up, as in an egg dish, then squeeze it out.

But the dish I make with it (my kids' #1 favorite meal!) is pasta with chorizo "balls" (more like mini sausage patties, than meatballs).

It's ruined if it gets mashed up...

btw, they've NEVER noticed the casing or had an issue with its taste.

If it's not harmful, I'm sticking with my method!

I just bought some Abuelita "

Ready to Eat" chorizo, and for this brand the recommendation seems to be the opposite of what is written above.

i.e. in the store the raw said on the package to remove the casing, and the ready to eat was silent, but "ready to eat" seems to be self-explanatory.

Question: For years I've been chopping up Chorizo and cooking it, with no other preparation. I've recently been told that I've been doing it wrong and should peel the Chorizo first. It's pain to peel, and I've not noticed any difference.  What is the skin of a Chorizo sausage made of, and should it be removed before cooking or not?

Should Chorizo Be Peeled Before Cooking?

Chorizo with plastic skin should be removed, but otherwise it is optional. More expensive kinds tend to be easier to peel. One good way to remove it is by making a shallow cut lengthways and running the chorizo under a tap before peeling the skin away.

Whether you peel depends on the kind of chorizo you are cooking and you personal taste. Just make sure the skin is not made of plastic.

It depends whether the chorizo is raw or ready to eat. The raw chorizo is intended to be cooked in the skin. Just make sure that the skin is not made of plastic before eating it.

To peel it, make a shallow cut along the length then put under the tap and start to peel.


Do you need to remove a bunch of burnt-on stuff as well as the season?

If the pan is clean but not rust-resistant or non-stick like you want, I'd suggest just treating it like you were doing it for the first time and just season over the old.

It's not like you care about hurting the old season--you'll just be thickening it and filling in gaps.

If you need to get it back to day zero, there are definitely questions here with good answers about how to do it.

But the first thing I'd try, since the day zero cleaning methods are fairly drastic, is to make sure it's as clean as you can manage, then just go ahead and season.

I have had good luck rehabilitating pans that were poorly seasoned but otherwise OK by doing this.

Based on your response in the comments, I would definitely heat up the pan in the oven as high as it will go, and let it go until it stops smoking (put the cold pan in the cold oven to start).

That should burn off/dry any excess oil, which it sounds like you have.

Then I'd let it cool enough to handle, then season as if it were new.

I don't care for the "tacky" seasoning because it's too easy to get a buildup of unseasoned grease.

So I'd cook that down/off and start over.

And I always rinse with the hottest water my sink makes, to prevent buildup--no soap, though.

From what you're describing, you probably just need to clean it (maybe a little scrub; I use some coarse salt and oil) and re-season, not fully strip it ... ...

but you have a nasty, disgusting pan ... the sort of thing that's found when cleaning out someone's barn or otherwise neglected for years, first start with one of: self clean cycle of an oven fireplace (once the fire's going well, just set it in the hot coals, and leave it 'til the next day) campfire (pretty much the same thing) grill (if charcoal, follow the fireplace rules; if gas, just crank it as high as it'll go) Next, you'll need to scrub.

A wire brush is your friend for this.

(I have some finer steel wire brushes and brass wire brushes; the heavy duty steel ones for scrubbing paint off of concrete block might be a little rough on the pan; a grill brush might do okay).

Then wash, dry, heat and just season it as if it were new.

Scrubbing is hard.

In general, burn it off.

You have to get the pan super hot, and it will have to stay hot until the carbon (oils and food bits) turn to ash (white).

This takes awhile.

You can stick it in a fire.

In my restaurants, we stick it over a vey big flame.

For the home, you can flip it upside down and put it in your oven on a self cleaning cycle.

The clean mode is HOT (800 edges?)

and your pan will come out clean.

Easy.

Just remember to REMOVE the racks, otherwise they'll get destroyed.

You could also take your pan into a sandblasting company and get it sandblasted.

That will leave you with the grey/silver cast iron like when you get it new.

To strip seasoning just heat it up real hot, or throw it in the fire for a couple of hours

You should be able to re-season a pan as often as you like

You should have to ever do this unless you don't look after it (let it rust, or use vast amounts of vinegar etc

The best seasoning is one that is built up from many thin layers over many years

Flax seed oil is fine, so is practically any oil, the oil gets converted by the heat into a polymer of sorts, so the exact type is somewhat irrelevant If you seasoning is sticky, just heat it up hotter till it either sets or incinerates off

That's the beauty of cast iron, you cant go wrong.

More heat will always fix the problem :-)

My preferred method is lye.

Strips the seasoning without hours of playing around with sandpaper.

Soak the pan in strong lye overnight, then wash with lots of water.

Take precautions while working with lye (NaOH), the stuff is very corrosive.

Don't use acids on an iron pan, they rust the surface in seconds.

(So no barkeeper's friend!)

Oven cleaner, a very heavy black plastic bag, preferably a warm day.

Get bag.

Home Depot sells Contractor Bags.

Spray

a bunch of oven cleaner in the bottom of the bag.

Drench

the Cast Iron in oven cleaner.

