When you find cheap lemons, buy a lot.

Squeeze half a lemon in each of the cavities of an ice tray.

Freeze.

Within a day, remove the frozen slivers from the tray to a ziploc bag in the freezer.

You now have measured units of fresh lemon juice you may use for cooking and will keep for months.

The frozen lemons are a bit less acid than fresh juice, but full of flavor.

You can do the same with limes.

Based on this site you can substitute the lemon juice for either an equal amounts of lime juice, an equal amount of white wine or half the required lemon amount of mild vinegar (like you mentioned)

If you're doing it for the acid (i.e. to cut the heat in a spicy dish), you might try cream of tartar if you have it lying around.

I've never actually tried to substitute tartar for lemon juice, but lemon juice is the most common substitution for cream of tartar, so it stands to reason that it works both ways.

(Note: You would use about 1/3 as much cream of tartar as the amount of lemon juice that's called for).

If it's for general flavouring, this may sound insane, but if you happen to have any cherry brandy or even regular brandy lying around, try that.

A solution of sherry and cider vinegar is an OK substitute but doesn't quite have the tartness and strength of lemon juice.

While cherry brandy obviously doesn't taste the same as lemon juice, it's often just as good or better in recipes that call for it.

if your using the lemon juice for the acidic aspect then you can use 1/2 as much vinegar.

However if it for flavoring I would substitute another juice such as lime or orange.

Sometimes you can also you lemon extract for flavoring.

Whenever I have to substitute something I have to remember I am no longer making the same thing as what was in the recipe or that I had started with.

With that in mind I am more free to create then to agonize over trying to recreate.

I have had some great success with this, and some that should best be left in the past :)

As a substitute for lemon, I think I would try a different direction, rather then try and recreate the lemon, go with salty.

Like a soy sauce, and perhaps simmer some apples in the soy sauce, or reduce apples in a little water then add soy.

You have done something similar to the lemon but yet entirely different.

Recreation is very hard, and you are always left with the unmet expectation of what should or could have been.

In the Middle East, a common substitute for lemon juice in salad dressings, hummus or other savory dishes is citric acid.

1/4 teaspoon citric acid equals 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

Two UNreasonable substitutions are alum (toxic in large doses) and citric acid.

Most of the recipes where you need to add acid, it's about the acid.

Either balancing out the salt, or the flavor, or to help chemical reactions.

Lemon juice and vinegar are different acids, but if you are from countries where lemons are not the fruit of origin, use what is in your country.

Nice apple cider vinegar and use as substitute mentioned above.

Vinegar has two forms.

Both are present in your bottle of vinegar.

One is liquid and one is very volatile and needs to be cooked off

(that means using vinegar in cooking

you want to cook off the vapors a bit.

So in cold dishes, before adding vinegar is good to heat it up for 20 minutes if needed).

I just made some humus and half way through, realized I had no Lemons.

ARRRRRGH!!!! I did have some rice wine vinegar and some frozen Orange Juice.

So I went with that.

But now, thinking about it a bit, maybe it should have been rice wine vinegar an worcestershire sauce.

Lemons are Sour, Acidic and bitter.

A bit of bitter might have been better.

Note: I did not use the Pinot Noir.

I drank that.

Hence this silly comment.

Question: In the past I cooked myself into a corner when I realized mid-recipe that I didn't have any lemons or lemon juice available. Nor did I have any limes.   I can't remember the exact recipe, but I believe it was some baked fish dish. What are some possible substitutes for lemon juice in this application? I ended up using a dash of apple cider vinegar. It didn't turn out bad, it just was distinctly  not  lemon.

Are there any reasonable substitutions for lemon juice?

The best solution would depend on the application, but you can prepare ahead by freezing lemon juice in an ice tray. Citric acid, lime juice, white wine, brandy, vinegar or cream of tartar can add acidity, or salty flavours can make the absence less noticeable.

Other acidic products such as vinegar, white wine, citric acid or cream of tartar will replace lemon juice. You can also try cherry brandy for a slightly different and improved flavor.

You can stock up on lemons and freez the juice in ice cube trays to always have some in stock. Alternatively, keep some lemon extract or cream or tartar in your stocks.

Try substituting with cherry brandy, half the amount or vinegar or white wine.

Try a different flavor such as salty instead of acidic.


Keep it stored in an airtight container, so that it doesn't absorb moisture from the air.

If it congeals, put the container in hot water until honey is liquid (~10-15 minutes).

Hmm, sounds like you're getting "raw" unprocessed honey, which is a good thing, because that kind is in all ways better than store processed, but it tends to crystallize very rapidly.

To return it to it's liquid state, heat it slowly in a double boiler to around 145(f).

It should turn clear and liquidy.

Once it looks nice, cool it off by adding some cold water to the pot.

Don't heat it in a closed containter:

honey increases in volume when heated.

If your honey is in a glass jar, you can also just remove the lid and put it in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds or so.

All you're trying to do is heat it up so it goes back to liquid form.

(But don't microwave it in plastic!

Yuck!)

I've never found a way to keep raw honey from crystallizing in the first place, though.

The answer to the question is: store in the freezer.

Honey will not crystallize under 65 degrees.

If it does crystallize: keep your honey raw and maintain the antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, don't warm above 105 degrees.

Never microwave it.

Raw honey has never been heated above 105, usually warmed by a light bulb to help it flow when extracting it.

Be gentle with your raw honey.

I learned this from my beekeeping mentor.

I have two bee hives.

My family owns a bee company and we have found the best way to melt honey back to its liquid form is to immerse the whole bottle with lid still on in a crock pot filled with water and turn it on high for about an hour or so, depending on how much honey you're reheating.

Fill the crock pot so that the water hits below the lid though, because water will ruin your honey.

And just keep checking your honey every 30 minutes or so.

there is nothing wrong with your honey, honey that behaves that way is showing it's higher quality.

You can use it as is, it will melt when you cook with it.

It makes an excellent spread as is (such as on toast), and yes it will last that way for decades and even centuries if it's sealed properly.

If you really must reqliquify it, then just place the jar in some warm water and wait a while.

According to this answer , honey should be stored at 70-80 degrees Farenheit (described as room temperature, though that's warmer than many rooms

I've been in).

I used to store my tea honey in a cabinet that's on an outside wall, and I've seen less crystalization since moving it to a cabinet on an inside wall.

That said, I still get some crystalization, especially in winter when the kitchen temperature ranges from 60 to 70.

I haven't yet succeeded in preventing crystalization entirely, even though I keep it in tightly-sealed glass jars.

Other answers have addressed how to rescue crystalized honey.

From this question it seems that you might be able to store it with the comb to make it last longer before crystallising.

According to this site you can store the comb for more than a few weeks by putting it in the freezer, it will thaw out as runny honey apparently.

Get acacia honey - it practically never crystallizes.

I microwave the honey in 30 second increments until it melts back to a usable state.

It works fine and doesn't recrystallize for a couple of weeks.

