This is how I cook bacon, and also produce almost perfectly flat bacon.

No special tools required (Well, I'm assuming most people have the following in their kitchen).

Tools Sheet Tray Cooling Rack (slightly smaller than the sheet tray) parchment paper (Optional, but makes for easier cleanup). BACON (I like the extra-thick cut).

Steps Take the sheet tray and line with parchment paper.

Lay bacon down on parchment paper.

You can fill the tray up, but I make sure the bacon stays in a single layer with no overlapping.

Place the cooling rack upside down onto the bacon.

This should keep it from curling.

Place into oven and turn oven to 400 F.

I don't find I need to pre-heat it, as, well, bacon isn't very complicated to cook.

In about 15 minutes or so, you'll have cooked, flat bacon.

(Adjust cooking time depending on your preference of crispiness.

Take out of oven and remove from tray.

(The tray and fat are hot, the bacon will keep cooking if you don't)

The cooling rack should keep it from curling while the fat slowly renders out.

As a bonus, I don't need to clean my stove after.

Alternatively, the mention of the George Forman grill reminds me of an idea I saw somewhere (might have been Good Eats), use a waffle Iron!

Use it just like the grill in Ward's answer.

This is specifically the reason for the invention of Bacon Presses

A George Foreman -type grill does a good job keeping bacon flat, and also lets the fat drain away as it cooks:

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

This is the way I cook bacon and

it almost always gives me flat bacon: Put the bacon in a cold pan.

Put the pan on the stove and turn it to medium heat.

Let the fat slowly render out and fry the bacon on its own.

Cook to your desired crispness

The gradual heating helps the bacon maintain its shape and is the best way to cook bacon, IMO.

This is very old practical way to get flat bacon - take your cold water bottle from the fridge, pour into a dish or pan, and let the strips of bacon lay in the coolness.

In just a few minutes, the cool water will work its magic.

Then cook.

It will come out flat every single time.

This is an old trick from my great grandmother.

Don't dirty up a bunch of pans, or buy weights.

Just use cold, cold water!

If you only need a small amount of bacon, microwaved bacon tends to be very, very flat.

Of course, it doesn't scale well to quantities for more than one or two people, in which case the oven method already mentioned is extremely effective.

I've found that baking the bacon on a cooling rack (so the fat drips away) also results in flatter bacon.

I made my own bacon press hack and it worked absolutely perfectly.

First you need really decent bacon as there are some brands that have killer qualities, but most brands are lackluster, especially supermarket brands.

One of these brands is Farmers applewood smoked that I get at Costco.

It's a bargain

but what is most important is that it tastes as good or better than most restaurants.

I also freeze it in six slice sections because it freezes very well with no difference in taste from fresh because of it's high fat content.

That said, this bacon tends to curl.

One thing I realized in my decades of bacon experience is that the bacon, and most food for that matter, tastes much much better when cooked under medium to high heat and in regards to bacon, it lends a beautiful crispy outside and a gentle chewy inside.

Perfect texture!

Bacon press hack:

I found a 5 quart pot that had a footprint that fit perfectly into my nonstick frying pan.

Filled it with a few inches of water so it had some weight, and of course cleaned off the bottom really well, and tried this as a bacon press hack for the first time yesterday.

All I can say is the result was perfect, even, bacon HEAVEN .

In lieu of a dedicated bacon press, this hack works perfectly.

I just make incisions on the fatty rind before frying.

I do however use a press to smooth the creases out of my morning newspaper...

If you are specifically frying them in a pan, I would turn the heat way down, and use a bit more oil.

This cooks like it slowly, so the bacon doesn't curl.

It does however take like, a good 30 mins to cook a strip of bacon.

But you get nice orange color bacon that is ultra crispy.

Cutting the strip in half makes it curl less too.

My mother-in-law told me to cover the bacon when you cook it; we use the oven method.

I'm covering the top of the bacon with a piece of foil and will see how that works.

Two ways: Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with sides with parchment paper.

Add the bacon, add a second pan to weigh it down.

No need to turn Second method: Place bacon in a cold skillet.

Add another heavy frying pan over the top.

Fry on low heat, turn after 5 to 8 minutes, turn with tongs, replace the other skillet, and fry until desired doneness: Chewy or crispy.

No need for a press if using another skillet nested into the frying pan.

If I am pan frying, I cover the bacon with cold water, and cook on medium til the water evaporates.

Then cook until finished.

The bacon cooks evenly and stays flat.

Since I like my bacon extra crisp I will put foil on the bottom of a small pot and press down on the bacon and let it sit for 1 minute or so depending on the cut of bacon.

Question: When frying bacon, it tends to curl up. I don't like it because my bacon doesn't cook equally and it's hard to get it crisp that way.  Is there a technique or a tip so I can have flat bacon?

How can I get my bacon flatter?

You can use a bacon press or George Foreman-style grill to flatten it, bake it on a cooling rack to allow the fat to drain away, microwave it, cover it before cooking in the oven or make small incisions in the rind before cooking. Frying at a low heat with more oil will also reduce curling.

Try using a bacon press or a George Foreman grill. You can also use the microwave or frying on a lower heat.

Try using a bacon press.
Try a George Foreman grill.
Try the microwave.
Try cooking the bacon on a rack.
Try turning down the heat a little.
Make incisions in the rind.
Cover the bacon as it cooks.


It's an indication that the fruit has started to rot: When dark spots start appearing on the side of a mango, it's starting to rot.

A mango can rot from the pit, the skin, or from the non-stem end.

Any black fibers also indicate that the fruit has started to rot, and at that point, you need to toss it into the trash.

From: Student's Vegetarian Cookbook For Dummies, page 301 Edit

: Yes, the above is probably being overcautious in stating “ any black fibers?

→ trash!”

It's from a “Dummies” book after all.

;) I couldn't really find another good reference.

But I'm sure you can make the distinction between a piece of fruit that has a small brown spot and one that's black and shriveled.

Still, the color of the fibers is a result of the late ripening/rotting process of the mango, rather than a result of an earlier stage in its growth.

But having eaten this mango with the one, tiny black fiber shown in her picture, I don't really expect to read Mien's obituary on this site tomorrow.

Black streaks in mango.

Please read the following articles from www.abc.net.au: Mango industry baffled by mystery disorder Mystery mango disease not so mysterious These articles identify the presence of well delineated black veins in otherwise good, fresh mango as a "disease" of the fruit.

It turns out that this is caused by the mango trees lacking sufficient fertilizer.

I believe some mangos do that in early stages of over-ripening (similar to how an avocado does that).

I usually cut around them and keep eating.

It's not mango rot its actually a disease called Resin Canal which causes black fibers to appear in mangoes, there is no idea what causes the problem

Mango industry discovers highly infectious bacteria as cause of ugly veins of resin canal discolouration https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-03-19/resin-canal-discolouration-breakthrough-for-mango-industry/10912520

Just to keep this thread accurate and current, the black fibers/veins in the picture are known as Resin Canal Disease, or RCD.

Although unappealing, they are safe to eat, as described in this article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-03-19/resin-canal-discolouration-breakthrough-for-mango-industry/10912520

Question: I was cutting up a mango, when I noticed some black threads inside.  What are those?   They are quite tough, brown-black, about an inch long (2.5 cm):

What are those black fibers in my mango?

This could be a sign that the mango is starting to rot, or has a disease called Resin Canal which causes black fibers to appear in mangoes.

This can be caused by the fruit starting to rot or a disease in the fruit.

This is an indication that the fruit is starting to rot.

This is caused by a disease in the fruit.


If batter just looks a bit too loose then switching to a sheet pan should take care of it.

Sprinkling something absorbent onto the base of pan before pouring batter also helps: raisins currents even cookie crumbs (I save gingersnaps for baking) or fistful of fine semolina

If you are only over by a small amount (¼ cup or less) just add half the volume of flour(±).

If you added a moderate amount of extra water(½ to 1 cup) add half the volume of flour and ½ tsp baking powder and sugar equal to ⅓ the flour.

Cakes fixed this way will be slightly dry but serviceable, particularly given that you started with a boxed cake anyway.

Beyond that point just make a double recipe.

I just did this this morning when making cinnamon chocolate swirl cake added 1 3/4 cups of water instead of 3/4 cups of water worried and not sure what to do

I just added

1 cup of pancake mix the complete kind and hoped for the best.

It took a little longer to cook but no one was the wiser and it was really good not too dry.

I guess I lucked out on this one.

Next time I will put my glasses on before mixing.

Hope this works for you also.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour,1 cup

sugar,2 teaspoon baking powder,1/4 teaspoon baking soda,Whisk together.

Add to cake mix until you get the right consistency.

I use this recipe to actually get a bigger yield out of a mix and then add a bit more liquid.

I keep the mixture in a mason jar.

Cake mixes are less ounces today and really helps getting 2 dozen versus 18 cupcakes without having to get another mix.

I accidentally doubled the water to 1/2 cup but went ahead and baked it anyway.

It turned out fine, more cake than brownie.

My teen boys couldn’t care less.

Picture shows what was left an hour after it came out of the oven.

I just did this on accident.

I added 2 cups when i was supposeda add only 1.

What i did

bc

i was lucky enuff to have a spare box, was added a little bit of cake mix to my mixture and mixed until it got to the correct consistancy.

All worked out thankfully.

I just used 1/2 box of a new cake mix box to save mine.

I accidentally added an extra cup of water when it should have been only 1 1/4 cup.

Came out good.

Will try the pancake mix

next time I make a mistake

Question: I added too much water in my box cake mix and I already mixed the 2 together. What can I do to save the cake? Could I add another box of cake mix to the batter?

Too much water in box cake mix batter. Can it be fixed?

You can add some of a second cake mix or half the volume of flour to get to the correct consistency.

You can either add a bit of flour or some of the second box until you reach the right consistency.

You should just add some flour until you reach the right consistency.

You can add a bit of the second box until you reach the right consistency.


Tried a lot of ways, grating, cutting with knife and food processor.

Huge fails.

This worked, use thinner pieces of ginger.

Cut with clean scissors half way up in small rows.

Do not cut all the way to the end.

Turn the ginger and cut on the side (criss crossing).

Clean your scissors with warm soapy water and a brush often (tried oil, didn't work as well).

Also add some sugar to cut ginger to keep it from re-sticking.

Works like a charm.