Put in bag.

Leave it in the sun all day, sometimes 2.

Clean it very well.

Re-season it.

I have put a pan in the bag this way and left it in the back of my truck.

2 days later it came out of the bag looking like it was just cast.

I read the same article and immediately stripped and reseasoned my #7 Griswold.

I mainly focused on stripping the cooking surface (not caring as much about the sides).

I alternated between scrubbing with Barkeepers Friend and a scouring pad letting it sit on the burner on high heat until all the crap turned to dust.

Sandpaper, works like a charm.

Just takes a little persistence, and then a thorough washing to get the fine bits of crud/iron out.

Question: After reading  this article , I want to try to re-season a skillet with flaxseed oil; I'm fairly certain I did a terrible job when I seasoned the skillet several years ago. Is it possible to do this with steel wool or vinegar? (I don't have a self-cleaning oven, so that method is out.)

Stripping seasoning from cast iron

It may be OK to clean it with coarse sea salt and oil and then season over the old with flax seed oil or another oil, heating it up more if the surface is sticky. You can also heat it up hotter to strip the old seasoning or take it off with sandpaper. The good thing about cast iron is that it is very forgiving to different techniques.

If you want to strip the old seasoning then just get it really hot or use sandpaper. You can also just reseason the pan with heat and oil.

You don't need to strip the old seasoning, just reseason it like you did at the beginning. You can use any kind of oil to reseason.

To strip the seasoning you just get it really hot or use sandpaper.


To make your tofu more firm, you can press it.

Before cubing it, place the block of tofu on a plate, put another plate on top of it and weight it down with something (like a can of tomatoes) and leave it for 15 minutes.

This will compress it further and squish out extra water.

My girlfriend and I cook a lot of tofu - we have also found that "firm" and "extra-firm" tofu is highly variable and that the quality makes a big difference in the actual firmness, density and cooking results.

Here in SF though we did have good luck with the random brand of tofu available at our local produce market (in the Outer Sunset)

we have now switched to almost exclusively cooking with tofu from http://www.tofuyu.com/ who are a local tofu maker and whose plain tofu cooks up amazingly well - gets great color, stays firm and in short is far better than anything else we've tried.

While not every part of the country is as lucky as the Bay Area to have multiple artisanal tofu makers competing to make fantastic tofu

you should experiment with the various brands of tofu you can find - look for the one that gets the best results for your in your preparations.

Try baking your tofu before adding it to the dish.

It'll lose a lot of moisture and turn out a lot more firm.

you may want to marinate your tofu.

and/or coat it in cornstarch before you fry it.

see this recipe: salt and pepper tofu

The brand and type of tofu are essential and easy to get right.

We have one called Cleveland Tofu in Ohio that has an extra-firm that works well, but even the one I see most frequently, Nasoya, works great if you follow up with these steps.

You can cube first but it creates more work.

I get good results by: slicing into 1/8-1/4

" strips the short-length of the block pressing/patting dry with a paper towel and laying out to air for 15ish minutes putting on a baking sheet on 325-350F for about 15-30 minutes (depends on your taste in firmness, I like it to have some give, my wife prefers it to be firm to the point of crunchy), flipping once for even cooking

This gives a nice crispness by ensuring you have dried out the tofu sufficiently.

If you choose to only bake just extend baking time.

If you want to follow up with a deep-fry or saute they are a nice texture and won't crumble.

To make it more firm, try pan searing it.

High heat, low oil, and flip it often with the pan itself.

Don't use a utensil, you will want to keep it moving but using even a soft spatula may tear and crumble the tofu before it gains a seared texture).

Question: I really enjoy the texture of the tofu in the pad thai with tofu dish at Noodles and Company. In particular, it comes out much firmer than it does when I make tofu at home by cubing it and cooking it in a pan with vegetable oil. How do I prepare the tofu so it comes out in a similar way?

How do I prepare tofu so comes out like at Noodles & co

The firmness, density and cooking results vary based on the brand and type, but you can also press tofu or bake or sear it in order to increase firmness.

You can find other brands that are firmer. You can also press it, oven bake it or pan sear it to dry it out.

You can press your tofu, baking it or pan searing it to make it firmer.

Try a different brand to find one that is firmer.


Pizza sauce is, presumably, whatever tomato-based sauce you'd put on a pizza.

Those tend to be essentially like smooth (not chunky), lightly seasoned spaghetti sauce.

If by "plain tomato sauce" you mean a jar of tomato sauce for spaghetti, you're probably in good shape.

If you mean a can of pure tomato sauce, with no other ingredients, you'll probably want to add some seasoning.

Basil and oregano are good bets for herbs; garlic and onion are also common, and perhaps crushed red pepper if you want a little kick.

If you're looking for a real recipe, this isn't a recipe request site , but search engines will serve you well.

In my family pizza sauce it just fresh garden tomatoes simmered for a few hours or more with a good drizzle of nice olive oil

I leave the pot lid on until the tomatoes have fully rendered down and are just lightly bubbling Add fresh chopped herbs when serving or adding to a dish i.e. smearing on pizza base

Pizza sauce is typically much thicker than the tomato sauce you would put on pasta and more heavily seasoned.