Then I microwave again.

I love maple syrup when its in the pure forn(meaning it has not been diluted with the bought syrup) and found keeping pure maple syrup in the freezer was my answer.

It will not freeze.

Pours kinda slow tho.

I say that to say this,maybe honey will react the same way.

Easy way to prevent crystallization: store honey in a clay jar!!

( ceramic).

Never crystallizes.

Question: This question is inspired by  this answer  suggesting that honey lasts a long time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to last so long in my cupboard.  I make sure it's sealed tight, but usually after only a week or two it's looking pretty nasty.  Is there a way to prevent this from happening?  Or is there a standard (not to mention safe) way to "rescue" hardened honey without losing flavour or texture?

Can I prevent honey from congealing/hardening in the pantry?

Crystallisation is actually a sign of good quality raw/unprocessed honey, but it can be returned to a more usable state by microwaving without a lid in 30 second intervals, immersing in a crock pot of water and cooking at high for an hour or so. Some crystallisation can be prevented by storing in the freezer, in clay pots or properly sealed.

It is normal for raw honey to crystalize. Try warming it in water or the microwave. You can also try freezing or storing in a clay jar.

If you have raw honey then it is normal for it to crystalize.

You can microwave or immerse the pot in hot water until it melts.

You can try keeping it in an airtight container, a clay jar or freezing it. You can also try acacia honey which does not crystalize.


Very few people have tried a perfectly cooked soft boiled egg.

There is a tradition among chefs of trying to show each other how perfectly they can cook something as simple as an egg.

Chef Fernand Point , who serves as inspiration for the affable chef Gusteau in Pixar’s animated movie Ratatouille, would test his apprentices by asking them to fry an egg.

With a responsive thermometer, such an infrared one, you can approximate their work at home.

If you ever get that mad scientist feeling, try cooking the egg in a bowl of water placed in the oven.

Start with cold tap water in the bowl, place the eggs in the water and the ensemble in an oven set to its lowest setting.

Every five minutes, check the temperature of the water in the bowl.

If you are using an infrared thermometer, stir the water before measuring.

Let the water hover between 65°C to 68°C for an hour.

In most ovens you will have to turn the oven off and on to keep the water in that range.

The result will be a bright yellow firm gel.

I have a picture of the gel for the fried version of the mad scientist egg (what I call Eggs

Mondrian ):

If you want the yolk runny, then the temperature of the water should be between 63°C (to cook the whites) but below 66°C to keep the yolk runny.

Read this article for complete scientific explanation of the process:

Towards the perfect soft boiled egg

The most important part is this formula: which with boiling water (100C) and a refrigerated egg (4C) results in these plots: so depending on

exactly how soft you want your egg and how large it is, you might want a cooking time anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes.

Cook the egg in already boiling water for 4 minutes and remove.

Hack off (more like tap)

the top of the shell with your spoon, add some sea salt, and dunk in slender pieces of toast until you have consumed all of the egg deliciousness.

If the egg is cold from the fridge, put it in the pan with the water as you bring to a boil; if the egg is room temperature (better), drop it into the already boiling water.

Like you, I love a runny yolk and hate a white that isn't set!

I've been experimenting with the soft-boiled egg a few mornings per week for the past couple of years, and have discovered the following: I like a 5-minute egg; the 4-minute egg is, by my lights, underdone and icky.

Barometric pressure does have an impact on how fast water boils and how quickly it boils away!

"Soft-boiled" eggs should actually be called "simmered eggs," because you DON'T want a hard, full-rolling boil.

To make a perfect soft-boiled egg: Remove your egg/s from the fridge and set them on the counter.

Bring salted water to a boil.

Put the egg/s into the boiling water.

Boil gently for exactly 5 minutes, no more, no less.

Plunge into cold water for about 5 seconds. Eat immediately!

I get ideal results from putting the eggs in boiling water and then turning off the heat.

Start the timer.

I find 6-8 minutes is perfect, while up to 10 can produce good results.

Once the time is up, pour out the hot water and replace with cold water.

This helps both peeling, and to slow down the carry-over.

The whites are solid but not rubbery, and the longer time benefits a creamy, orange center.

It takes longer, but the results are really tasty.

Note:

use enough water in a big enough pot so that the number of eggs doesn't overly change the water temperature, otherwise the timing will vary.

You can buy an egg boiler for cooking the eggs.

Example:

Question: Is there a fool proof way to make sure the white of the egg is set but either all or some of the yolk remains runny?

How to soft boil an egg

You can buy an egg boiler to cook the eggs, or simmer gently for 4-5 minutes. Cooking in water between 63-66°C will also produce runny eggs.

There are differences of opinion on the correct temperature and time to boil the perfect egg. 4-5 minutes in gently boiling water should work. If all else fails, try buying an egg boiler.

The water should be simmering but not boiling.

Cook the egg in boiling water for 4-5 minutes.


For Easter, a friend and I cooked rabbits.

We marinated for 72 hours in buttermilk, dijon, rosemary, and sage (NO SALT).

Then boned them out and spatchcocked them (sort of a butterfly, with skewers to hold the flat spread out shape), seasoned, and roasted at 350 until done.

Moist, flavourful.

Served with parsnip puree, rosemary potatoes roasted in duck fat, and sorry

but I forget the other veg we used.

I can't tell you what to do

but I can tell you one thing not to do:

don't chop up the bones, they're very brittle and if you do you'll end up with little shards of bone all over the place; especially bad if you make a rabbit stew; joint the bones instead.

You need to be careful to make sure it doesn't dry out, as they generally aren't particularly fatty.

If you joint it so that the pieces aren't too thick, or splay it out well, you should be able to grill it so you get a good taste on the outside and cook all the way through before it goes dry.

Marinading can help, although I just like rabbit rubbed with salt and pepper.

I've not used a smoker before, but I suspect you'd have to leave the meat in their for too long to get a good smokiness, so that may not work.

I've made rabbit pie before, with sausage meat and rabbit mixed together, which worked rather well.

Cook it using any chicken recipe.

Used to make fried chicken for my kids using rabbit.

Also jambalaya and stew.

We all loved it.

If making rabbit stew, soaking the rabbit in salted water before disjointing it will make it easier to prepare.

Also cooking it slowly, at a low to medium heat will keep the meat tender.

If cooking from a whole rabbit, once the rabbit has been gutted the insides should be cleaned with vinegar and it should be thoroughly rinsed.

Marinating it will also keep the meat tender.

I'm not sure

but I think smoking it would dry it out too much.

Stewing works best ime, but if roasting it it needs a lot of basting and checking to make sure it's not drying out.

Rabbit is pretty lean, so you'll need a slow wet technique.

I've made a great Spanish rabbit stew, which is basically rabbit joints, tomato sauce and about 2 cups of dry cured olives.

I'll look up the recipe and edit tomorrow.

Question: A family member gave me a couple rabbits to cook and I'm not sure how to prepare them. I'd prefer something on the smoker or grill. Do I marinate, rub, brine? I'm just not sure how to prepare it.