Depending on what the ginger is going into, lightly greasing your knife blade helps (but, obviously, not if you're putting them in something where a tiny bit of oil would be an issue).

As does using a heavy carbon-steel knife like a Chinese cleaver.

Freezing sounds attractive, but it doesn't work because the ginger becomes impossible to chop -- too hard.

Overall, you pretty much have to expect to scrub the knife and cutting board after you're done.

You can make it a bit easier on yourself, but you can't make chopping candied ginger not messy.

Using Alton Brown's Candied Ginger recipe, try cutting the raw ginger to the desired size and then make it 'candied'.

The raw ginger is easier to cut/chop and the result is generally better than what you can buy.

My wife and I had good luck using a heavy duty food processor (Kitchen Aid).

Placed about a half cup of the candied ginger nuggets in the processor along with approximately 2 tablespoons of flour.

Hand separate any nuggets that are stuck together.

Too many nuggets caused some nuggets to stay large.

They tend to get a little warm from the friction.

Pour the cut pieces onto a cutting board and hand cut any that may be too large.

Strain off any excess flour and place in a sealed jar.

A & D

This is purely hypothetical, as I haven't tried it.

If you're adding it to something that you're also adding sugar, you could try dusting it with powdered/icing sugar as you cut, similar to how you would dust a work surface with flour when working with dough.

You'd want to account for the extra sugar you're adding though.

Alternatively, you could try using a food processor.

I imagine the quick blade would be less likely to get stuck.

(You could also add some powdered sugar to that for the same effect?

I have chopped it frozen before and it is basically regular if you line up the knife then hit the back with you're hand in a solid thud.

The ginger is basically gummy enough to just break without shattering.

I have used "Jar" Cyrstalized Ginger and place it in a Coffee grinder with "Rice" It minces and reduces the "Gumming -up".

The Rice acts as a Flour and the mixture is much easier to handle.

I have also place the "nuggets" of crystalized Ginger in a plastic sandwich bag and used a small mallet to pulverize the nuggets.

Then mix with flour to prevent gumming. ....

Good Luck!

I was struggling with this just this morning trying to prepare a ginger bread.

I finally wet my Yukon blade with hot water and then wet the ginger piece.

Huge difference!

The scone recipe I used called for minced crystallized ginger.

I floured the pieces with flour from the recipe so I wouldn't be using extra flour.

I had success both with chopping with a knife and with grating on a fine grater.

Actually, though, the chopped ginger was more favorable in the scones because eating the little bits gave more flavor to a bite than the smaller grated ones.

I take a couple tablespoons of the sugar from the recipe and put that over top of the ginger and chop through the sugar and ginger together to minimize sticking and keep the ginger from reforming like a spicy Terminator.

As suggested above, I suppose flour would work and prevent the ingredients from sinking.

If I'm using the chopped candied ginger for a topping, I will use a tablespoon or two of turbinado or raw sugar.

This trick works for chopping up any dried fruit.

Question: I like to use candied ginger in place of fresh ginger in some dishes that will be sweet, but I want to use it in much smaller chunks than what it comes in.   My problem is that even using a well-sharpened knife, it gums up both the blade and the cutting board quite a bit.    Is there some method of treating the blade or the candied ginger that would ease cutting it some?

What is the most effective method to mince candied ginger?

You could make your own candied ginger with smaller pieces or lightly greasing the blade, but it is difficult to cut candied ginger without getting the knife and board sticky. If your recipe uses sugar or flour, try dusting the ginger and work surface with either before chopping by hand or in a food processor. When dusted with flour, this should help the ginger not to sink in the recipe.

Use thinner pieces of garlic or use raw garlic that you candy yourself. Trying oiling your knife or adding some flour.

You should expect to scrub the knife after use.

Try using raw ginger, cut it up and then candy it yourself.

You could use a mallet to pulverize the pieces.


Chris hinted at it -- to get the cracks, you need to have the top set early, so it's not going to expand while the middle's still trying to rise, and there's still enough leavening left to break through the crust that formed.

You have a few things that can go wrong:

The oven isn't hot enough.

(it needs to set the top before the middle's fully risen) Not enough leavening (it needs to be strong enough to crack the top once it's set) Using a single-acting baking powder (double acting gives extra rise when it gets heated)

Not creaming the fat long enough

(creaming cuts little air pockets into the fat, which means the leavening has to do less work)

Making too thin of cookies

(you need enough mass in the middle

so it finishes cooking after the top's set).

Mixing the dough too much (you don't want to develop gluten; it needs to be tender enough to crack easily)

As Jennifer mentioned -- old baking soda can be a problem.

I'd also consider investing in an oven thermometer to make sure that it's really providing the temperature the dial claims, as those are the two things that are going to be the most difficult to judge if they're a problem or not.

You'll also want to make sure the oven is properly pre-heated (so it doesn't loose all its heat when you open the door to put the cookies in), and avoid opening the door again 'til it's time to pull them.

If you have to rotate them (as the oven cooks unevenly), do it as quickly as possible so the oven's not open for very long.

If you have a fan assisted oven you might try turning on the fan for a short period when the cookies have flattened out in order to form a crust as quickly as possible.

If a crust forms before leavening is complete, you should get cracks.

A tip that I have seen in another recipe is to pull each dough ball apart with your fingers into rough halves and then squash them back together, again roughly so that the join between the two halves is still visible.

This uneven clump of dough is more likely to produce cracks.

In my experience, however, the cracks are not as attractive as those in the linked image.

Use a couple drops of water on top of each cookie: Roll them into balls Place them on your baking sheet Sprinkle water on the top of each ball Put in pre-heated oven

Have you considered getting a new box of baking soda?

Or perhaps try using butter instead of the margarine?

Possibly you are not getting enough leavening to cause the cookies to crack as they bake.

The kind of fat used might also affect the way the cookies rise, not making them crack.

The best way to get crinkles on the top is to take the cookies out of the oven when cooked.

While they are still soft, use a fork and flatten them slightly.

Perfect crinkles every time.

I do not refrigerate the dough for a long period but DO sprinkle 3-4 drops of water on the rolled, dipped in sugar cookies just before baking.

They always have attractive cracks on top.

This works for me.

Half way through cooking pull out the cookie sheet and give it a good bang on the counter and then again at the end of the cooking time do it again.

Cracks!

Question: I used  this recipe  to make ginger molasses cookies. Though the cookies tasted great, my cookies didn't develop any cracks in them like the ones in the picture. I tried baking them for longer, but that just resulted in them becoming more crispy and browned a little more.  How should I modify the recipe to get the traditional cracks in the cookie?  EDIT: The only modification I made to the recipe was to use unsalted butter instead of margarine.

How to get cracks in my ginger molasses cookies

Make sure the oven is hot enough, you cream the fat enough and the cookies are thick enough. Adding a coule of drops of water to each rolled cookie before baking before placing in the pre-heated oven can help, as can using a fan assisted oven. Try replacing your baking powder if it is old and banging the cookie sheet on the counter half way through and after cooking.

You should try increasing the heat of your oven, creaming the fat for longer and rolling out thicker cookies. You could also put a few drops of water on each cookie before cooking.

Check if your oven is hot enough. You might also be rolling out your cookies too thin or not creaming the fat for long enough.

Use the fan on your oven to form the crust as quickly as possible.

Sprinkle a few drops of water on the balls of dough.

Bang the baking sheet on the counter half way through cooking time.


"Al dente" is used to refer to food cooked so it is still "firm to bite" but

not soft This is very important to pasta which should be removed from the cooking liquid just before it has fully cooked through, as like most foods, it will continue to cook after being removed from the heat source

Always gently stir your pasta every minute or so while cooking to ensure it cooks evenly.

Then near the end of the cooking time, bite into a piece of paste every 15 seconds or so to see if it has nearly cooked through.

It should be firm to bite, and not soft all the way through.

It should not resist biting though With some pasta types like Penne etc.

you can sometimes actually see the uncooked inner layer (a thin white line) if you carefully slice it in half which a knife, or just bite cleanly with your teeth

If the pasta is going to be mixed into a hot liquid sauce before serving, take the pasta out of the cooking liquid at an even firmer point

The term "al dente" can be used for all cooked foods that should be cooked to just before soft, and then served (fresh greens, thin meat cuts etc.)

The reason for all of this is that there have been many flavour and nutrition benefits noted when cooking to this point.

Also for pasta it tends to fall apart if cooked past "al dente"

If you make fresh pasta like we do in Italy you can't cook it al dente - it is already too soft.

I don't know who invented the term, but it just a guideline for how much you should cook dried pasta when re-heating it so that you do not boil it to pieces.

People who make their own fresh pasta will never be eating pasta al dente.

Al dente means the tooth, and if you are cooking fresh pasta there is a moment when the pasta becomes ruined by overcooking, a moment before that it is perfect to eat, but a moment before that it has "a tooth" slightly tougher to bite into, this is "al dente" and is important only if you are cooking fresh pasta because if you take more than a few seconds to remove it from the hot water or you will be adding a hot sause to it, you will lose the pasta into a mushy mess.

True al dente is not for eating, it is a stage of cooking.

Al dente in Italian means "to the tooth".

The basic idea is cooking dried pasta so that it retains a bit of firmness to the bite and is not overcooked.

I personally do not like cooked pasta that retains a white line of raw pasta interior, but some do.

It is a preference but what is generally agreed is a big NO to overcooked pasta.

Dry or fresh.

Giada De Laurentiis said it today : you’re only going al dente if finishing (cooking) in a sauce.

So, to go straight from boiling to the bowl/plate you would cook to desired firmness/tenderness.

Makes sense to me

and I’m glad I was watching that episode.

"Al dente" means "firm to bite".

Question: Initially I was told that al dente meant that the pasta was cooked but still firm, definitely not soggy or overcooked.  Later, someone told me that it meant not quite cooked all the way through. Actually many people began telling me this. In addition, they would also tell me that it was silly to make such a request because no one in their right mind would eat pasta this way.  So what does al dente really mean?

What does al dente really mean?

Al dente refers to boiled pasta and other food that still has some firmness and is not completely soft. According to Giada De Laurentiis, pasta should be al dente if finishing (cooking) in a sauce.

Al dente means firm to bite. It is useful if the pasta is then to be added to a sauce.

Al dente means the pasta is firm to bite.

You should cook al dente if the pasta is then to be added and heated in a sauce, to avoid it falling apart.