The idea is that you are spreading a thin layer of the sauce over a large area, so a thinner sauce won't work and/or might lose too much liquid as you bake your pizza.

Don Pepino pizza sauce is great, assuming you can get it where you live.

If you have a jar of commercial pasta sauce around, I would add basil, oregano, and garlic to it.

Then, add a good bit of tomato paste to make it thicker.

Just add some italian seasonings to the tomato sauce and reduce it a bit.

Garlic, Parsely, Basil, Oregano, pepper, salt...etc...touch of olive oil..

Most grocery stores carry Pizza Sauce .

I know for certain I have purchased a Ragù variant at Publix , Walmart , Sweetbay and Meijer on separate occasions.

It typically comes in a much smaller glass jar than that of spaghetti sauce.

I've seen it shelved either with the pasta sauces, canned tomatoes or in a bakery section next to pizza doughs.

Or you can just make your own, as I tend to do most of the time these days.

Good luck!

Question: I am making a dip that requires 'pizza sauce'. The store doesn't sell anything called 'pizza sauce' that I could find. Instead, I got plain tomato sauce. What do I need to add to it to make it 'pizza sauce'?

What is pizza sauce?

This is just a smooth and lightly seasoned sauce that is thicker than pasta sauce. You could just add Italian herbs to pasta or tomato sauce before reducing it a bit.

Pizza sauce is a reduced tomato sauce with Italian seasonings.

Pizza sauce is just a tomato sauce you'd put on a pizza. It is generally thicker than normal tomato sauce.

You can use a reduced tomato or pasta sauce and add some Italian seasonings to it.


They work fine.

Here is an example of a vegetarian lasgana where I use them.

The key is to make sure that there is plenty of well-seasoned liquid for them to absorb.

You don't need to parboil them.

Lasagne typically need to cook in a hot oven for about 30 minutes.

The main problem, as outlined by others in this thread, is the tendency of pasta sheets to dry up during this prolonged exposure to high temperatures.

To avoid this, I usually precook the sheets in slightly-salted boiling water for one minute (I just want to soften them, not cook them); a few oil drops in the boiling water should help preventing the sheets to stick to each other.

Subsequently I drain the sheets and lay them on a clean cotton cloth to let the cooking water be absorbed while I attend the preparation of the sauces.

After lasagne are assembled in the pan, I cover it with aluminium foil and then put it in the oven to cook; after 20 minutes I remove the foil and let lasagne cook "naked" for the remaining 10 minutes.

Here are some pictures I took during the preparation of lasagne with crumbled sausages and mushrooms.

With this procedure, lasagne sheets retain most of the moisture, thus not needing an excessive amount of sauce to keep them hydrated.

I managed to obtain very good results even with Sainsbury's Value Lasagne Sheets (a brand of cheap "no precooking required" dry lasagne sheets commonly found in UK).

I prefer the flavor of fresh lasagna sheets over dried but between the different sorts of dried sheets I've not found there to be a big difference in "no-precooking-required" ones.

I have however found that they vary a lot by brand.

The only thing I would say is that it can take a bit of trial and error to get a creamy texture with "no-precooking-required" ones as they soak up variable quantities of liquid depending on brand and how many layers you use so you can get a stodgy (but still delicious) finish.

Dropping the layer count by one and adding extra sauce has worked for me.

Once again I will bring up America's Test Kitchen (AKA Cook's Illustrated).

They like the no-boil sheets, but they have experienced some of the same problems already brought up here.

To ameliorate those issues, they recommend soaking the sheets for 10 minutes in hot tap water before use.

I've done it, it works great.

I've been cooking lasagne for the past 15 years and never had a problem with instant sheets.

I use meat sauce, cheese sauce and the sheets, I cook for about 30-35 minutes in a moderate oven and stick a knife through the layers to check if it's done.

Occasionally it will need an extra 5-10 minutes cooking time.

I love fresh pasta in every other instance

but I find that dried sheets are a lot better for holding the shape of lasagne!

Do not boil the no-boil lasagna even for a minute.

I did this and ruined every noodle.

I can not unstuck them.

I used dry sheets in cooking but found them hard in places where perhaps the sauce had not reached them

so decided next time to boil first as per the packet instructions for 10 mins.

Most of them stuck together so ended up with about 50% not useable - a right pain.

Give up - I will use fresh next time.

It is all about the sauce and the time.

If you are boiling your pasta sheets [or if you have fresh ones] the lasagna will be done within 30 min baking time.

However without boiling your sheets it would need rather an hour.

I am using a bit more sauce - making a ragù and using it generously.

I also use a bechamel-ricotta mixture [first make the bechamel sauce and when done stir in ricotta until smooth] - and use it also generously.

Mixing ricotta cheese and sauce together makes it very smooth [no usual graininess] - and you have more sauce - which your pasta sheet can soak up.

cooking.stackexchange.com/users/37588/Dominik MJ opinionated alchemi

I made mine without parboiling the pasta sheets and it was like concrete.