How do you prepare a rabbit?

Rabbit is a lean meat that can dry out easily, so use a slow wet technique for marinading or cooking. A marinade of buttermilk, dijon, rosemary, and sage without salt is good, and you should baste often when roasting. Stewing is a popular option, but smoking might dry it out too much. For stew, soak the rabbit in brine first to make it easier to prepare.

When cooking rabbit, a wet cooking technique is best to avoid drying out the meat.

Rabbit is a very lean meat so marinating it first. A stew or wet cooking technique is best to avoid drying out.

You can cook rabbit like chicken. A pie or a stew are good options.


In theory you could thaw and refreeze as many times as you like, though the changes in temperature would definitely alter the quality of the meat's taste and texture.

What matters most is how long the meat has been in the so-called "danger zone" speaking from a temperature perspective.

The "danger zone" is defined as being between 41 to 135 °F (5 to 57 °C).

Here is an excerpt from The Professional Chef, by the Culinary Institute of America : Foods left in the danger zone for a period longer than

four hours are considered adulterated.

Additionally, one should be fully aware that the four-hour period is cumulative, meaning that the meter starts running again every time the food enters the danger zone.

Therefore, once the four-hour period has been exceeded, heating, cooling, or any other cooking method cannot recover foods.

As the water in the muscle fibers freezes it expands and creates a mushy texture.

The reason that commercially frozen meat has less degradation of texture is due to the speed at which they can freeze things.

The quicker that freezing takes place the smaller the ice crystals will be.

Home freezers are best at keeping frozen foods frozen but take much longer than commercial freezers to do the actual freezing.

If the food was properly thawed, re-freezing once will probably have a minimal impact on texture but

it's going to depend on the item.

Ground meats such as ground beef probably won't be noticeable vs. a steak or other cut that normally has a fairly tight muscle structure.

In addition to freezing altering taste and textures by damaging cells and co, there are safety reasons to avoid refreezing .

In France at least, all commercial frozen food have to display the " never refreeze unfrozen products " warning on the package.

The official explanation (I didn't look for scientific studies) is that when you defreeze on the first time, frost-proof bacterias will have few competitors because the initial freezing has killed most of other bacterias, they will have easy-to-digest food because the initial freezing has dismantled cells, and they will have further ideal development conditions because of the slow increase of temperature .

So at first, it's likely to find more bacterias of a single kind in unfrozen food than in never frozen food with the same unfrozen lifetime

(of course you may have more bacterias in the never frozen food, but of many species, I guess), though not at a dangerous level.

Then, unless you have industrial equipment or your dish is packaged in very thin layers, the refrozing is slow, so bacterias have even more time to develop in such good conditions.

So after being fully refrozen the product will have much more bacterias (of each surviving frost-proof species) than the original, possibly at a non-safe level.

Of course it will be even worse next time, since bacterias follow an exponential growth (I guess once they're not in the exponential phase anymore, it's way too late already…).

So it seems not only the danger zone issue is hidden

(one wrongly assumes that once in the freezer, the food is not in the danger zone anymore, but it takes some time to freeze, depending on the size),

but there are specific issues because of conditions generated by the freezing.

On a side note, it's surprising how safety advices depend on the country (I guess).

People on cooking.

SE usually strongly advise to follow the US agencies "2 hours in danger zone" recommendation (interesting to note that the quote on JYelton's answer mentions 4 hours instead of 2).

French (

European ?) agencies recommend the same, but insist much more (it's my feeling at least) on the refreezing issue, and I'd bet much more French people are aware of the latter than of the former (probably because of the mandatory mention on packages).

Disclaimer : I'm no physician or food or health or food safety specialist, just reporting informations gathered on trustable (IMO) websites.

cooking.stackexchange.com/users/20707/Skippy le Grand Gourou

The answer depends on how the meat was thawed.

If you read any of the health and safety documentation it tends to stipulate that meat thawed in a refrigerator can be safety refrozen.

Meat thawed by other methods, particularly if the temperature reaches 40°F–140

F (4°C–60°C) should be cooked before refreezing.

It's not dangerous but it significantly impacts the quality of the meat.

Most noticeably, it's ability to hold onto moisture.

Frozen food should be consumed quickly after it is defrosted.

Do this within 1 week after the first defrost and 24 hours after the second.

Red meat is the fastest decaying food and it's already been frozen before getting into your freezer.

A study indicates that refreezing food adds risks for contamination because freezing the meat ruptures the muscles in such a way that bacteria can travel from the surface to the interior.

Each additional thaw allows the bacteria to expand in areas normally not affected by the bacteria.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2072755.stm Supposedly flash freezing causes smaller ice crystals, which minimize this from happening.

Question: I've often been told by people that I shouldn't refreeze meat (particularly hamburger meat) once it has been thawed.  However, this seems a little silly to me.  I can't imagine how meat that hasn't been bought fresh and local could find its way to my kitchen with out thawing and being refrozen a couple of times.  How much damage can one more thawing and refreezing really do?  Can it really be that dangerous disease wise? Or is this just one of those urban myths?

How dangerous is it to refreeze meat that has been thawed?

Refreezing is generally not considered to be dangerous, although the freezing process can affect the quality of the meat and may add contamination risks as the damage to the muscles from freezing can make it easier for surface bacteria to travel inside.

Refreezing meat is not advisable as it increases the risk of bacterial growth and the negatively affects the quality of the meat.

Refreezing thawed meat is possible but would degarde the quality of the meat.

Refreezing foods is not advisable as you increase the risk of bacterial growth.


Try mixing hoisin or miso into low-sodium soy sauce.

From one of my favorite bloggers, Smitten Kitchen , "I often see low-sodium soy sauce suggested as an alternative

but I’m

not convinced it’s a fair swap.

There’s something more caramelized and fermented in the fish sauce that you’d miss.

If you feel like playing around, I might whisk some additional hoisin or even miso into that soy sauce for a more complex flavor."

If you cannot have fish at all, try using grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Fish sauce has two basic flavors: a sweeter one that is similar to Reggiano and a stronger one that is similar to cooked broccoli.

If I were to experiment, I would try a mixture of the two, with maybe some of the juice made from the inside pulp of tomatoes (the gel-like thing with the seeds).

You should look into vegetarian fish sauce .

If you can't find it, but can find a vegetarian (anchovy-free) Worcestershire sauce, that will provide some of the flavour, though we haven't tried it with Thai food. :-)

A salty chicken bouillon might also do the trick in a pinch.

Seaweed and lemon juice, that's what I'm using right now.

I was just using the seaweed because I like it, was using lemon juice and soy sauce as the fish sauce replacement, but am pleasantly surprised that seaweed is providing that fish sauce flavor.

This briny infusion is rich in “umami” (a loanword from the Japanese which can be described as a “pleasant savory flavor”) and can be used in equal amounts as a replacement for traditional fish sauce in your favorite Southeast Asian recipes.