The most common ones simmered along with curry are onions, carrots, and potatoes.

You could even add some sliced apples.

Root vegetables are frequently simmered with the curry, and you could consider using variants like sweet potato or squash, kabu, daikon, etc.

As a "topping", the sky is the limit; I've seen blanched okra, cooked renkon, roasted or simmered slices of kabocha squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.

As non-vegetable toppings added after simmering, I've seen cheese, katsu-style tofu, tonkatsu or menchi katsu.

Edited to add: as Japanese curry is one of the easiest ways of encouraging our children to eat vegetables, my wife and I

now both add anything from blanched spinach (near the end of cooking) to (typically canned) tomatoes; the younger one loves it when there are plenty of green peas or even corn in the mix.

I like to add cauliflower.

In addition to the carrots and potatoes mentioned, I would recommend edamame.

You could also substitute lotus root for some or all of the potato.

And while you don't add this to the curry while cooking, you can top your curry with fukujinzuke for a nice cold crunchy contrast to the warm spicy curry.

Carrots and Potatoes at least.

Parsnip/Daikon Radish if you like those.

Frozen peas at the end are nice too.

In addition to everything already mentioned, I sometimes see these used: Mushrooms Broccoli Tomato Eggplants

Stating the obvious: I would recommend against sweet potato if you don't want your dish to taste sweet.

Traditionally, for home curries, the 3 common veggies are onions, potatoes and carrots.

You cut the onions in big 1-mouthful chunks (not finely diced - you want to be able to see them and eat them as a vegetable in the final dish), cube the potatoes to a biggish two-mouthful size, and cut the carrots into rough triangles - you do this by cutting the carrot as if you were thickly slicing it, but turning the carrot a quarter-turn before making each cut, resulting in even, chunky triangular bits.

Video demo of ran-giri here:)

The cooking time should be timed carefully after you put in the potatoes (last, just before adding liquid) as they can quickly dissolve into nothing if cooked too long.

Remember to serve with short/medium grained rice.

TIP: to make a richer tasting curry, add a small cube or two of dark chocolate after putting the roux in.

OTHER HOME VARIATIONS:

My personal preference is to use onion and a variety of mushrooms.

To make a milder, gentler curry for children, parents add a couple of tablespoons of honey, and a finely grated apple or two. '

Katsu-kare-' is placing a crunchy sliced hot schnitzel (like chicken or pork) on top of each serving of curry before serving...

it's delicious, but this is a lot more work.

Often curry is served with 'fukujin-zuke' red sweet veggie pickles on the side.

There are loads of interesting variations that people come up with, so it's fun to just experiment with what you have, too.

It's an easy, no-fuss family dish...

the equivalent of macaroni cheese, so using boxed roux isn't cheating; it's normal :)

You can make lots and eat it again the next day or two, as curry rice again, or on udon noodle soup (kare- udon).

We often came home after school and ate it with toast for afternoon tea lol.

You can't freeze it though, as the potatoes go very weird.

Small broccoli florets are nice as well (blanch them first, cut the stems short).

The crowns will hold a lot of the curry in, which is a plus!

Depending on the day, I use a number of different methods and ingredients.

I make Japanese curry most days with S&B Medium Roux, but I also make it from scratch regularly as well which allows for the use of various curry powders.

We prefer either shrimp or chicken curry and the additions from what could be the standard Carrots, Potato and Onion include at times:

Shiitake mushrooms dehydrated and sauteed Frozen peas

Yukon vs russet potatoes Honey, Worchestershire sauce and soy sauce on occasion.

Dark chocolate sometimes Grated apple (frequently) Canned tomatoes I have spent a total of 15 years of my life back and forth in Japan from the time I was a small child.

We regularly had a variety of Japanese Curry, either in franchise restaurants, or made at home.

It can be extremely versatile and all up to your taste.

The best way to decide what to put in YOUR curry is to experiment.

Finally, it is obviously best served with JAPANESE type rice.

Short or medium grain, but short grain, while expensive, is really the best.

Best presentation is formed rice on one side of a large, shallow soup/salad bowl and the curry then spooned into the other side to ring the edges of the rice.

A good pinch of fukujinzuke along the edge or topping the rice makes the perfect dish!

Bon Appetit...and itadakimasu!

Added:

This question started me thinking about dinner and it gave me an itch, so I made exactly what we're talking about!

Included onions, Yukon Potatoes, carrots, celery, Shiitake mushrooms, frozen peas, grated apple, Worcestershire sauce, honey, and used S&B Medium Curry roux.

Question: I am preparing my first Japenese Curry (cheating incredibly by using the S&B Golden Curry Medium Hot box) and it suggests adding "vegetables" without actually indicating  what  veggies to add other than onions.  Assuming access to acceptable supermarkets (Asian and normal Australian) what vegetables (normal and/or exotic) make the best compliment to a curry like this?

What vegetables should I add to a japanese curry?

The most commonly used are root vegetables like onions, carrots and potatoes, although you can supplement or substitute with variants like sweet potato or squash, kabu, daikon, edamame, lotus root etc. Curry is often served with 'Fukujin-zuke' red sweet veggie pickles on the side, as well as toppings including blanched broccoli florets or okra, dehydrated shiitake mushrooms, tomato, eggplant, peas and other ingredients.

Root vegetables are often used. You can also serve with mushrooms or broccoli or many other vegetables.

Root vegetables like carrots and potatoes are very commonly used.

Serve with mushrooms, broccoli, green beans or okra.


I can think of adding alkali or acid substances mainly as means of changing the ph of the dough.

And adding can be understood as in the dough, or on its surface.

Alkali/basic additives or ingredients Gluten only works if PH is between 3 and 11.

Outside those values it loses its stength .

Before reaching PH>11 it will make flour have a higher absorption.

It's a way to relax the dough, as the technic used to stretch noodles as it has previously been cited in this question (see @TFD and @Chad's answers) , and also in this question .

To make that kind of noodles, you add the alkali to the flour, resulting it to be in the dough.

Another way basic substances are used in dough is giving them a bath in caustic soda , as Germans do with their Laugengebäck (the most known ones outside Germany probably are the Brezels/Pretzels).

The lye makes them have their characteristic crust:

brown, and hard and thin, like a good sausage.

Acidic additives or ingredients Acids can also weaken the gluten, but in bread making is not so strange to add certain acids, or wanting an acidic dough.

One of the reasons on wanting an acidic final loaf is it will help increasing the shelf life, as it will act as a preservative.

Besides that, there is a very common acid used in doughs: Citric acid / Ascorbic acid / E-300.

It helps the dough to rise more and faster, and be more manageable and have a crumb that resembles like cotton candy.

You can read more on Ascorbic acid at the page of the Real Bread Campaign , and in this YouTube video you can see its effect in dough .

Another reason for wanting a low PH dough is to avoid starch degradation.

Flours have enzymes (amylase) that end up degrading it.

But that enzymatic activity is stopped with a PH<4.5 .

This is well known with 100% rye breads: I know the question states wheat flour, but this example is clarifier.

Rye flour has low gluten, and it has a somehow "low quality" (if compared with "normal" wheat flour).

Some recipes call for strong high gluten wheat flour to retain gas bubbles from the leavening that won't get trapped by rye's gluten.

But in 100% rye breads gas can also be trapped.

That is why usually rye breads are made with sourdough , which has acetic and lactic acids.

They give the dough the right PH, and the starches in rye will get gelatinized and catch the gasses in a similar (although less effective way) than gluten.

Sometimes, instead of sourdough , yeasts and acid are added as ingredients.

That was an specific example with rye, but wheat flour also has starches, and they can also be gelatinized, giving a distinctive sourdough touch to to 100% wheat breads.

Acidic and basic at the same time

(Thanks @ChrisSteinbach for reminding me it) When mixing an acid and a base, a chemical reaction happens , neutralizing both and releasing CO 2 gas: NaHCO 3 + H + → Na + + CO 2 + H 2

O

That gas is employed to leaven the dough, as in a chemical leavener.

I.E. in Irish bread or typical cakes.

Stuff that is not acidic nor basic...

yet As a chemical leaveners improvement, one would like the reaction wouldn't start as soon as acid, base and water are mixed, but a bit later.

This woud let some more time to work on the dough.

Some salts have the characteristic of degrading at high temperatures into acid , helping (usually in the oven) for a second rise.

Alkaline solutions are added to wheat noodle dough when it is too be pulled by hand.

The alkaline substance will break down the gluten connections to make a more pliable dough See

What flour and technique do I need for hand pulled noodles?

A mixture of sodium bicarbonate (which is alkaline) and tartaric acid is commonly used as a chemical leavener in baking.

If flour is mixed with small amounts of these substances, then carbon dioxide gas will form when water is added to the mixture creating small bubbles in the batter or dough.

The mixture is typically cooked as soon as possible after the leavening agent is introduced so that the gas bubbles do not have time to escape and become baked-in.

Another way basic substances are used in dough is giving them a bath in "caustic soda", as Germans do with their Laugengebäck (the most known ones outside Germany probably are the Brezels/Pretzels).

It should be "Baked Baking soda" instead of "Caustic soda"Caustic soda is poisonous.

Alkali for the various German lye treated breads/rolls is very much for the promotion of browning to achieve that rich brown crust.

Caramelisation in particular is accelerated in alkali conditions.

As far as I know, these recipes have lye solution brushed on to the surface before baking.

Yeast thrives in a slightly acidic environment.

Quite some cookie/shortbread recipes (including commercial ones - oreo is a likely candidate, it isn't airy at all but has an akali added)

contain baking soda or other alkalines but not a trace of acid - likely because a) a bit of the baking soda taste is strangely expected, b) because it helps browning.

Leavening is unlikely the intention, since leavening is sometimes the last thing you want in dense shortbreads, given even the leavening from moisture content evaporating can turn shortbread fingers into shortbread sausage fingers...

Question: What are the chemical  reactions of adding alkaline substances to wheat flour dough and how does it change the properties and behavior? The same for acidic substances.

What is the effect of adding alkaline or acidic substances to wheat flour?

While gluten will only work at a pH between 3 and 11, a more alkaline solution will make noodle dough more pliable and alkaline lye is used in German breads/rolls to produce a rich brown crust. Acidic doughs extend shelf life and improve rising, although they can weaken the gluten. A mixture of acid and alkaline ingredients are often used as a chemical leavener in baking.