I suggest you parboil them for 2-5 mins so it can be soft but not cooked.

But I am no professional, it's just my opinion.

Hope it was good use.

No cook lasagne noodles are better than those that require parboiling.

They shouldn't need to be soaked or cooked or parboiled.

They DO need to be completely covered in sauce.

To do this, I use fewer of the ricotta and Bechamel layers, and more of the tomato sauce layers.

I used to drain my tinned chopped tomatoes but now I add all the juice to my sauce and all the juice from the ground beef which I used to drain off.

If you test the lasagna when cooking by inserting a fork in several places you'll figure out how long it takes to bake it until the noodles are soft and

it's hot through.

The biggest issue I've had with the no cook noodles is that it's difficult to find disposable foil pans to fit the noodles without having to break them.

I make loads at a time (10 litres of tomato sauce, 5 1lb.

Tubs ricotta etc.)

There are apparently flat precooked lasagne noodles without the ruffled edge

but I've never seen them.

My family and friends love my lasagne.

As an added note, I don't bake the lasagne right away unless I'm serving it that night.

I usually freeze them without baking.

I put plastic film on top and then foil with a taped on note to be sure to remove the plastic then put the foil back on before putting it into the oven.

The frozen lasagne takes at least an hour to cook in a convection oven (9x11" pan).

I'd never go back to sticky wet lasagne noodles.

I only ever use the packaged sheets.

I cook them in a frying pan, not a saucepan.

Start with hot tap water, no salt or oil added.

About 3/4 heat.

After 5 minutes, I use an egg lifter and slide between the sheets.

Stops them sticking together.

After 10 minutes, remove from stove and left one sheet out at a time and place on paper to towel to absorb excess water.

Works well every time.

Question: I've always been a bit suspicious of "no-precooking-required" lasagne sheets.   What are the benefits and detriments of these sheets?   What would happen if you ignore the instruction and cook them a little in any case? I tend to do so - am I wasting my time?

How to deal with "no precooking required" lasagne sheets?

This is usually not a problem at all, but you may find it difficult to ensure that all noodles are adequately covered and that they soak up the liquid evenly.

No cook sheets are much easier as they don't require par boiling. Just make sure they are covered with enough liquid to cook.

The key is to make sure there is enough liquid covering them so they cook.

You don't need to par-boil, which makes them much easier.


Fresh seafood shouldn't be overly "fishy".

It's generally older seafood that will get a stronger "fishy" smell and flavour.

That said, there are 3 approaches to a "less fishy" result: Absorb/reduce fishiness :

you can always try something like soaking it in milk (which you can then save to use for a fishy bechamel when your sister isn't dining with you).

You could then rinse it off and cook it however you want.

This should help "absorb" some of the fishiness and make it milder.

Disguise fishiness : The other angle is to "cover up" the flavour with lots of spicy glaze or garlic

/lemon flavours instead.

Pick mild seafood : The other thing to try is to pick a more mildly flavoured fish (e.g. a white fish instead of something like tuna or salmon).

Avoid oily fish as they tend to have a stronger flavour.

Choosing something really fresh also falls into this category.

An old trick from the Indian subcontinent is to rinse it well, dust lightly with salt and powdered turmeric and leave for half an hour or more.

You can rinse this off before cooking or leave it on - turmeric is a good source of that very desirable umami taste.

One additional consideration in fishiness is the fat itself.

My wife dislikes fishy flavor, and so when she eats salmon (for example), she enjoys the pink parts, but dislikes the gray (which are typically near the skin where much of the fat resides).

Most of the 'fishiness' is indeed in that oil - a slight rancidity to the oil, perhaps, but more often simply the oil itself is what is disliked (google "fish oil pills" and you'll see all sorts of comments).

As such, I cook the fish in a manner that does not disperse the oil (so grilling or sautéeing is out - a good poach in vegetable broth works though) and then give her the pinker parts, reserving the fattier, tastier parts for myself and the little ones: as such, we both win (I get better fish, my kids get smarter, and my wife doesn't complain about fishiness!)

I had an "old salt" say that it is the "belly meat" that tastes fishy.

When fileting, don't cut all the way down to the belly.

Seems to be the secret.

Soak the fish covered in water with salt and sugar for 10-30 min.

About 2 tbsp of salt and the same amount of sugar when using a cup of water.

After soaking, rinse the fish, then rub in the same amount of salt and sugar (like a dry rub).

You can add some black pepper too, if you like.

Let the fish sit in a bowl until the oil starts coming out of the fish (30-60 min).

Pour out the oil and let sit some more.

Keep waiting and pouring out the oil until most of the oil is pulled from the fish.

The amount of fishyness you pull from the fish depends on how long you want to keep pouring off the oil.

An hour or two is OK for salmon.

It might take overnight in the fridge for fishier seafood.

After extracting the oil, rinse the fish very well.

Cook or smoke after that.

My mom taught me to soak all seafood in milk to remove the strong fishy flavor.

It really works!

Mix vinegar with fresh water then soak fish in it for 5 minutes; rinse and dry it with paper towel before marinating.