This recipe yields about 1 cup.

Ingredients

2 cups water ¼ cup tamari, soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos™ ½ medium onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 T (4 g) dried shredded wakame (seaweed)

1 oz (28 g) dried shiitake, porcini or portabella mushrooms 1 tsp whole black peppercorns 2 T mellow white miso paste - Technique Bring all ingredients except for the miso to a boil in a small saucepan.

Cover, reduce the heat to a vigorous simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool.

Mix the miso into the macerated mixture.

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a glass jar, pressing the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.

Seal and refrigerate until ready to use.

Due to its salt content, this sauce should stay fresh for several months in the refrigerator.

You can safely leave out the fish sauce without attempting to replace it with anything.

First of all, it's really more fishy than salty, so substituting soy sauce often makes your dish too salty.

Secondly, most curries or stews only call for a small amount of fish sauce and there are such wonderful things going on spice-wise in Thai cuisine that you really don't miss it.

Conimex makes a sweet, thick type of soy sauce called Ketchup Manis or Ketchup Bentang which we use a lot for marinades (pork, chicken satays etc)

I love it put a little in fried rice, lo meins too.

Yum!

you can find it in some specialty food stores, Thai/asian sections and Asian food stores and online.

I've tried Bragg Liquid Aminos sauce which is saltier, less sweet and also tangier then regular soy sauce.

I think its flavor also resembles fish sauce better than soy and it worked well with the dish I made (green papaya salad).

According to its label, it's made with NON-GMO soybeans and purified water.

And it's also not fermented or heated and Gluten-Free.

You will lose a lot of the other flavors, but just using MSG can compensate for the strong umami and salty flavors present in fish sauce.

We use this substitute often as we find the fishyness of fish sauce unpleasant.

Your best bet is a light soy sauce, that, at least, will provide the 'saltiness'

If you need a fishy flavor you could always add a little fish paste or perhaps a fillet from a tin or bottle of fish, such as anchovies.

Just 'wizz' the two in a blender for a few minutes.

You could use a smaller amount of oyster sauce if the person was only allergic to fish...

(But keep in mind that some oyster sauces also include fish sauce, so check carefully!).

That said, if the person is also allergic to oyster sauce (as your question states), then I'd probably subtitute it with some stock instead, perhaps a small amount of soy sauce, and add less sugar, because it will also be sweeter.

I don't believe there is a substitute for fish sauce.

Soy sauce is completely different.

If using as a dipping sauce substitute , use soy sauce mixed with vinegar and sugar.

Another option is soy sauce mixed with fermented soybean paste, sugar, vinegar, chili pepper and water for dipping things like Vietnamese spring rolls.

Another alternative would be lime juice with soy sauce and sugar to dress a salad.

If cooking, I would use salt with a little MSG.

MSG adds Umami that can't be achieved even with fish sauce.

Worcestershire sauce is totally different from fish sauce.

Spices in it are too overpowering.

Hope that helps.

I cook with a vegetarian pho from my Vietnamese mother-in-law, who is the real deal!

It calls for no fish sauce and instead calls for 1/2 c. soy sauce and 1 Tbsp.

sugar in the broth.

It's delicious!

Maybe that's the substitute for fish sauce.

Question: Are there any good substitutes for Fish Sauce for cooking Thai food?   This is due to a severe food allergy (anaphylaxis) to all forms of seafood, so I'm unable to substitute for other fish-based products.

What is a good substitute for Fish Sauce?

Soy sauce, vegetarian fish sauce or liquid aminos can add some of the saltiness and taste of fish sauce. Alternatively, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, salty chicken bouillon, seaweed and lemon juice or MSG can add a similar flavour.

While it is possible to buy a vegetarian fish sauce, you can also try hoisin, miso or soy sauce as replacements.

Try hoisin or soy sauce as a replacement.

Other options such as seaweed and lemon juice, chicken stock or MSG are also possible.


You don't need a stand mixer, but it's a shortcut for those of us who don't like kneading the dough.

You could also use a bread machine (most have an option to mix and kneed, but not bake), or a food processor (use a dough blade), or just knead by hand.

If you look, you can find some no-knead, or at least less-knead pizza dough recipes, and there's some styles of pizza crust that are more biscuit like than what most people think of as pizza.

(It's popular in Maryland, and it has the advantage that you don't have to wait or things to rise,

etc, so there's no advance planning necessary other than pre-heating an oven). ...

As for brands of mixer ...

I won't get into that discussion, as I haven't owned enough of them to be able to give a good comparison.

Just make sure it has a warranty or a return policy, as my neighbor had some problems with the first model she bought ...

she ended up going with a different brand because of all of the problems.

All the "made from scratch" pizza dough I've seen made was mixed by hand, and it was always delicious, so I would say no,

you don't need a mixer to make good pizza dough.

In fact, I'm sure even modern style pizza predates the common use of electricity and mixers.

You don't NEED a mixer, but if you're making a lot of dough it certainly can speed things up.

Also if you don't have a nice stand mixer and do a lot of baking they are well worth the investment.

As for picking I would stick with one of the well known brands.

I've my Kitchen Aid for nearly 10 years and love it.

My mother's lasted 30 years before she burned out the motors and replaced it with a new one of the same.

I've heard positive things about both the Electronolux and Cuisinart, but I've never used either personally.

Nope! Check out Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough.

Really easy, simple, requires little of your time, and no special equipment needed (you can use a cookie sheet for the pizza stone.

Won't be quite as as good, but i still love it).

The dough still has to rise for a while (Jim Lahey lets the yeast do the kneading, instead of having to do it yourself), so you gotta plan ahead.

I've only made the pizza dough recipe from his book, which hasn't been released online, but this one is fairly similar: http://tastingtable.com/entry_detail/99/Jim_Lahey_reveals_his_recipe_for_no-knead_pizza_dough_.htm

BTW, I'd really recommend his book.

It's awesome for beginning bakers.

Made my first bread out of it 6 months ago, and I still make bread from the same recipe weekly for some bonified foodies who love it.

Fanzoo, I've made several hundred batches of pizza dough over the last 7 years.

The short answer is no, you don't need a mixer to make great pizza dough.

There two main reasons you should consider using one though: Consistency - If you mix your dough for a specific period of time (say 8 minutes), you'll be able to do that more consistently.

Mixing by hand is a little more subjective.

Ease -

If you're making large batches of dough, it'll make your life easier.

KitchenAids are the most common.

But I've found they can be a little bit of a pain because the hook doesn't always cut through the ball of dough.

Instead, the ball just bounces around in the bowl.

The Electrolux DLX line, although more expensive, is a better mixer for making pizza dough.

There are also fork mixers (I believe Santos makes a great one).

You'll be able to make great pizza dough with any of the three.

You can also use a food processor to knead dough if you have one.

Just pull a fist size peice off and throw it in, the blade will kneed it.