Adding alkaline to flour breaks down the gluten to make dough more pliable. Acids will help bread dough to rise faster.

Adding alkaline substances to flour helps to break down gluten and make dough more pliable. The lye in German breads is also used for the brown crust.

Acids in bread will act as a preservative. It will also help the dough to rises faster.


As @Eric Hu notes, a dark roux is the way to go.

It's interesting that he mentions Alton Brown, as it's his turkey gravy recipe I use.

His recipe also uses red wine, which further darkens the gravy, richens it, and adds a fantastic flavor.

I'd only change one thing: next time I'm going to make the roux and finish the gravy in a separate pan after deglazing.

The roasting pan is too big and unwieldy.

As noted in Eric's answer, a roux is just flour cooked in fat until it turns the color you want.

I usually end up a little darker than here before adding the liquids back to the pan:

I probably wouldn't go this dark unless making gumbo:

Some ideas: Use a brown chicken/turkey stock.

Classic poultry stock uses raw bones, but you can make a rich, brown stock using roasted bones.

Be aware that it won't be as gelatinous as it would be with raw bones, so if you can, add some necks, backs, and if you can find them, feet.

Add some tawny port, Madeira, or dry Marsala.

In terms of technique: make a roux, add the wine, reduce to half the original volume (so the sauce isn't harshly boozy), then add stock and simmer until it reaches the desired consistency.

When roasting a whole bird, cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of onions and add a cup of sherry.

Place the bird directly on the onions (no need for a roasting rack).

Check every half hour: if the pan looks near dry, add more water.

Add the onions to your gravy and puree.

Deglaze the pan (i.e., dissolve all the yummy brown bits stuck to the bottom with water or dry white wine), then transfer it to your gravy.

Add a roux, ideally a dark roux, to your gravy.

This is a standard French and Cajun (which is French-rooted) technique for giving color and body to sauces.

Roux's are essentially butter or oil and flour, heated gently and stirred occasionally to cook the flour so that it darkens in color, but doesn't burn.

The darker the roux, the less thickening properties it'll have.

It sounds like you want something more like a brick-red color roux.

Some recipes make this out to be a pain, but Alton Brown has a technique that involves using an oven for gentle heating.

This is nice since it requires about 10 minutes of your attention and 1 hour and 30 minutes of baking time.

Classic technique is to use an 'oignon brule' - cut an onion in half and caramelize on a griddle or in a heavy pan.

add to the stock as it's being made.

This is similar to what @Bruce's third suggestion.

Some people "brown" flour in a frying pan prior to making gravy.

Equal amounts (1 - 3 tbsp - more for a thicker gravy) of butter or oil and flour.

Lightly brown in pot.

I have also browned with no butter.

Our favorite way to darken gravy is to add small amounts of light Japanese soy sauce.

In addition to the suggestions of using a dark roux--and remember, the darker the roux, the more dark roux flavor, and the more color, but the less thickening you get from the roux--you might want to make your own dark turkey stock.

I like to roast my turkey cut up, so it is no problem to make the stock from the back, neck, giblets (except the liver), the wing tips, and so forth the day before.

However, you can always buy a few turkey wings or backs from your poultry grocer--they make wonderful stock.

Roast your turkey parts at 500 on a sheet pan (line it with aluminum foil for easy cleanup) until they are nicely dark brown.

It doesn't matter if the parts are cooked through, what you are doing is developing color and flavor.

Then, proceed to make your stock as normal.

You can also roast the vegetables for the stock if you wish--I don't bother.

This stock will give a fantastic flavor to your stuffing or dressing, as well as to your gravy.

It will also give a nice beige to light brown stock.

A shot of Worcestershire or similar also will do no harm, and may add some savory notes.

Use with moderation.

However, remember, a poultry stock is never going to be the rich brown or mahogony that a deep beef stock will be.

You should be able to achieve a rich, deep light brown color--say the color of a brown chicken egg, or a little darker, even without a dark roux.

I'm just wondering why you wouldn't simply add 2 or 3 drops of Kitchen Bouquet?

If you're simply looking for that yummy colour, it's perfect.

I know, I know....

you specified not adding something like this

but I'm curious as to why.

Throw some flour, butter and a dark beer into it.

Even a light beer will add a fanciful flavor, IMO.

My favorite way of making turkey gravy is a little labor intensive.

I buy extra turkey bits (necks, backs, and wings) and roast them until they're nice and brown.

Then I simmer them in water (with a little onion and herbs, as you like) for two or three hours.

Strain and thicken with roux or corn starch (I'm gluten free).

It's GORGEOUS but definitely reserved for special occasions.

I recommend using potato flour* and a little soy sauce.

Use the potato flour as you might otherwise use cornflour, add the soy sauce at the end.

Wheat flour and cornflour(cornstarch) work too, but potato flour just gives the gravy a better flavour, while still being smooth.

Soy sauce might seem odd, but adding a little at the end darkens the colour and the flavour goes really well with everything else going on and just works.

Fyi: They're techniques taken from making vegetarian gravies where getting a respectable outcome is an uphill battle.

*might be called "potato starch" depending on where you are.

Question: When I make gravy to go with roast chicken and turkey, it is flavourful but always looks a little pale. Could you suggest a way to make it look darker without adding gravy browning?

How can I make my turkey gravy look darker and richer?

A poultry stock will not have the rich brown colour of beef stock, but you can use a brown chicken/turkey stock, brown the flour when making the roux, use an an 'oignon brule' caramelised on a griddle or heavy pan or use roasted bones to make the stock. A few drops of Worcestershire Sauce or Kitchen Bouquet will also darken the sauce without much change in flavour.

You can make a brown chicken stock by roasting the bones first. You can also caramelize some onions or add some worcestershire sauce.

Use a brown chicken stock. This might be made from roasted or raw bones. You could also add a roux.

Try caramelizing onions or browning some flour.

Add a little worcestershire sauce or some Kitchen Bouquet.


I don't think you can make a Beef Wellington without the obligatory mushrooms, it essentially becomes something else.

The whole concept behind beef wellington is to keep the meat juices in by being surrounded by pastry

but there's no reason why you shouldn't omit the mushrooms for something else.

I really can't think of any other food substance that would replicate the flavour of mushrooms without being mushrooms other than truffle.

I would try something like a pork/onion sausage meat stuffing and being the time of year it is, perhaps with chestnuts as a possible alternative, either surrounding the beef or inside it.

I hate mushrooms too.

The only time I ever made wellington, I simply put a mixture of onions and bacon and cheese in place of the mushroom layer.

I first sprinkled parmesan cheese.

Then I put a layer of finely chopped sauteed onions and then crumpled cooked bacon.

It was fantastic and everyone there said it was the 'best thing they ever ate'.

I realize this isn't really 'wellington' anymore.

But let's face it.

The only real reason anyone wants to eat it is because it's beef and puffed pastry!

That's what's most important I think :)

Two years later, the chestnut idea worked swimmingly :D

I followed the recipe I linked in the question, with the following changes: Obviously

, I replaced one pound of mushrooms with one pound of chestnuts.

In hindsight, that was probably a bit too much, as a pound of mushrooms would have cooked down significantly more, but we didn't mind.

In step 3, I omitted the horseradish, as I don't like it.

I'm only reporting that for accuracy :)

I replaced step 4 entirely with the following:

Chop all chestnuts in half, being careful as they have a tendency to fly apart.

Boil the halves in a saucepan of water for 7 minutes.

Drain and let cool, then peel -- this should now be a much easier task.

Chop chestnut meats finely.

I should note that I accidentally boiled them too long, and they got a bit crumbly while I was peeling them.

That didn't matter, because I was going to chop them.

However, in the future I might try using a food processor to chop them, because I ended up with an uneven chop and the larger pieces stood out from the eventual mixture, making it harder to eat.

In step 5, I had to add more butter, as the chestnuts basically absorbed the entire amount of butter called for without actually sauteeing in it.

Not that I minded :) I sauteed the chestnuts until soft, then added the shallots and thyme and proceeded as usual.

I omitted the foie gras, again, added only for accuracy.

Kenji mentioned in the comments that it's not needed if you don't like it or can't find it, so I omitted to make the whole thing simpler.

The dish turned out utterly delicious :D

I don't usually buy beef tenderloin, finding it usually lacking in flavor; since the goal of the dish was to add more interesting flavor and texture back, I definitely feel this was a success.

I realized during the rolling step that I hadn't bought the exact right cut, so it kind of fell apart a bit during serving, but despite all the hard work and mistakes I'd definitely make this again.

I don't like mushrooms much either, I've made wellingtons with pate mostly, although I've experimented with chopped up brussel sprouts with some success as well.

One thing I would like to try is yellow lentils but haven't had the opportunity.

You could still try mushrooms though if it's the texture your roommate doesn't like rather than the flavor.

If it is texture then try making a rough paste out of mushroom and shallots rather than chopped up pieces.

Or try shitakes instead.

My husband also dislikes mushrooms.

I substituted them for caramelized onions.

Together with the pâté, it turned out quite well, though I agree that substituting the the mushrooms totally changes the character of the dish!

I have used haggis, and it worked a treat!

The oats soaked up the juices and kept the pastry dry, and it complemented the beef wonderfully.

The only thing I would say is ensure that you only make a thin layer as haggis can have quite a strong taste.

I find olives tend to keep a similar texture to the mushrooms without bringing their disgusting earthy flavor to the dish :)

I've used both haggis and black pudding as an alternative to duxelle.

Obviously they both change the nature of the dish and is a bit of a faff to prepare (particularly the black pudding) but the combination of flavours is fantastic.

As mentioned above, whether haggis or black pudding, it needs to be quite a thin layer so it doesn't completely overpower the beef.

I have a mushroom allergy

so i can't make beef wellington with it.

I was thinking about using caramelized onion or garlic and cheese (probably a sharp cheddar or brie) wrapped in bacon or prosciutto.

Try sun dried tomatoe pesto on layers of thin slice prosciutto then roll on puff pastry for an Italian style Wellington

Question: I saw a great recipe for Beef Wellington on  Serious Eats  that I'm eager to try. However, my roommate does not eat mushrooms (both because he dislikes the flavor and because he had a bad experience as a child, so "hidden mushrooms" are out too). I worry that omitting them would defeat most of the purpose of the dish. Is there anything that could be used in their place to give a similar flavor?