This method will be able to reduce 50% fishy smell.

You should not cook fish if you want to remove fishy smell 100%.Ben

cajun spice, salt, and flour mix coating fried in canola oil works like a charm.

Oily fish, such as bluefish or herring, can be balanced by including acidic ingredients like tomatoes, lemon, or vinegar in the cooking process and/or finishing sauce.

Think of it as making a well-balanced vinegrette.

I understand the original question, at least as to how it applies to prawns.

There is a word in Indonesia (where seafood always comes to the pan still kicking)

-which refers exactly to an unpleasant 'seafloor' or 'bilge' smell -and taste present in some prawns.

I've noticed it particularly in some Australian prawns though whether due to age or species

I dont know.

I haven't tried the suggested milk solution, but an overnight soak in salt does help.

As for fish, assuming it's all very fresh of course, different kinds of fish can have vastly different smell and taste

so it's important to get to know which is which.

A GOOD fish supplier (usually NOT yr corner fish'n'chips shop) should be able to advise.

Cut out the red meat aka bloodline and discard.

For fish like a Tuna that has red colored meat, cut away the darker red portions and discard.

Soaking in milk also works.

Question: My sister really doesn't like a strong fish flavor and is very picky.  Are there any effective ways to prepare the seafood in such a manner that reduces the fishy flavor/taste?  If "seafood" is too broad, then please limit your answer to include fish and prawn.    Thanks!

How does one remove the "fishy flavor" from seafood?

The easiest way is to try to pick a mild fish, but you can soak the fish in milk or a mixture of vinegar and water for 5 minutes, then use the milk for Bechamel sauce when your sister is not eating with you.You can also rinse then dust it with salt and powdered turmeric and leave for half an hour or more. Alternatively, a coating of cajun spice, salt and flour fried in canola oil works well.

Try soaking in milk or cooking in tomato sauce or other acidic ingredients.

Try soaking in milk or in vinegar and water.

Try picking milder fish or coating with spices.

Cook with acidic ingredients like tomatoes.


I am a big fan of swedes/rutabagas.

When I can't get them I use turnips, beets, daikon radishes.

Carrots/parsnips add some interesting flavor as well.

A couple other vegetables that are crunchy and nice-flavored but more exotic are celery root or jicama.

turnips will lend the necessary flavor but can be added WITH: Cauliflower or slightly cooked potatoes such as Petite Potatoes (grade C which you can find at a farmer's market but pack some taste...yum), Yukon Gold, New Potatoes, Red Potatoes or Fingerling Potatoes.

I know some people who have substituted rutabagas in recipes with the stronger portions of a green cabbage

(do NOT use the core).

I came from a poor community and you learn what you can use and not.

Things that grow in your garden like: the aforementioned vegetables and brussels sprouts, cooked parsnips, carrots, corn, peas, radishes, zucchini, cooked butternut squash, toasted or grilled eggplant or cheaper items at the store like jicama, cabbage and celery.

Don't forget that some raw slivered (not already roasted) almonds, sunflower seeds or cashews will give you some more crunch too.

I know that this is an old post but some people will find this in a search for the same issues like I found in my Google search...

so Good Luck to all :)

Anything crunchy should work fine.

Radish, daikon (yes I know it's a kind of radish), carrot, fennel...

water chestnuts might do the trick for crunch.

Kohlrabi is a brilliant idea and it will not at all seem much different to the swede in a Branston Pickle type mix which has a wide variety of vegetables in it anyway.

Turnip will do at a pinch but you may need to increase the amount of sugar as swedes are generally sweeter.

Make sure the chunks are very small.

Here is an original recipe which comes out a little dryer than the commercial Cross & Blackwell brand.

Some people add tomatoes and more apple in the mix.

If you can't find fresh gherkins straight off the vine, buy a cheap commercial jar of them - dice and throw in for good measure.

At the end of the day it's finely chopped dates you should want rather than raisins, and flavour comes from the dark brown sugar (Muscovado is best), All spice, standard dark brown malt vinegar, and of course cayenne pepper.

Make sure you keep the mix moving, with sufficient liquid.

Do not allow the pan to burn at the bottom because the taste will quickly change.

If you do catch the bottom of the pan, do not scrape it back into the mix.

Decant the content immediately into another pan and leave the burned bottom behind.

Also, once the product is in the can, and sealed, do not open and use it for at least a month, to allow the blend to mature (all the flavours will even out naturally over time).

9 ounces carrots, peeled, cut into small chunks 1 medium swede, peeled, cut into small chunks 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped 5 ounces dates, finely chopped 1 small cauliflower, finely chopped 2 onions, peeled and finely chopped 2 medium apples, unpeeled, finely chopped 2 medium courgettes, unpeeled, finely chopped 15-20 small gherkins, finely chopped 10 ounces dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons lemon juice 3/4 pint malt vinegar 2 teaspoons mustard seeds 2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Could you use a turnip (or several)?

My understanding is that this is the "closest" vegetable to the rutabaga.

Question: I want to make a British-style pickle relish at home. I think the best recipes involve swede (rutabaga in the US), because it gives texture and flavour, but isn't overpowering. Unforunately, I can't get swedes where I live.  What would make a good substitute?