When done put in in a bowl and do the next fist size piece until all of your dough is done.

It kneads a lot faster than a mixer so be careful.

You don't need a mixer to make a proper pizza dough, but it does come in handy.

I like my Kitchen-Aid a lot

, I hear Kenwoods are nice as well (and a lot more affordable).

Much as I love my KitchenAid, you don't need it for pizza dough.

I typically use this recipe (with half whole wheat flour): http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/basic-pizza-crust/ -- and don't bother hauling out the mixer, even though she uses it.

Easy as pie and really fast.

As the others have said, you definitely don't need a mixer for pizza dough.

I don't have a fancy mixer at all, but I did start off trying to use a regular hand mixer with the dough hook attachment.

I thought it was a pain, so I tried kneading by hand the second time.

It was much easier and worked just as well.

On a side note, do you have a baking stone for your pizza?

I noticed that made a huge difference in the texture of the dough.

Question: A lot of recipes I read for pizza dough call for a mixer. Is that the best way? If so, which mixer should I get? I've seen the kitchen aid and a electrolux. What else should I consider?

Do I need a stand mixer to make good pizza dough? If so what should I get?

Pizza dough made in a mixer is not necessary and may be inferior to a hand-made dough. However, it does speed up the process and save effort. A food processor with a dough hook or a bread maker can offer similar results.

You don't need a mixer to make pizza dough. If you don't like kneading, why not try a bread machine or a food processor to speed things up.

You don't need a mixer to make pizza dough unless you are making large amounts.

Try a bread machine or a food processor.


I prefer the block.

I've used the strip before, but if it was knocked accidentally when bustling about the kitchen, it caused a rain of sharp metal death.

It was also possible to get the blade of the knife being pulled off under another and cause an extra knife to come shooting off the strip.

These could probably be overcome by being less of a clutz or getting a better magnetic strip rack, but I've transitioned to something like this , which you can make at home for about $10.

Works great.

No need to worry about sizes of knives to holes, and doesn't let the blades rub against anything metal.

I have (wait for it) . . .

a magnetic block!Honestly, best of both worlds.

It's a heavy wooden block with magnetic plates on each side.

You're not worried about knives fitting in holes etc, it takes everything from small paring knives to my cleaver, and everything in between.

I vote for a magnetic block :)

I prefer the magnet method and have used it for about 4 years now.

It's all about proper wall mounting, placement, and having one long enough to space out the knives for comfortable retrieval and return.

With a strong magnet you don't have to worry about slippage or knives falling out even with a bump.

Unless you're reckless in returning the knife to the holder you shouldn't be damaging their edges.

Plus, they're pretty cheap compared to overly cosmetic knife blocks and save counter space.

I use both, as well, I have too many knives.

In my case, I actually have the magnetic bar hanging vertically, just because that was the only place to mount it.

(it's a bit tricky, as you have to get the bolster of the knife in tight against the magnet, or it'll try to rotate due to gravity.)

What I don't like about my knife block is that it takes up too much counter space, and you're rather forced into what size of items you can place in it.

I've never managed to find an under-counter knife block, and I don't have enough drawers in my kitchen to justify giving one up for a drawer knife block like we had growing up.

If I ever redo my kitchen, I'm going to do what my grandfather had -- a section of the countertop was butcher block, with slits cut along the back wall -- knifes were dropped in there, so only the handles were showing above the counter, and the blades dropped into the cabinet below.

(with the top shelf having a back that'd prevent you from shoving anything back there and hitting the knives).

Oh, and

because I have too many knives, I keep some of my larger knives in cases, in a drawer.

(specifically, LamsonSharp Knife Safe; also useful for when you need to transport your knives for sharpening or picnics or whatever)

My kitchen has a dearth of open wall-space, especially near the areas I do most of my cutting, so a mag-stripe method is counter-indicated.

The wooden knife block (with horizontal holes) has a very good knife-density-to-counter-space ratio going for it.

I have a lot of unpowered counter-space, so this works for me.

I prefer wooden blocks as well, because it guards/protects the sharp edges.

Question: What's better for storing your knives? Wood block or magnetic stripe? And why?

Storing knives: wood block or magnetic stripe?

Personal preference will vary, but the block takes up less space and protects the blades when knocked accidentally.

It is a question of space as to whether you prefer the wooden block or a magnetic strip as both have advantages.

A wooden block protects the knife edges and allows you to fit more knives into a smaller space.

A magnetic wooden block is the best of both worlds.


You can look for a CSA in your area, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture : CSAs consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.

You can use http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ to try to find one in your area.

I've had friends and family go in on "buying a cow" from a farm.

You order a whole cow from them, they will get it butchered and you get all the various cuts from it, ground beef, etc.

You can do it yourself and fill up a big chest freezer and thaw as you go.

If you have other people in your area interested, you could always buy together, divide up the goods and that way be able to order more frequently with less freezer usage.

Here is an article about it hitting on some good points http://www.culinate.com/articles/culinate8/cow_sharing

Similar to @Nick's CSA suggestion , I've got friends who formed a (sort of) food conglomerate.

It needs to be a decent size (4 - 8 families).

Once a week, one family goes to the wholesale markets and buys the fruit & veg for all families.

Its one of those things where it is financially cheaper, but time and resource expensive.

(8 families of fruit is a lot of apples and wont fit on your backseat)

Once you have your routine down, it is very effective!

Just taking the "produce" part of your question, what about growing your own?

Even if you don't have a lot of garden most sources of advice for novice gardeners will talk about how to make the most of even limited space.

Foodies & cooks will want to focus on: a) produce which tastes substantially better homegrown e.g.: tomatoes (especially) strawberries cucumbers

peas b) produce which is expensive and/or stores badly, so that having a fresh and abundant supply outside the kitchen door is really a cook's delight e.g.: herbs lettuce rocket beans

For these reasons I tend not to bother too much with cabbage, leeks, potatoes, onions, courgettes (arguably) etc

all of which are cheap and store well and taste decent from the shops.

But I got into an argument the other day with someone who reckoned I had onions completely wrong and didn't I know homegrown onions were divine.

So I could be wrong.

Really, a Farmer's Market is your best choice.

You need to start going there more than "occasionally" :)

You have full control on what you are getting (unlike a CSA), you can taste the same produce (e.g. a Peach) sold by different vendors and decide who has the best tasting one, etc.

etc.

@hobodave, your profile says "Chicago, IL" -- here is a website I found with a list of Farmer's markets in Chicago: http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/event_landing/special_events/mose/chicago_farmers_market.html

Question: I often go to Whole Foods, but I feel like I'm getting ripped off there. I can walk out having spent $120 on a single bag of groceries. I try to get to a Farmer's Market occasionally, but not often enough I guess.  Are there other ways to buy as close to the farm as possible?

What methods are there of getting fresh local meat & produce?

Some community options exist like a weekly fruit and vegetable box delivery or sharing bulk purchases of fruit and vegetables or even a cow from a farm. A farmer's market in your area is a good option. You can also consider growing your own produce.