Mushroom replacement in Beef Wellington

Replacing the mushrooms with chestnuts and/or pork/onion sausage meat stuffing can work well, or you can use caramelised onions, possibly with bacon and cheese. Haggis and black pudding, olives or sun dried tomato pesto on layers of thin slice prosciutto can also work.

You can use chestnuts, onions, haggis, olives or sun-dried tomatoes.

Replace with olives, tomato pesto and sliced prosciutto.


I would suggest making this on the stove top, or in the microwave, instead of in the oven.

What is happening is that the oil from the cheese separates from the rest of the dish.

If you are using bottled salad dressing and cream cheese, there is already many thickeners/stabilizers in those.

(Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Carob/Locust Bean gum) I suggest that you slowly melt the cheese, along with the cream cheese & salad dressing on low heat .

An immersion blender would help to make sure the lumps are gone, after adding the hot sauce, but before you add the chicken (as long as you want to have the chicken texture).

From my experience, the oily separation with the cheese is caused by it over cooking.

If you aren't a cheese snob (I am), you could substitute Velveta cheese for the cheddar/jack cheese.

Do you remember their commercials with the oily gooey messes with cheddar vs Velveta?

It is the same principle at work here.

Although baking is a totally adequate way of making this dish quickly.

If you want to improve presentation, for parties and so on, I would recommend switching to making it in a crock pot or something like that (keeps it warm, contained).

If you wanted to add a stabilizer at this point, I would recommend agar-agar (boil in broth, fold into dip - use a smallish amount so that it works as a thickener and stabilizer but not like gelatin).

As for a component stabilizer to just add to the recipe, all of the ones listed in Aaronut's comment and Kristalyn's answer would work.

My preference, especially with a recipe like this would be to use mustard, prepared or ground.

Just made some buff chic dip in the microwave and it did NOT get greasy.

Even after sitting out for awhile.

What I did was microwave the cream cheese and a couple good squeezes of Ranch for 2 minutes.

The cream cheese was stil in block form after microwaving (not melted) but mixed together real easily.

Don't over cook the cheese!!!!

Then add chicken and buffalo sauce to taste and microwave in 30 second increments until hot.

I'd show you a picture if I could.

It looks creamy and delicious.

+1 to mfg for the crock pot suggestion.

That is how we make it.

To expand a bit, we do not put the cheese on top.

We find that it hardens into a skin once it cools a bit, making it very difficult to dip anything into it.

Instead we combine the shredded cheese with all the other ingredients at once in the crock pot.

We do cook the chicken separately, boiled usually.

The key to a consistent texture there is to finely shred the chicken in a food processor rather than fork or hand shredding, as larger or longer pieces of chicken make for a lot of broken chips.

We actually just made a batch of this yesterday using boneless skinless thighs rather than breasts and even with the higher fat content we had no problems with separation or oil run off.

I also want to add that we have tried putting larger chicken pieces in the dip and then using an immersion blender to smooth out the whole mix.

I don't recommend it.

The chicken doesn't end up uniform in size, and when hot the dip combines easily with minimal stirring so you don't gain anything by such rigorous blending.

Late edit: I want to add one more thing about doing this in a crock pot: don't let it sit too long on its own with the crock pot on.

It will burn.

Even on the lowest setting, the parts that are touching the sides will scorch.

If it happens a little bit, you can stir it in and it's not so bad, but it's definitely not at its best that way.

This dip reheats really well either in the crock pot or in a microwave, so don't be afraid to let it cool and reheat it.

When I make it, I purposefully cook it to the point of oil separation, to get the taste and texture that I (and my audience) prefer.

Otherwise, it has an overly-creaminess, and less pungence.

Again, that’s just us.

I frequently serve it without achieving separation if I'm in a hurry, but look forward to reheating.

Question: I frequently see buffalo chicken dip showing up at parties. The idea of it sounds pretty good, but more often it ends up all separated with pools of grease like this:  (Source: browneyedbaker.com)  What could be done to stabilize the dip so it remains creamy and unseparated. I had the idea of adding egg yolk, but I suppose you'd have to at least be careful with it to prevent the egg from curdling.

How could buffalo chicken dip be stabilized?

Making this in the microwave or on the stove should give better results, being careful not to overcook to avoid separation of the cheese.

You can try microwaving or cooking on the stove top. Try not to overcook as this causes separation. You can also add a stabilizer.

Try cooking in the microwave or on the stove top. Separation is caused by overcooking.

An immersion blender will mix it very well.

You can add a stabilizer like agar-agar.


First, cook your potatoes in stock, not water.

I prefer chicken stock but you can use vegetable stock if you prefer.

Make sure you use only enough stock to barely cover the potatoes, and cook them with the lid off.

When the potatoes are done, add milk or cream until you achieve a nice, creamy consistency.

If necessary, you can thicken it by mashing some of the potatoes against the side of the pan.

You can also add some grated cheese.

I would use a hard cheese like Parmigiano or Romano.

Now just season to taste.

With a simple soup like potato, I would stick to salt and pepper only.

If you do use other spices, be careful because they will easily overwhelm the delicate flavor.

Some ingredients I like to include in potato soup: Cooked, chopped bacon Corn Shredded cheddar (or similarly mediumstrong cheese) Cabbage or broccoli

Any combination or all of the above can be added to potato soup.

The cheese, in particular will add an overall creamy flavor and texture.

(If you weren't concerned with the MSG and/or sodium, I'd suggest a couple of chicken boullion cubes, too.)

Seems to me that, aside from telling you to add ingredients (I am going to assume that you added salt prior to adding water to help sweat the ingredients), you may be missing the step of fully preparing your stock.

While browning your onions will have been effective; did you just add the carrots along with the water, did you give them an opportunity to sweat and brown as well?

Some considerations: Be sure that you allow the onions to fully brown.

This will ensure that they have expressed their fullest flavor Be sure that your carrots are being steamed (covering the pot with a lid is very helpful) and then cooking fully to create your stock If you added the carrots and the onions at the same time, but the onions are browning sooner than the carrots even get soft, add some water to the bottom of the pan to prevent the onions from burning, but to keep the carrots cooking (only add enough that onions float but carrots rest on bottom)

I would also add that roast

the potatoes might be helpful.

Also, you can alter the soup by pureeing some portion of the potatoes and adding it back to the pot.

In terms of a few additional ingredients: toasted sesame oil, fennel (whole, fresh), dill (whole, fresh)

Fresh herbs like parsley, rosemary or thyme will give your soup zing.

If you are after salvaging this pot of soup rather than starting over, some possibilities 1 a sprig of rosemary and some garlic that's been fried with a slick of olive oil 2 white pepper horseradish and sour cream 3 fresh snipped fennel green with baby peas and asparagus (primavera)

I think you can cook your potatoes in water

it is not a problem

the question is how to make it fragrant even though you don`t have a stock base:first put some onions, 2 garlic cloves,3 celery leaves,small chopped carrot all of them with natural butter and let them cook for 5 minutes till they turn translucent take them to the mixer and ground then finely put them back in the pot and put 3 cups of water let them simmer for 5 minutes in another pan fry your potatoes just a little bit then add them to the simmering vegetable stock when the potatoes are 75% take them all to the mixer again and mix them then return back again to the pot here

you can add cream or cheddar cheese add your black or white pepper and salt if you want an oriental flavor add 1/2 tb of cumin

The answers above are best if you're starting from scratch, but if you want to salvage this pot of soup a stock (or bouillon) cube or powder is your best bet.

It's processed but it should work.

Question: I've made my first potato soup and it has no taste.   Just to get an idea this is how I made it: chopped and onion and a carrot and place them with some oil to fry. After the onion got brown, I added the potatoes, water and salt and kept it cooking until the potatoes were done.  It tastes like ... just... boiled water.  How do I salvage the soup, preferably using minimally processed ingredients (for example, avoiding MSG)?

How to add flavor to potato soup (using minimally processed ingredients)?

Cook your potatoes in stock rather than water next time, but if you want to rescue this one you can try one of the following: 1) a sprig of rosemary and some garlic fried in olive oil, 2) white pepper, horseradish and sour cream, 3) fresh fennel green with baby peas and asparagus, 4) garlic, celery leaves and carrot sauteed in natural butter, 5) cooked bacon, corn and shredded cheddar or 6) a stock or bouillon cube.

You should add a stock cube or some herbs. You can also add chopped bacon or grated cheese.

You should have used stock instead of water. You can add more herbs or add a stock cube to increase flavour.

Try adding some chopped bacon or grated cheese.


I've had good luck baking naan on an indoor grill.

I have an electric one, but you could use a stovetop one as well.

Just apply a little butter, ghee, or spray oil, wipe it off, and bake.

(Click for larger images)

I used an alternative method to make lavash:

an inverted wok over a stove burner.

You'll need a gas stove to do this one.

I applied them dry, cooked about 1-2 minutes on one side only.

You can brush with butter or ghee after they're done.

A naan by definition is a leavened flatbread baked in a tandoor.

You can improvise by using a very hot oven, perhaps with a pizza stone to retain heat when the oven door is opened, and to transmit heat into the naan through direct contact.

However, you have asked how to prepare naan without any kind of oven.

You can cook bread that's similar to a naan on a dry frying pan.

Prepare the dough in the same way as you would prepare naan dough.

Heat a frying pan until it is very hot.

Roll out pieces that will fit in the pan and are about 5mm thick.

Place in the frying pan and heat until cooked on one side.

You will see it swell up.

Turn it over to cook the other side.

This is not naan - it is closer to kulcha - but it is a delicious flatbread accompaniment to curry, just like naan.

I have had the best results baking naan on an outdoor grill- preferably charcoal.

Get the grill as hot as you can.

If your grill is big enough then indirect heat would be good.

If the bread is over the flames then there will be a little charring but that tastes good as long as it isn't excessive.

The naan will cook for around a minute on each side.

Use plenty of butter.

The key to naan is temperature of baking.

I have found that somewhere around 315 °C – 425 °C [600 °F – 800 °F] is the optimum temperature for making naan.

Most home ovens are not able to attain that high a temperature, which is why it is difficult to replicate the results of a restaurant at home.

Without an oven it is even more difficult to attain that high a temperature, although there are recipes that use the inside wall of a pressure cooker as a tandoor for making naan on the stove top.

You can try using that technique but increase the percent hydration of the dough.

I make naan dough with about 80 percent yogurt by weight.