What can I use instead of swede (rutabaga) when making pickle relish

Beets, daikon radishes, stronger portions of a cabbage, carrots or turnip mixed with cauliflower or slightly cooked potatoes will add the necessary flavour, or you could try other vegetables from the garden like brussels sprouts, corn, peas, radishes, zucchini, cooked butternut squash, toasted or grilled eggplant.

Try using turnips, daikon, beets, carrots, parsnips, water chestnuts and kohlrabi. You might need to add some sugar to replace the sweetness of the swede.


I recently observed the effect of time of steeping on caffeine content in tea.

We used High Pressure Liquid Chromatography to determine the levels of caffeine in Green Tea in samples that were steeped for 1, 2, 4, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 120 mins.

The concentration of caffeine over time did not show any significant trends.

Our results suggest that caffeine content does not depend on the steeping time and instead the caffeine dissolves in the hot water within a minutes of starting to steep the tea.

Hope this helps.

First off, the ISO standard is not intended to produce a good cup of tea.

It is designed to produce a consistent one for taste testing, so that no tea manufacturer can claim that his tea wasn't made "properly".

It's title is "Tea -- Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests"

As for the actual tea making, yes, leaving the bag in longer will make a stronger cup of tea.

The concentration of caffeine (along with flavour molecules and everything else) will slowly trend towards an equal concentration in the leaf and in the water.

The longer you leave the tea bag/leaves in the water, the closer to equilibrium you will get.

There are other factors that affect this, such as the temperature of the water, cut of the leaves, bag versus loose leaf and so on, but the trend is always towards equilibrium as time progresses.

I'm not sure where the upper limit of this lies, but I think that once the cup is cold there's no point in it anyway.

Thus, leaving the bag in for an hour is a bit much.

I usually steep my tea for 3-6 minutes, depending on how strong I want it to be.

In case you're looking for a scientific approach, this paper has some plots showing the amount of caffeine extracted as a function of temperature and time.

Look for the "CA" label in figures 2-5.

They steep the bags for 30 seconds at a time and record the relative & cumulative amounts of caffeine (and other ingredients) extracted from the tea.

AFAIK the ISO standard is not for enjoying tea, but for "tasting" it.

Most people don't brew their black tea that long Most commercial teas are in a fine grind state (fannings) and should not be brewed with 95°C+ water for longer than 2 minutes or bitter tastes will become apparent Whole leaf black tea can be brewed with 95°C+ water for more than 3 minutes to get full flavour Tea has little bio absorb-able caffeine in it, from 10mg to 70mg, many in the range 20mg to 40mg Normal brewing gets most of the caffeine out As I understand it, medically you need 100mg+ to get a physiological dose (an effect)

A cup of coffee is 100mg to 200mg of caffeine

So if you want caffeine drink coffee

There have been a number of scientific studies addressing the question of how much caffeine is extracted depending on brewing time.

Perhaps the most cited is from 1996 , but a 2008 study (carried out to debunk the myth that tea can be decaffeinated with a 30-second steep) also gives some useful data with a variety of teas.

To address your question specifically, approximately 70-80% of caffeine is removed, on average, in a 6-minute steep with boiling or near-boiling water.

It will vary depending on variety of tea (green, black, etc.) and form (whole black tea leaves release caffeine the slowest; black tea bags containing tea fannings the fastest).

Regarding the 30-second "decaf method," only about 10% of caffeine is released in that short time, so it's hardly effective.

You'd need to steep for at least 5 minutes or so to remove a significant portion of the caffeine.

Given the number above for a 6-minute steep, the maximum amount you could expect to extract from a longer steep for hours or days would be 20-30% of the original caffeine content of the leaves.

So you could potentially increase the amount of caffeine in the final brew to maybe 1.25 times of the 6-minute cup or a little more, depending on variety.

However, it should be noted that more than 90% of caffeine will be released by 15 minutes, so steeping for hours or days is not very productive.

If, for some reason, you wish to extract the most caffeine from the leaves possible, I would recommend multiple short steeps (5 minutes or less) instead, perhaps with a higher concentration of leaves.

Using fresh water periodically will allow faster extraction of caffeine, and you'll also avoid the inevitable bitterness that generally comes from a single long brewing.

(I should note all of the above regards typical brewing with relatively hot water.

Brewing tea with room temperature water or with cold water will significantly increase the time it takes for caffeine to be extracted.

In that case, brewing for hours may be necessary to allow large portions of the caffeine to dissolve.)

"Stimulant action of tea is strongest when allowed to steepfor only 2–5 min.

as caffeine dissolves quickly in hot water.

Longer steeping times (10–20 min.) will increase the yield ofcatechins, which decreases the stimulant effect because thepolyphenols bind the caffeine."

Source: Clinical Overview - Tea, Black/Green http://abc.herbalgram.org/site/DocServer/Tea.pdf?docID=861

The stimulating quality of tea is due more to Theobromine.

I read once on my English tea packet about 'stimulating' versus 'calming' brews being dependent upon length of brewing time.