While a Farmer's Market is your best all round option, you can look for individual farmers who have delivery or pick up schemes. Another option would be to team up with other families or try growing your own.

Look for a weekly deliver or pick up system from a local farm in your area.

You could team up with other people in your area and buy local produce together to reduce prices.


Use a large heavy-bottomed pot (idealy 3-4 quart size) and place it over medium to medium-high heat until you can hold your hand about 6 inches above the bottom surface and feel the heat radiating off it.

At that point add about 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan, tilting to coat the bottom evenly.

Drop in a kernel or two and cover.

When the kernels pop, quickly add in the remaining, cover and shake the pan on the heat to keep the unpopped kernels on the bottom where they'll heat the best.

Cook and shake until the popping stops.

In order to have enough volume for the popped corn, you'll need to do it in batches of about 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels at a time if you're doing a large amount.

Use a carbon-steel wok!

The shape works very well to keep the unpopped kernels in the hot oil, while the popped kernels end up on the cooler sides.

I usually use about 2 T of oil and 1/3 c of popcorn to make enough for two people.

If you want to keep with the Chinese theme, Szechuan peppercorn-salt goes extremely well on popcorn!

To make it, grind Szechuan peppercorns and kosher salt in a spice grinder.

All these answers are basically correct.

Something to add.

I have found that covering the bottom of whatever pan you are using (except the wok or other round bottoms) with kernels (so that the kernels are evenly distributed and there are no kernels on top of one another)

just so it is covered, but no more, the volume of corn, once popped, is close to the top.

Also, a neat change of pace for a topping: nutritional yeast ;--)

Put the oil and one or two kernels over medium heat and wait for them to pop.

Then add the rest of the kernels and shake the pot back and forth until the popcorn popping slows or stops.

You can use a wide range of oils to have different tastes.

Soak the popcorn in water for about 10 minutes, drain, pop - this will help to pop all of the kernels and should make them more fluffy...

I would also suggest using a Whirley Pop Popper on the stove over a standard pot always.

The concept of if is exactly the same as what you'd find in a Movie theater.

The Whirley Popper gives you the advantage of keeping the kernels moving around so that they can all cook evenly and eliminating the chance of burning them.

It takes about 2 minutes from start to finish.

Close to the same amount of time for microwave popcorn but better for you and much, much better flavor.

The right kind of kernels are very important.

I have found that white popcorn kernels tend to have the most flavor once it has been popped.

And the one's I've purchased tend to be larger kernels than most of the yellow kernel corn.

Keep in mind, that cheaper is never better when it comes to corn kernels.

The most flavorful and best kind of oil to use is coconut oil, hands down.

Why waste your time on vegetable or canola oil when the flavorful essence of the coconut oil truly enhances the flavor of your popped corn?

The flavor that it creates even eliminates the need for butter!

It actually tastes so good without it.

Last thing is the salt.

The right type of salt is paramount to taking your popcorn flavor to the next level.

I highly suggest FINE grain popcorn salt, specifically.

It will spread more evenly, giving you a higher rate of coverage on your pieces.

I use a very large stainless steel bowl, with a flat bottom placed directly on the burner.

Add a tablespoon

or so (I don't measure) of your favorite high temp oil

(corn and safflower come to mind) along with your popping corn

(I think I use between 75 and 100 grams).

Cover the lid with a piece of aluminum foil, poke a bunch of vents in it with a knife, and place over medium high heat.

You will need to shake it as it pops so make sure you have some high temp gloves or the like.

Warning:

My bowl has been difficult to get totally clean after this... treat those burnt looking scuffs as a badge of honor!

I am making popcorn that is better than popcorn at the movie theater.

Buy a Whirly-pop popcorn popper.

It cost me about $15 at Bed Bath and beyond with a coupon.

It has an arm that you crank to move the kernels around.

It also has vent holes in the lid to let the steam out.

Steam will cause the popcorn to get tough and chewy.

My oil is from Sam's Club.

It is a butter flavored popcorn oil. About $9 for a gallon.

The salt also comes from Sam's Club.

You'll get two containers...

enough to last a couple of years for $4.

Use regular old yellow popcorn from the grocery.

Need to butter your popcorn?

You'll get some butter flavor from the butter flavored oil?

Want more?

Put in more oil.

Want real butter on your popcorn without it getting soggy?

Then you need to clarify your butter before adding it to your popcorn.

To clarify your butter:1.

Melt it.2.

Put it in the fridge.

It will solify again, but separated from whatever water was in there.3.

Drain off the water.4.

You now have clarified butter.

Melt

the clarified butter and drizzle on your popcorn. Drizzle, mix, drizzle, mix, drizzle, mix.

Question: I have a kettle-corn popcorn recipe that I have to pop on the stove as I don't have a popcorn maker and I wouldn't want to add the sugar to the popcorn maker. This makes me wonder what the best way to pop popcorn, in a pot with a lid, over the stove is?

What is the best way to pop popcorn on the stove?

Use a large, heavy bottomed pot or wok, heat at medium to medium-high heat until you can feel the heat radiating from it, then cover with a single layer of kernels. Soaking the kernels for 10 minutes and draining can help them all to pop and be more fluffy.

You can use a heavy pan or wok and heat it up before adding the kernels. These should be soaked beforehand and then spread over the base of the pan in a single layer.

Use a heavy-bottomed pan or wok or a stainless steel bowl directly on the burner.

There should only be enough kernels in the pan to cover the bottom. They should not be on two levels.

Soak the kernels in water before cooking.


Food safety experts and government organizations target their recommendations to what's safest for everyone, and would recommend against this.

However, "safe" is a subjective term.

It's all about managing risk levels.

The odds of a given egg containing salmonella or other food-borne illness are pretty low.

A healthy adult with a normal immune system can probably fend off any nasties, or at least recover from illness.

The source of the eggs has an effect on the risk levels as well, I believe.

Organic free-range eggs are probably less risky than supermarket brands.

Bearing in mind the salmonella statistics given above.

, yes it is safe to eat raw eggs so long as you are not very young, very old, or immunocompromised in some way--e.g. HIV, chemotherapy, leukemia, etc.

I'd say it's as safe as eating any other food generally consumed rare or raw (beef, fish, oysters).

It's certainly edible.

I use raw egg whites in many things, but I buy them in bulk, ultra-pasteurized.

I also prefer my eggs very runny.

Yes there's an increased probability of food-borne illnesses but so does a rare steak or a medium hamburger.

If you're worried, you can dip the eggs into boiling water for, say, 10 seconds to sterilise the outside of the shell.

As Robert Cartaino points out above, though, there might still be bacteria inside.

FWIW

I've made mayonnaise many times without any ill effects.

It is relativly safe as long as you pay attention to some points: Eggs should be as fresh as possible, so a possible salmonella contamination has no time to spread.

Also organic or free range eggs should be preferred.