You can try increasing the proportion of yogurt and see if the stove top technique works.

I think the closest you can get to Naan without an oven is to bake it in a pan/skillet on high heat (as mentioned as well earlier).

I personally don't have experience with naan-baking, however I once made tortillas (which is of course not the same as Naan) in a non-stick skillet which worked nicely.

Even though tortillas and Naan are two different things, I recommend you try it using a skillet.

Yes.

I have seen a video on YouTube about it

Question: Is it possible to make eggless naan without an oven?

Baking naan without an oven?

You can bake naan on an indoor or outdoor grill, but a dry frying pan should give the best results.

You could try using a grill or skillet instead of an oven.


Cauliflower might work.

I've put cauliflower in a food processor to get it to a uniform small-ish size, and then stir-fried it until soft, as a low-carb substitute for rice.

Maybe you could dice it into small pieces and do the same.

Boiling or steaming instead of stir-frying may give you a softer potato-like texture.

Starchy is kind of the nature of hash.

I am not sure that you would still have a hash if you eliminate the potatoes, but you should get something delicious in any case.

This low carb website suggests using cabbage in a hash-like dish.

Split pea & shallot mash from the GL diet book might work.

Soak 225g split peas in cold water for 2 hours, drain place in pan & cover with water bring to boil & skim.

Add 1 bay leaf & 6 sage leaves (I use thyme) simmer until tender, meanwhile fry off in olive oil

3 finely chopped shallots

( I use onion) add 2 tsps cummin + 1 clove minced garlic.

Fry till soft.

Drain split peas & retain water.

Mix shallots with s/peas & remave bay leaf.

process or blend adding water to suit the consistency you like.

Cubed celery would be a good start.

I would mix the celery with carrots and sweet potatoes, though they are only 'less' starch.

I have used diced turnips in dishes as a replacement for potatoes.

That may work if you enjoy eating turnips.

Of course the taste will be much different than potatoes.

According to Wikipedia (eep, I know... but just for a rough idea): 100 grams of..

Turnips 7g carbs Potatoes 17g carbs

Question: I am following a low-carb diet, and would like to make corned beef hash at home with left over corned beef brisket. Onions are no problem, but I would prefer to avoid root vegetables, and potatoes in particular. What would make a good substitute, in terms of texture and taste?

Replace the potatoes in a corned beef hash with something that isn't starchy?

The starch is part of the nature of hash, but you could try replacing the potatoes with cauliflower, split pea & shallot mash, cabbage, cubed celery or diced turnips.

The essence of hash is quite starchy so removing potatoes would not be a hash. You could make something similar using cauliflower, split peas, celery or turnip.

You could use cauliflower, split peas, cabbage, celery or turnips.

Removing the starch would make it into a different dish.


I grew up with a Vietnamese mother that used to put fish sauce in nearly everything.

While I can't exactly recommend all of her uses (she once used it in a texas beef chili -- was not good), there are a few techniques that are good to know.

A common method to create a savory sauce is to use fish sauce with sugar at a 2:1 ratio.

For example, you can make Dau phu sot ca chua by sauteeing fried tofu with diced tomatoes and adding 2tbsp of fish sauce to 1tbsp of sugar.

This ratio can also be used in stir-fries.

I would make sure to turn on your air vents when doing this -- the smell of fish sauce hitting a hot pan is... different than what most people are used to.

It works as a savory salt alternative in a lot of dishes.

I use it to season fried rice instead of using salt or soy sauce.

It generally is a good idea to add this during the cooking process, so the liquid can reduce and meld with the food.

It can also be used to quick brine ground pork for savory asian dishes.

I'd add somewhere in the vicinity of a tbsp per pound of ground pork.

I use this technique when making Thai Krapao .

There are probably other marinating/brining applications, but I don't have much personal experience with that.

You can also use fish sauce to create a wide variety of dipping sauces -- in general it is paired with something sweet (sugar or rice vinegar) to help balance out the saltiness.

It is also commonly watered down ( Nuoc cham ) in vietnamese dipping sauces to keep it from being too overpowering.

On a personal note, my favorite use is straight up on crispy fried eggs (slightly runny yolk) over white rice.

It isn't for everyone, but it's something I've been making and enjoying for years.

Fish sauce is used as a general flavor enhancer, as it is very high in glutimates, the so called umami flavor.

As the Wikipedia article says : In addition to being added to dishes during the cooking process, fish sauce is also used as a base for a dipping condiment that is prepared in many different ways by cooks in each country mentioned for fish, shrimp, pork, and chicken.

In parts of southern China, it is used as an ingredient for soups and casseroles.

Fish sauce, and its derivatives, impart an umami flavor to food due to their glutamate content.

Edit :

I should add that it is also quite salty, so it serves to contribute to the general seasoning of dishes via its salt content as well as through the glutimate content.

And as Jefromi has kindly mentioned: fish sauce is mostly commonly used in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and featured heavily in Cambodian, Philippine, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisine.

BlessedGeek points out that it is also prominent in the cuisines of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore.

Fish sauce is liquid drained from fermented anchovies!!

When I was in Vietnam we were staying near fish sauce factories, very very smelly!!

It's used to season soups ( Pho for example) and sauces and dressings (as with this Lemon Grass Beef ) all over Asia.

It's really very strong so best only add a little at a time!

Dipping sauce for summer rolls also nice with spring rolls 6 cloves garlic (crushed) 6 birdseye chillies (finely chopped) 50ml groundnut oil for frying 25ml cider vinegar 15ml fish sauce

100g honey 100ml water

salted peanuts (coarse blended) makes A LOT of dipping sauce :)

You can use it as a salt alternative in most savoury dishes.

It also a imparts a distinctive "fishy" flavour pastas and most tomato based sauces.

You can also use it as a budget alternative to anchovies which is getting a bit expensive.

I just used fish sauce myself for the first time, in a stirfry.

The stir fry included veggies I had in the frig (green onions, summer squash, mushrooms, snow peas) along with chicken breasts (and of course garlic and peanut oil).

As soon as everything was cooked, I added fish sauce (about 1 tablespoon or two) and a couple of teaspoons of Sesame oil.

It was DELICIOUS!

So much better than soy sauce - I was surprised.

So you CAN cook Americanized Chinese food with it.

I highly recommend you try it.

Question: A while ago I bought "Fish Sauce" for a recipe (that I've long forgotten) and ended up not using it. Now we don't know what to use it for because none of the Asian cuisine recipes we come across seems to use this stuff. It says the contents are anchovies, salt, and sugar, and it comes in a little bottle with a cap. The smell is pretty strong and fishy. What is this used for (soups, stir-fry, bbq, everything)?

What is "Fish Sauce" typically used for?

It can be used as an alternative to salt in many savoury dishes or for quick brining. It is also used in dipping sauces, often paired with sugar or rice vinegar. Fish sauce adds a strong umami and fishy flavour, and can be used to replace anchovies.

You can use it as an alternative to salt. You can use it in stir fries, on rice, in soups and casseroles and many other dishes.

You can use it to season rice, as a base for a dipping sauce, in soups and casseroles or in stir fries.


It may be worth trying to balance the sour flavor out using some sugar or other sweetener, it will be powerfully flavored but it's better than adding baking soda, as it has been pointed out that may change the texture and flavor in ways you do not want.

At the very least it may reduce the amount of acidity you would want to neutralize, so less baking soda would be needed.

As for what I'd do: chuck it and start over if adding sugar doesn't work.

I wouldn't make another batch and combine the two because if you combine them and it still doesn't taste good you have wasted 2 batches!

I'd start over and try to get the second batch right, then you have a better chance of getting something out of your efforts.

How much lemon juice and/or rind you need to add is dependent on personal taste, the type of apples used and their acidity (there are apples that are too sour to begin with!), and other factors like how much water is added.

A recipe in this case is a guideline, you should start with far less lemon and sugar than the recipe suggests and add more of both gradually, tasting as you go.

If you use granny smith (very, very tart) apples you'll need much less lemon and much more sugar for example.

In theory, you could neutralize the acidity (although not the lemon flavor) by adding some sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

The reaction products are water, carbon dioxide, and sodium citrate, which still has a sour flavor, and acts as an emulsifier.

This may change the flavor or texture of your soup in unexpected ways.

On the other hand, if you would otherwise discard the soup, this may be worth a try.

While you can try masking the flavor with other ingredients, short of something like the reaction described above, there is no way to remove the extra acidity.

Your best bet is to make another batch without the lemon juice or with reduced lemon juice, and combine them.

Of course, this will give you a very large quantity of soup.

It may not be worth trying to rescue, especially if there are no expensive ingredients in your soup.

See also: Too much sugar in soup -- how to make it less cloying?

In general, if you want the lemon flavor, use lemon zest , but if you want the tartness, use lemon juice .

Depending on how much tartness you want in the soup, I would use a combination of zest and juice, rather than the full amount of lemon juice in the recipe.

There's really not much you can do to save your current batch, other than make a batch without the juice and combine, as another poster suggested.

As I noted in an answer to this question on reducing the acidity of a honey lemon drink, you really shouldn't use baking soda, as suggested elsewhere, to reduce the acidity.

This will most likely taste pretty awful.

Try adding baking soda to a lemon drink yourself and see what you think.

You have a couple more options, detailed further in this answer to a question about making a kiwi sauce less sour.

Diluting the soup with water (or something more flavourful) will reduce the acidity but may not reduce the perceived acidity .

Not your best option I say.

To reduce the perceived acidity of the soup (but not its pH), add a little sugar.

There is a possibility here that the amount of sugar needed to balance the sour combines to make a soup that is altogether too tart.

You can dampen down this sweet-sour tartness with the addition of a little salt.

Incidentally, there is no need to ruin all your soup following this (or any other) advice.

Experiment a ladle at a time and only hit the stock pot when you feel you have found an improvement.

If you've got too much of one of the five primary flavours (in this case sourness), you can reduce the perceived flavour by increasing one of the others:

Increase the sweetness (e.g. by adding sugar or honey)

Increase the saltiness (e.g. by adding salt or fish sauce)

Increase the bitterness (e.g. by adding greens or herbs)

Increase the umami (e.g. by adding bacon sprinkles or fish sauce)

For this kind of flavour-balancing, another option is to add some chilli - it has a similar 'distraction' effect on the taste buds.