This seems to bare that out:

http://nobleharbor.com/tea/caffiene.html Personally

, 1 bag for 1 cup at 3min is too strong.

Instead of reducing brewing time, I increase water by a half cup (stays hotter that way too), getting the full-flavor out of the leaves.

This study claims that the caffeine content doesn't change and reaches its max at 4 minutes (law of diminishing returns?).

(Assuming you put in hot water, see link.) https://slicesofbluesky.com/afternoon-tea-in-laboratory-part-2/

Question: The ISO standard for brewing tea says "6 minutes".  Of course different teas have vastly different properties, but...  For "average commodity black tea" and "average commodity green tea", will leaving the tea bag in longer (say 1 hour or 1 day) result in higher caffeine content in the cup?  How much?

Does brewing tea for longer result in higher caffeine content?

It will vary depending on the type of tea, but generally leaving the bag in will produce a stronger tea and equalise the concentration in the bag and the water.

A longer steeping time will tend to increase the caffeine slightly. It depends on the type of tea.

The concentration of caffeine does not vary considerably. It isn't influenced by steeping time.

The concentration will slowly increase. The concentrate depends on the kind of tea.


The primary difference between a dumpling and a noodle, besides shape, is leavening.

Dumplings usually have either egg or baking powder to make them lighter.

There's considerable bleedover in terminology here.

It's reminiscent of the difficulty of defining "chowder".

You're always finding a counterexample.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with something called gnocchi, gnochs, gnocchetti, that has no leavening.

I can think of two myself.

Gnocchetti alla romana are semolina "dumplings" sometimes leavened with egg, particularly when they contain spinach, but more often not.

Gnocchetti sardi are dry pasta shapes that kind of look like thin potato gnocchi.

Noodles are thin and elongated.

Dumplings are not.

Both are unleavened dough cooked (frequently) in boiling water, but generally the distinction tends to fall along shape-based lines.

Possibly because they aren't normally dried out.

It's probably just 'one of those things'

- I don't think there is an ISO committee of food naming

Perhaps because gnocchi is cooked in the same way to a dumpling, by boiling in something like hot water/stock or steamed.

There are in general two main classes of dumplings.

Potato based and leavened dough based.

Gnocchi generally fall under the first category along with traditional central-european potato dumplings, some sorts of German "spatzle", Slovak "halusky" etc.

Second sort of dumplings is based ond dough, sometimes strictly flour/egg based, sometimes enriched with buns, but almost always leavened.

Other generally sorting rule that apply is the dough thickness.

All the pasta/noodles are made of THIN plates of dough, whether dumplings are boiled either as balls, droppings of fresh dough directly into boiling water, or long cylinders, that are sliced upon serving.

Gnocchi can have potatoes in them; I don't think noodles ever do.

Question: I've recently been told that gnocchi is technically a dumpling, not a noodle. What about it causes gnocchi to fall under the dumpling category?

Why is gnocchi a dumpling and not a noodle?

Noodles have a different shape and do not contain potatoes, but both are unleavened dough cooked in boiling water.

Noodles are long and thin. Gnocchi has potatoes in.

Both contain unleavened dough and are cooked in boiling water.

Gnocchi has potatoes in which is the major distance.


You need a hot pan.

Use either clarified butter or an oil that can withstand high temperatures without burning.

The oil should be quite hot but not at smoking point otherwise the fish closest to the skin will be overcooked and the skin will be charred as well as crispy.

The pan shouldn't be quite as hot when it comes time to cook the fish skin-up.

A good tip is not to move the fish around too much in the pan.

Just leave it in place until it should be about ready to turn

(You can gently lift a corner of the fish to check but just don't shake it around in the pan very much).

Do not crowd too many pieces of fish if you are frying little pieces.

The pan and oil have to be VERY hot.

Do not shake the pan.

The thing that gives you a crispy skin is lightly dredging the fillets in seasoned flour.

Shake off any excess.

I use half regular butter and half olive oil, and add the fillets when the water in the butter has boiled off but before the butter has browned much.

Flip the fillets only once.

As mentioned, don't crowd the pan, as you need any water to escape so that the fish grills, rather than steams.

When done, put the fillets on a plate, then deglaze the pan with butter and lemon juice to make a nice sauce for the fish.

You can also add slivered almonds and/or capers.

But the flour is what takes care of the browning/crispiness and it works every time.

The secret I learnt somewhere and can attest from experience to work, is to dry out the skin.

Dry the skin with a paper towel.

Sprinkle a decent amount of salt on the skin and let it sit for a little while.

Dry off the water that was drawn out and wipe off the excess salt.

Now proceed to place the fish skin down in preheated oil and let it cook until it's done on that side and ready to be flipped.

It should come out very easily, and the skin will still be attached to the flesh.

Start with the fish being nearer to room temperature, rather than straight out of the fridge.

Then get the skin as dry as possible, any water makes crisping hard.

You can lightly press with a paper towel and/or a light dust with flour (cornflour, plain flour, potato starch, whatever you like).Next, to a hot pan add some cooking oil that has a high smoking temperature (e.g. rapeseed oil).