In some egg-producing farms using battery cages up to 30% of the chickens are contaminated with salmonella and so the eggs.

Although other people here mention the improbability to get salmonella from eggs

it is still possible.

I myself got them from scrambled eggs hat

I had not cooked properly

(I think the eggs were about a week old, stored in the fridge and free range).

I had the worst diarrhea in my life, fever up to 41°C/106°F and was in hospital for a week (read: not fun).

In the UK it is safe from a salmonella standpoint (assuming the eggs are lion branded).

The lion branch mark (applied to each individual egg) means that the chickens they come from are salmonella free

(I assume they have been fed the antibiotic or anti viral or whatever it is) I agree with the others that other things will have a bearing - age of egg in particular

There are pasteurized raw eggs that are safe to eat.

One brand is http://www.safeeggs.com/ Or egg beaters

I think

Question: I have a friend that is training for a marathon and he  drinks  6 raw eggs before running (Yes, like Rocky) - is this safe?

Is it safe to eat raw eggs?

The risk from raw eggs is low as long as they are fresh and safe from salmonella (lion branded in the UK), and they are not served to very young, old or immunocompromised persons.

A pasteurised egg is safe to eat raw for everyone except the very young and elderly.

A fresh, pasteurised egg is generally safe to eat raw.

This is not safe for the very young or elderly or those with compromised immune systems. Try dipping the eggs in boiling water for 10 seconds to sterilise the shells.


Generally, I've only heard of the plastic bag or the food processor.

I have seen people who just bash the packet of biscuits on the kitchen top.

Jamie Oliver likes to do that with slabs of chocolate!

Otherwise use a heavy duty snack-lock bag or else wrap the plastic bag in a tea towel.

It helps to have a small hole for the air to escape.

If neither a rolling pin or food processor are available substitute a wine bottle or large can of juice.

Can the old trick of putting them in a plastic bag and hitting them with a rolling pin be improved upon?

Why?

It's quick, easy, and effective.

If you're looking to avoid wasting a bag, then the food processor works well enough...

But then you have a food processor to clean!

One suggestion: use a heavy rolling pin.

I have a marble pin that's too awkward for most pastries, but works great for this

: I don't really have to "beat" so much as just drop lightly and then roll...

I prefer to put them in the food processor and pulse until I get the desired consistency.

I put the biscuits in a bowl, and mash them with a potato masher.

It works well.

I think the method can be improved the following ways

but I don't have much call for crushed cookies myself, so if any of them don't work please let us know.

Anyway, seems that what you need to cruch cookies/biscuits is some sort of crusher, something to prevent crumbs from flying all over your kitchen, and an easy way to transport the results around your work area.

In the original the plastic bag serves the purpose of the crumb catcher.

You could use cheesecloth or a clean tea towel as a crumb catcher but those options don't seal and they pose a problem for the transportaion issue

so I would say the plastic stays as the best of that part of the equation.

As the crusher, I find a rolling pin to be a poor one.

Low curved surface area on your crusher just isn't what your looking for.

I would suggest reaching for the best thing for pounding in your kitchen - your cast iron pan.

It's heavy and nice and flat with a huge surface area, perfect for all you crushing needs.

Of course, we may not need even that, if your cookies are safely in a bag.

You could just slam the bag into the counter top until you're left with the proper consistency.

That seems labor intensive though, but maybe theraputic as well.

Also, a food processor like everyone else said is a great option.

I just put them in an air-tight bag and instead of being such a drama queen and bashing the bag, I roll over them with the rolling pin.

Quicker, cleaner and much quieter :)

I was making some lemon slice recently, and broke up my Marie biscuits by hand into small pieces and then whizzed them up in a foot processor for a bit.

If you don't have a food processor -- maybe try gently breaking them up in a mortar and pestle?

I have used a mortar and pestle before when I had no food processor.

It worked fine.

Another option is to just get a big knife and chop like you might with vegetables.

Other suggestions (mentioned here ): Use a potato masher Put them in a bag, then drive over the bag a few times with your car

I once watched a neighbor across the street put cookies (

Oreos

if I recall correctly) in a zip bag and crush them by backing her car over them.

She drank a lot.

Question: Can the old trick of putting biscuits (cookies or crackers to Americans) in a plastic bag and hitting them with a rolling pin be improved upon?

Are there a better ways to crush biscuits/cookies than a rolling pin?

A rolling pin (or substitute) or a food processor are the most common options, but you can also chop the biscuits with a knife or mash them with a potato masher.

While the rolling pin method is generally considered the best, you can also use a food processor or try chopping with a knife.

The rolling pin method is the easiest and most effective. You can also try a food processor.


No as per : "There are no outward characteristics that all poisonous mushrooms have in common, so picking and eating wild mushrooms requires the utmost caution.

To be absolutely safe, the only mushrooms you should eat are those found at supermarkets and restaurants!

All the old wives’ tales about how to tell if a mushroom is poisonous – such as whether it tarnishes silverware or turns blue when bruised – are dead wrong.

There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as an old, bold mushroom hunter."

There's a process in the US Army Survival manual on how to determine which plants are suitable for eating and/or hygiene purposes, but even it states: WARNING Do not eat mushrooms in a survival situation!

The only way to tell if a mushroom is edible is by positive identification.

There is no room for experimentation.

Symptoms of the most dangerous mushrooms affecting the central nervous system may show up after several days have passed when it is too late to reverse their effects.

You cannot tell, and there is no specific single method.

This is definitely one of those things that cannot just be described on a Q&A site like this.

Start studying, without eating.

Find an expert and train your eyes and other senses.

Graduate to gathering and have someone else confirm your identification prior to cooking.

Even those experts do sometimes make mistakes, there are just so many kinds of fungi.

As my Scout-master used to say "You can eat any mushroom you want.

At least once..." Good Luck - be careful

There is no general rule for all poisonous or non-poisonous mushrooms.

The way you tell is you learn what each particular edible mushroom looks like, and how to tell it apart from any and all similar-looking poisonous mushrooms.

If you're unsure of your identification, you don't eat it.

Basically, you assume a mushroom is guilty until proven innocent, never the other way round .

It's not a skill that's impossible to learn -

people have been gathering mushrooms for centuries, and still are.

But it is a skill that takes a lot of practice.

And it is better learnt with an expert, rather than with a book.

In particular, a young mushroom can look quite different from the same mushroom when mature, with a poisonous mature mushroom looking similar to an edible young one, for example.

You'd need to learn to tell the difference.

Sometimes the surest way to distinguish a poisonous mushroom from its edible cousin is what tree it grows under.

Etc.

Some signs are non-trivial.

I wouldn't trust my life to "what I learn from a book with OK-ish pictures".

Also note that a mushroom expert would very often be an expert only in their local forests.

Edible mushrooms in Europe might have poisonous similar-looking cousins in the US, and vice versa.

Finally, there are mushrooms that are only edible after cooking, as they contain toxins that are destroyed by heat.

That's not outlandish - potatoes are the same.