I'd add calcium carbonate, not sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

Calcium carbonate won't make the soup taste salty, and indeed if you're in the USA eating any processed or restaurant food then you most likely are eating too much sodium anyway.

Question: I have just made an apple soup that has lemon juice in. The problem being the lemon tartness totally overpowers the soup. How do I neutralise this???

How do I reduce the lemon acidity in apple soup?

You could add some baking soda or calcium carbonate, but this may change the texture and flavour. Another option is to mask the acidity with another primary flavour like sweetness, saltiness, spiciness, umami or bitterness.

There are a number of ways to reduce acidity in apple soup. The first method is to use another primary flavour to reduce perceived acidity. The soup could also be diluted with water or a second batch of soup made without lemon juice. In general, when making apple soup, a combination of lemon juice and zest should be used to regulate acidity.

There are many ingredients you can add to the soup to reduce the acidity.

Using a combination of lemon juice and lemon zest helps to balance the acidity in the soup.

Make another batch of soup without lemon juice and combine with the batch containing lemon juice to reduce the acidity overall.


Cream does last quite a while in the fridge, especially before it's opened - it has a pretty high fat content.

So you may be able to buy it when you can, and still have it around when you want it.

Failing that, honestly, I think that anything you can do with milk and additives is probably not going to be nearly as good as actual whipped cream, so you might as well fall back to another substitute: aerosol whipped cream.

If you get a decent one that's actually made with cream (not milk and oil and stabilizers, like your Dream Whip)

it'll probably still taste better.

And I'm pretty sure it lasts a really long time (months?)

in the fridge even once opened.

(But I don't have any to check for sure.)

As for actually making Dream Whip: as mentioned in several comments, it has a lot of ingredients that'll be way harder to find than cream.

Sure, they're probably shelf-stable and you could probably buy them online, but it'll be a lot of trouble, and it might well be more expensive than just buying the Dream Whip itself.

It's possible that there's a more home-ingredients version (I'm no industrial food authority), but unless you have some more restrictions I don't know about, I'd still prefer the other alternatives I suggested.

This site explains two methods of making whipping cream from milk.

The first is by manipulating store-bought milk, by adding gelatin, temperature and a lot of stirring.

The second is by separating the cream out of raw milk.

The site claims that the result of both methods can be used for whipped cream.

A third method I sometimes use when a recipe asks for a small amount of cream (usually in a sauce or something similar), is adding some milk and butter (till the fat percentage is roughly the same as if you'd added cream).

I don't believe it would be possible to whip this though.

Alternatively you can use coconut milk.

Use canned coconut milk-make sure it straight milk and not sweetened-and place it in the fridge until well chilled.

Scoop off the firm layer of cream, making sure not to include the water which should be at the bottom of the can.

Add in vanilla and sugar if desired, whip until soft peaks.

Per Food facts : Sugar, Dextrose, Vegetable(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated (Coconut Oil Partially Hydrogenated and, Palm Kernel Oil Partially Hydrogenated) , Corn Starch Modified, Propylene Glycol Monostearate

An Emulsifier, Sodium Caseinate Solids from milk, Monoglycerides Acetylated An Emulsifier, Sodium Silico Aluminate (Anti-Caking Agents) , Mono and Diglycerides

An Emulsifier, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Methylcellulose Hydroxypropyl, Flavoring Artificial and Natural, Yellow 5, Yellow 6

Some of these ingredients are not the type of thing that you are going to replicate at home.

There are some vegetable based vegeterinan whipped cream substitutes.

But like with margarine vs butter or soy vs meat the tastes aren't exactly the same and most people prefer actual cream/butter/meat.

However whipping cream is a relatively standard product that any store should carry while the other is a niche product so if your store has no whipping cream it might not have that either.

Another obvious choice is whipped cream in a can.

While it's not as stable as cream whipped at home at least you might be able to enjoy some N2O.

One alternate possibility to either dream whip powder or to fresh cream from the market is, well, there is heavy cream powder available for purchase - pretty much just dehydrated heavy cream - which can be re-hydrated and used for pretty much anything cream can be used for, including whipping.

The heavy cream powder is available for purchase online, I got mine from amazon.com but there may be other suppliers to be found if amazon does not suit.

And I have used it for whipped cream, and other recipes asking for heavy cream without issue.

Ordering online is not always as convenient as buying from a local store, but it is useful for things not readily available - especially shelf-stable things, which can be stored for quite some time and used on demand.

Unlike the fresh cream, heavy cream powder is quite stable and can be kept for a long time - as many dehydrated foods are - so purchasing one package would mean cream was available on demand until the powder was used up.

And unlike dream whip powder, it is not heavily modified or heavy with chemicals, and should therefore have a more authentic cream taste.

Question: I sometimes want to make whipped cream for dessert, but can't get cream in the market. What can I do in that case?  One possibility: I did find that there is a quick way to do it by mixing a commercial powder called  Dream Whip  and milk. What are the actual ingredients of  Dream Whip ? I suspect that it mainly contains some foaming agents like corn starch or gelatin, but I couldn't find a recipe as an alternative to commercial  Dream Whip  powder. Can I make that at home?

How can I make whipped cream if I can't always get cream?

You can manipulate milk by adding gelatin, heating and stirring, or separate the cream from raw milk. Coconut milk and vegetarian substitutes can also be used, or you could try squirty cream or powdered whipped cream, which is quite stable and has a long shelf life.

Many substitutes for fresh cream are available on the market. One good option is cream powder that can be bought online and lasts for a long time.

There are many alternatives on the market to fresh cream, including vegetable-based cream substitutes, canned cream and powdered cream.

Cream powder can be bought online and keeps for a long time.


moved here from a comment: Ghee does have a different aroma and consistency, so, depending on the use of it in the recipe (wether it is used for frying or in the frosting for example), it will quite likely change the final result.

So in some cases substituting butter with some neutral flavored oil or margarine might be better than ghee.

Which, I know, might not help if ghee is all you've got.

Also wanted to include what @rumtscho adds in the comment above: in recipes where the fat ratio is important, ghee (which is 100% fat) can ruin the ratio because butter is 83% fat.

And as to standards, they can be quite relative (making something that tastes slightly different

doesn't necessarily ruin it) ... if you are making the desert for an indian audience, using clarified butter might taste quite normal =)

Ghee is basically clarified butter.

If a dessert recipe calls for "butter" then it's probably not going to work.

If it calls for cold butter cut in pieces...

it definitely will not work.

If a recipe calls for melted butter...

you'll be ok

.. use a touch less and add a splash of cream.

Ghee is butter with the milk solids removed.

I used ghee in an icing recipe because I ran out of butter, and the texture was all wrong.

Added a little milk after reading this and boom - the texture immediately improved.

Some of the fat content separated, but I just poured it off and the icing was fine.

I can recommend the combination of ghee and milk as a good substitution, at least for icings.

I am not a professional baker and am still learning

but I bake almost every week.

In my country ghee is a main ingredient in our houses, whether its made from clarifying butter at home or just buying it.

I use ghee in all my bakes, even in making caramel sauce, brownies, cheesecakes or cookies.

Just be careful what the recipe calls for.

If it is cold cubes , then freeze it and then take it out after 15 min maybe and cut it just like butter.

I the recipe asks for room temperature, then use it as it is.

It works everytime for me.

For the taste part, if the ghee is home made then you have nothing to worry about.

If you bought it ready just make sure it has a good not overwhelming taste and smell.

No, ghee cannot be used in place of butter, because ghee is clarified.

This removes the water from the butter, which is a key component of butter when used in baking.

The water evaporating and creating steam pockets gives a lot of foods their fluffy texture.

The removal of the water would create a lot of issues in getting your desserts to come out

right, even if the taste of ghee was similar to that of butter (which it is not)

I can't believe no one thinks Ghee tastes like butter.

It tastes exactly like the fresh farm butter my grandmother used to use when I was growing up.

Maybe slightly nuttier but not at all like any oil I have ever tasted.

I can't say but think if the recipe calls for softened butter you could use equally

I am almost sure

but the rest I am not sure of.

I know an earlier poster or two said that you can bake with it

and I am sure you can there may need to be tweaks if it doesn't call for softened butter but according to the earlier post you can harden it in the fridge and use it has your cold butter in recipes calling for that.

You can bake with ghee as you would with butter.

Like butter, ghee gets very hard when you put it in the refrigerator.

Like butter, ghee gets nice and soft when you take it out of the refrigerator.

Ghee lasts long than butter because the milk product is gone.

Ghee has MORE fat than butter so the person who suggested you use butter and walk more has the information all wrong.

You can use ghee in a microwave (but why would you use a microwave for anything) and in the oven.

I think the poster who asked if margarine was being used instead of ghee was on to something.

Go with the ghee.

People in India bake with it all the time and you can find a truckload of websites and blogs written by Indians who use ghee in every way of cooking.

I have baked and cooked plenty of times with ghee, and I have made dozens of biscuits.

Nothing wrong with it.

Biscuits have the best flavor with ghee.

Question: Butter is an inevitable ingredient in most of dessert recipes. By definition,  ghee  is just clarified butter, but to me, the taste is completely different. The taste of butter is more close to heavy cream, while that of ghee is more close to cooking oil (at least to my tongue).  Is it good to use  ghee  instead of  butter  in dessert and pastry recipes`? Doesn't it ruin the taste to be far from the original standard?

Can ghee be used instead of butter in dessert recipes?

Ghee is used in all kinds of cooking in India, and many recipes are available. However, the flavour, texture and other properties are changed by the clarification process, so it may give you a different result. In many cases, margerine or oil could be better substitutes.

Some people believe is no substitute for butter in baking and other products available on the market may be a better option. However, in India people bake with ghee all the time and have perfect results.

Ghee is not suitable for baking in place of butter. It has a different consistency. Other substitutes are available.

Ghee and milk can be substituted for butter

Baking with ghee in place of butter is fine. In India most people use it. It is especially good in biscuits.


If you are missing an umami note, it's possible you are missing a very common ingredient in bolognese - chicken livers.

These give a meaty, almost sweet flavour.

Soak them in water for a few minutes, then finely chop or pulse in a food processor.

I use minced (ground) pork, beef and chicken livers.

You might also try adding pancetta, to add a smoky tinge.

My guess is a good, highly reduced, veal stock; I've found that this is (often) the difference between a really rich, flavourful, sauce and one that is lacking oomph.