Lay the fillet/s skin side down away from you to prevent splashbacks.

The skin on the fillets tend to want to curl up, so you can lightly press down the flesh so the skin is in contact with the pan.

It should flatten and you can leave them to fry skinside down for the majority of the cooking time.

The temperature and time will vary depending on the fish and the thickness of the fillet.

Once the skin is crispy enough and the heat has travelled to atleast halfway up the flesh of the fish you can turn the fish flesh side down.

You can add butter if you like and depending on the heat of the pan and type of fish,

(eg sea bass)

you could remove from the heat and the remaining heat of the pan can finish cooking the fish.

Also you can add lemon juice or any fresh herbs if desired.

TL:DR Dry Skin, hot pan, fry skin side down for atleast 2/3 of the cooking time, press the skin onto the pan at the start.

How I would do it: Fillet Fish Salt to Taste (Be liberal)

Coat with Cornmeal Heat oiled pan, on a low to medium heat Add fish skin side down, turn once skin looks crisp then allow to cook through.

Question: I struggle to get crispy skin when pan frying fillets. What's the secret?

How can I get crispy skin when pan frying fish?

Start with a fish at room temperature, dry out the skin and lightly dredge the fillets in seasoned flour. Don't crowd the frying pan and use a hot pan with clarified butter or an oil with a high smoke point. When the fish is frying, don't move it around too much.

You should use oil for frying and get the pan very hot before starting. The fish should be at room temperature and the skin should be dry. Don't overcrowd the pan and don't move the pieces around too much.

Don't move the fish around too much in the pan and don't overcrowd the pan.

The fish should be room temperature before cooking.


The key to non-stick cooking is to heat up the pan enough before adding oil.

This allows the microscopic "teeth/pits" on the surface of the to pan close up as the metal expands from heating.

Only after reaching this point, add oil.

If the recipe calls for a lower heat, the pan will still remain non-stick even if you let it cool down, now.

Otherwise, these teeth/pits will bite down on the food that is being cooked.

Use the " water test " to know when the pan is hot enough to add oil.

Besides being fascinating to watch, passing the water test ensures the pan becomes amazingly non-stick.

When the pan is hot enough, water will ball up like mercury and slide around the pan without evaporating.

The temperature required is pretty high, but I've found the non-stick properties remain if I add the oil and let the pan cool to the cooking temperature I want.

Note: preheating the pan like this applies to non-stainless steel pans, but water only balls up like mercury on stainless steel.

Also this may not be safe to do on a Teflon-coated pan.

Detailed explanation of how/why this works:

On properly heating your pan

I like to use low heat and a lid on a teflon pan.

The lid helps the top side of the egg set faster, and prevents the underside from over cooking.

Of course, this is easier if you have a glass lid.

(also, as others have noted, it is important to add fat and to preheat the pan)

First thing to do, make sure your pan is at the correct level of heat (around the mid-range on my stove top).

Then, make sure you spray your pan with some food release.

Then, crack the egg into the middle of the pan, and let it cook.

You shouldn't have any problems.

Don't have the heat too high, don't start with a cold pan.

Teflon coated should work like a charm.

Although you've said you've used a teflon pan do you normally have problems with the pan in general?

If so it might be worth buying a new one.

Keeping the pan at a low heat throughout can help with preventing sticking (although admittedly it makes the egg take longer to cook).

Also, if you wait until the egg has cooked through a bit before trying to move it at all it should make it a bit easier and less likely to break.

If you wait until the egg has at least started to slightly bubble it should be easier for you.

Good luck!

There is absolutely no need for a teflon pan, leftium has is correct about heating the pan before adding any fat.

I prefer to get a (cast-iron) pan smoking hot, add the egg, and quickly put the egg in the oven, or broiler.

The Teflon pans on the market are still fairly fragile and eventually the Teflon degrades and begins to get into the food.

Hard anodized pans from Calhpalon are great non-still pans with a surface harder than steel.

Egg quality makes a difference too.

I recently switched from standard grocery quality eggs to organic free range and it made a big difference.

The taste is better and they don't seem to stick as bad.

In addition to the suggestions above try using a lid and after the white has begun to solidify add a small amount of water and replace the lid.

The water will immediately become steam and poach the top of the egg,

Question: I've recently found a recipe that I really enjoy, but it calls for a sunny side up egg. Every time I try to fry an egg in this way it ends up sticking to the pan, the yolk breaks, and it ends up as an eggy mess.   I've tried multiple pans including my cast-iron pan, a teflon, pan, and others but they seem to always stick. What am I doing wrong?

Frying Eggs—Sticking to the Pan

Wait until the pan has reached the correct temperature before adding the oil, and try using a lid and adding a little water after the white has started to solidify a little.

The pan should be hot enough before cooking. Use a lid and a little water. Wait until the egg starts to bubble slightly before you flip it.

The pan needs to be very hot before adding the egg.

The pan should be at a low heat to prevent sticking.

Wait until the egg starts to bubble slightly.

Higher quality eggs are less likely to stick.