In my experience, there is no Bolognese without celery.

I normally use very finely chopped celery stems, and add them after the onions have softened a little.

You can use celery salt too, but fresh celery is best.

There is also something to be said for finely chopped carrots, but the effect on the overall flavor isn't that big.

Not sure what flavor you're looking for, but try adding a parmesan rind.

Pull it out at the end of cooking.

Milk I don't see any dairy listed in the things you tried, but a true Ragù Bolognese (ie, in the style of Bologna, not the British tomato & meat sauce) contains a bit of dairy in it.

It also requires cooking for hours, as you want the meat to completely fall apart.

By that time, the milk's completely incorporated and impossible to distinguish in the final sauce.

Dried, reconstituted porcinis?

I've been tweaking Bolognese for a while now, adding those was an AHA moment.

After reconstituting and chopping, I sauteed them with the sofrito.

Very nice.

The chicken livers mentioned above could be the key too, I just can't do it.

I viscerally hate liver.

A pinch of sugar cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes, also slow cooking improves texture and flavors.

Sweet cherry, smoked bacon, heaps of basil and a glass or 2 while cooking helps for a great spaghetti bolognese.

I love adding a chorizo sausage during the slow simmer also!!!

Question: I have dabbled with almost every ingredient I can think of in varying amount to get my Bolognese to taste similar to a restaurant made Bolognese in the italian alps.   Including:PepperSugarSaltTomatos and tomato puree, tinned and chopped tomatosgarliclea & perrins / Worcester sauceOnions & onion gravy granulesdifferent meats, pork, beef and vealHerbs Basil, greek basil, thyme and oreganored wineand most recently balsamic vinegar  These all get close and do make a nice Bolognese. However the secret ingredient is still missing!

secret ingredient in a restaurant bolognese

Adding chicken livers, pancetta, chorizo or a good highly reduced veal stock can improve the meat, and celery, finely chopped carrots and dried porcinis can improve the vegetable element. A true Ragù Bolognese contains some dairy, such as parmesan rind, and the taste can be improved with basil and wine. Finally, the sauce should be cooked for a long time to allow the flavours to develop.

Many ingredients can be added to a Bolognese sauce in the search for an authentic taste. It is considered essential to cook the sauce for a long time.

There are a large number of ingredients that can be added to get an authentic Bolognese sauce. These include celery, veal stock, chicken livers, etc.

Cooking the sauce for a long time is essential for an authentic taste.


The classic example would be spaghetti squash .

It has the unique property that when you cook it, it can be pulled apart into long, thin, pasta-like strands.

You can then sauce it or use it in a manner analogous to pasta, but its nutritional profile is far more similar to squash, because, well, it is squash.

Have you tried spiralized zucchini, yellow squash or carrots?

I use this:

Once they're cut I just blanch them and then toss into any pasta recipe, like so:

Shirataki noodles are quite the rage, although I've never actually tried them.

I understand that they smell fishy when you first open the package, but that goes away.

They claim to be made of naturally water soluble fiber with no fat, sugar, or starch.

Supposedly some varieties have zero net carbs and zero calories.

They have been recommended for Italian style and Asian style applications.

I need to place an Amazon order anyway, so I'm going to give them a try.

Miracle Noodles Look around at the reviews, that will give you some kind of idea what they are (besides expensive).

EDIT: Now that I've tried them, I can say that I kind of like them in Asian style applications (especially soup).

I can't even imagine them with a marinara type sauce, I think they'd be awful.

They'd probably be fine with any kind of seafood.

The packages are smaller than I realized, so they are even more expensive than I thought.

For me, they are pretty close to price prohibitive.

One that I've had a lot of success with is shredded cabbage.

You can easily and quickly cut it into strips of varying width depending on the pasta you are trying to mimic.

Lightly boiled in some salt, and served with the sauce of choice the top it comes out quite well.

In italy we have protein based pasta.

It's kinda tasty and it's low on carbs (percentage may change depending on brands).

You could consider Miracle Noodle .

Contains Zero Net Carbohydrates, Zero Calories, No

Gluten Made of a Naturally dietary fiber called Glucomannan with no fat, sugar, or starch

Question: I'm looking for something with the physical properties of pasta (spaghetti or similar, not lasagne). Something that I can toss with a sauce or oil and serve in a large bowl for a weekday supper. Something grain-free and natural.  I've tried a large onion cut into thin strips (probably the most successful) and leeks (tend to be too floppy / wet).  Any other suggestions?

Replacement for pasta that is natural and fairly low carb

Spiralised squash, zucchini and carrots are popular options, as are shirataki noodles, miracle noodles or protein-based pasta. Shredded cabbage can also be used.

There are many options to use in place of traditional pasta. These include vegetables, miracle noodles and protein-based pasta


The product you link has the cap in the picture.

The idea is that you cut off the tip on the apex of the cap to the point where it is the width of your desired opening.

You could use an uncut cap, or just cover the tip with foil if you need to refrigerate for some time.

The kind of things put into a squeeze bottles are rarely highly perishable, so simply placing them in refrigerator (for a reasonable period of time) is a normal practice.

Squeeze bottles are not meant for long term storage.

I certainly would not go to the trouble of special ordering caps.

I've been searching for a while.

I use my squeeze bottles for various things, and the tip caps are helpful.

It keeps royal icing from drying out, and prevents leaks when shaking up a bottle of vinaigrette.

Here's what I found: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=91498&catid=536 http://www.dharmatrading.com/tools/squeeze-bottles-yorker-spouts-and-caps.html

Similar bottles will sometimes come with a little red or black plastic cap that covers the tip of the bottle after it has been cut.

If the bottles you bought didn't come with these caps, I don't know that there's a way to get them separately.

Occasionally a restaurant supply store will let you switch out bottle tops when buying the bottles, but other than that, I think you may be out of luck.

Frequently to close up the bottles overnight or between uses, you take off the screw top with the spout, place plastic wrap over the top of the bottle, and then screw the top back on.

As SAJ14SAJ points out, bottles like this aren't really intended for long term storage and caps generally aren't a priority.

Edited to add: The restaurant supply store nearest my house now sells the caps separately.

They are in a package of about a dozen, but very cheap.

You might find something useful at US Plastics, for example at: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=91498&catid=536

These are the whole twist-on cap, not just the snap-on tip but they are inexpensive.

Crayola's Model Magic is non-toxic (with a lot of sites claiming it's food safe).

If you have access to that or similar clay, you could make your own cover, no matter the size.

(but I don't suggest raiding your kids' supply ... get a fresh container, use what you need, then let the kids get their hands in there)

Here's what I ended up using, which I picked up from Home Depot in the Hardware aisle.

It fits quite snug, and cost about $0.60 for pack of 2. WARNING: no guarantees this cap is safe for food.

Use at your own risk (even though it is molded plastic, the dyes and treatment process may make the plastic prone to leaking chemicals)

Question: I purchased some  Bakers and Chefs clear plastic squeeze bottles , which do not come with caps; however, there is a ridge about 1/3" down on the bottle, suggesting that they're intended to work with a cap.  Some of the reviewers on Amazon mentioned using foil, as well as some plastic cap they found in hardware store. I'm hoping to find something that fits well and ideally can be ordered online.    Anyone have any suggestions?

Any suggestions on caps for Bakers and Chefs plastic squeeze bottles?

While you may be able to find a supplier that will sell you caps or allow you to switch out bottle tops when buying the bottles, these are not intended for long-term storage and are normally just covered with plastic wrap overnight or between uses.

Squeeze bottles sometimes come with caps. If they do not, you can get caps at a restaurant supply store. There are, however, other ways of closing the bottles, using plastic wrap for instance.

You can make a cover using plastic wrap.

The bottles are not intended for long term storage so caps are not a priority.

Some restaurant supply stores allow you to change caps or they sell the caps separately.


You are not stating whether you are making the pasta yourself or if you are using premade pasta.

I am going to assume it is the former.

For red pasta, I would recommend substituting some of the liquids with beetroot juice.

You will need to experiment with it to get the color right.

I would also recommend trying it in pasta both with and without egg, as the yolk will play a role in how the color develops.

I tried boiling the noodles with colored water and it didn't change the color at all.

I made a corn starch slurry with cold water (approx 1/2 cup) and McCormick's Colors from Nature (red 2 tsp), which is just concentrated beet coloring.

I mixed it into the drained, but hot pasta and came out with a nice pink color.

I finished it with extra virgin olive oil to help keep the noodles from sticking.

It's not as uniform as I'd like, and a bit dark in some areas, but it'll work for a Minnie Mouse themed pasta salad.

I've tried dying pasta by just adding food dye to the boiling water, but you don't get very deep colors.

I then tried letting it sit in the (cooled) water for a while, but it really didn't get that deep.

(I didn't care about the texture as much; I needed something to use as intestines for halloween a few years back)

If you have the time, it might be easier to just make fresh pasta .

If you just happen to have a vacuum pump, you can try infusing the color similar to this article .

This method should push the color all the way through.

Otherwise, making it from scratch is the way to go.

This video explains how .

I just saw a video where someone mixed the cooked pasta in gel food coloring , and it took on quite vibrant colors.

I suspect that the colors will then transfer to whatever the pasta comes in contact with (like your kid's face, if they're a messy eater), but it might be useful once in a while.

And in looking at the amounts he was using, I wouldn't be surprised if a pound of pasta required an ounce (2TB / 30mL) or so of coloring.

(although he was using a strand pasta, which has more surface area than bow tie pasta)

i added food coloring to my boiling noodles, turned out great!

very deep and fun!

Question: My daughter asked me if I could make her red bowtie pasta in honor of  Matt Smith  as Dr. Who.    I'd rather not use an artificial dye.  Either way, how would I go about coloring the pasta itself? Assume that I am starting from store-bought dry pasta. Would I have to add the dye to the water in large quantities, or would adding some to melted butter and tossing work?

How can I color pasta during cooking or afterwards, preferably using natural coloring?

You can substitute some of the liquids with beetroot juice or add food colouring to the boiling or cooked noodles, or you could just make fresh pasta if you have the time.

The method of coloring pasta depends if you are using fresh or dried pasta. Add coloured vegetables to the pasta dough for fresh pasta and use food dye or gel for dried pasta.

Colouring pasta is easy if you make fresh pasta.

To color dried pasta, add food dye to the boiling water or food gel to the drained pasta.