But it is yet another thing you need to be aware of.

The only way to know if a mushroom is poisonous is to have a mushrooms book, or (better) to be an expert.

There are some methods that allow you to distinguish two similar mushrooms, but there isn't a method to know if a mushroom is poisonous/toxic.

Feed the unknown mushroom to someone you don't like.

After they die and you get put on trial for murder, the prosecutor will put some fancy biologist on the stand to recite some long string of latin sounding words that are the name of the mushroom.

Ta-da!

You now know the name of the mushroom and that it is poisonous.

Question: Assume I have found and want to eat a to me unknown kind of mushroom. Is there some way to find out if that mushroom is poisonous by looking/smelling/soaking it?

How can I tell if a mushroom is poisonous?

There are no universal or exclusive characteristics of poisonous or non-poisonous mushrooms, so extreme caution must be used and the mushroom should be assumed to be poisonous until positively identified as a safe variety.

There is no simple to way to tell if a mushroom is poisonous. Always assume that a mushroom is poisonous unless you are able to positively identify it.

There is no method to tell if a mushroom is poisonous.

You should start from the assumption that the mushroom is poisonous then work on identifying it to see if it might be edible.


I also have neurological disorders that cause symptoms similar to chronic fatigue.

Here are a few tricks that have helped me with cooking dinner:

Make sure your kitchen is set up in an efficient organized way.

Keeping your kitchen well organized is key to reducing the time you spend cooking.

Take your limitations into account when organizing your kitchen.

For instance, if bending down flares up your symptoms, keep the items you use the least in the lower cabinets.

Purchased pre-chopped veggies

Use tin foil / parchment paper on cookie sheets and casserole dishes as much as possible.

This will limit clean up.

Try sitting as much as possible while cooking.

Here is a stool that rolls around .

As alluded to in other responses, try recipes that allow you to prepare much of the meal ahead of time - while you have more energy.

Look for recipes where the majority or all of the cooking is in the oven as opposed to over the stove.

While the cook times may be similar, you can take a load off if you are primarily using the oven.

Once every 3 months I cook up (in the oven) and shred a 'big buy' of chicken and store it in the freezer.

I use the cooked meat for risottos, soups, pasta dishes that call for cooked chicken.

Finally, here is a resource for quick recipes: allrecipes

A quick and relatively effort free method of cooking is the electric steamer.

It's simplicity itself to cook a salmon fillet, some baby new potatos and a selection of veg (which you could purchase pre-chopped for those days when you're really flagging) and then sit and wait for it to cook.

The other advantage of steaming is that you loose less of the nutrients than through boiling so that should help you a little bit as well =)

A slow cooker is helpful in that you can plop in vegetables and meat in the morning and let it cook all day

so when you get home, dinner will be ready.

It doesn't take much effort to get great meals that way

and there are tons of recipes on the internet.

I use mine often

and I don't even work.

They aren't expensive to buy.

Having a wife with CF, I can appreciate your difficulty.

You have the combination of not being able to put the effort into cooking, and the decreased ability to handle food with poor nutritional content (like most TV dinners).

One thing I do is to always cook about about double what we need for a meal and then either refrigerate or freeze the leftovers in meal-sized portions.

Otherwise, we try and have healthy foods easily available for snacking - pre-washed spinach, good hearty bread, nuts, etc...

Quinoa salad is easy and doesn't take a lot of effort.

Cook the quinoa like rice - twice as much water as quinoa and then bring to a boil, turn it down to a simmer for about 15 minutes covered.

Then toss that with whatever veggies you have on hand - I love it with tomatoes, cucumber, feta and olives for a "greek" twist.

Then you dress with either bottled dressing or vinegar/lemon juice and olive oil.

Versatile and its even better the second day.

Get a good blender.

Blending food is a way to make quick drinks and soups.

There are tons of quick recipes online.

Vegetable drinks require just a quick rinse and minimal chop.

Same with fruit smoothies.

Yogurt smoothies are easy.

A good blender will even heat a soup just from blending it for 5-10 minutes on high.

You can even add (cooked) meats, eggs, or other proteins to the mix.

The obvious advantage is no pans, no cooking, minimal prep and cleanup.

On the gustatory side, I'm not trying to recommend a bland, geriatric, babyfood diet.

Blended foods can be well-seasoned and taste great.

Add oil, onions, spices, salt, pepper to savory dishes.

Honey, cinnamon, vanilla to smoothies.

Lemon juice, lime juice, even condiments can add zip.

A big blended drink or soup with a hunk of toasted whole grain bread and butter is an easy and delicious combo.

You could make bulk amounts and easily save leftovers.

Plus, it's fun to experiment, and doesn't require too much hassle or expertise.

It's well outside the scope of this site, but blending foods makes them easier to digest.

Complete speculation, but I bet that easier nutrient absorption would be good for CFS.

There are some commercial products: the Vitamix, Montel William's blender, the Juiceman juicer which target some of these goals.

I find a regular blender works great, though it obviously doesn't remove fiber (like a juicer, not always a good thing anyway), and you have to cut you food a little smaller if it's a lower powered machine.

Aside from the main discussion point of this article (why it's okay for men to eat salads)

, the author does mention an interesting technique - they pre-chop all the ingredients needed for a salad when they have time, like on the weekends, and store them in individual containers.

When they want to make salads, it's a pretty quick matter to pull out a few containers, grab some lettuce, toss ingredients+dressing, and have a nutritious meal ready to go.

Some other authors (I'm thinking specifically of Tosca Reno, of "Clean Eating" fame) recommend a similar technique: when she's cooking chicken breasts, she typically grills a few extra to use over the next day or two.

I'd also +1 the quinoa suggestion above - quinoa is a pretty quick way to pack in a hearty and healthy meal quickly.

You can also cook quinoa in the microwave - I haven't mastered the technique (how long to cook, water ratio, etc.), but it's usually around 5 minutes.

Question: Anyone know of any good resources for cooking recipes/methods/tools for people with a medical condition that causes chronic fatigue? I'm relying too much on convenience foods and 'tv dinners', because frequently the effort of cooking a decent meal is beyond my energy limits at the end of the day.

Cooking with chronic fatigue

Set up your kitchen in an efficient and organised way, and purchase pre-chopped and pre-washed vegetables as well as healthy snacks. Try to sit as much as possible while preparing food, and find recipes like quinoa salad that are easy to prepare or where a lot of the meal can be prepared in advance. Slow cooking, steaming and blending can save effort, or you can double the recipe and store the leftovers for another day.

Organise your kitchen to make it easier for yourself. Buy ingredients that already chopped. Try to cook big batches and think about investing in a few appliances that will do the work for you.

Make sure your kitchen is organised to make it easier for you to cook. Have healthy foods ready made for snacking. Also try buying pre-chopped vegetables.

Try getting an electric steamer, a slow cooker or a blender that will do most of the work for you.

Cook large quantities when you have the energy and then you only have to heat up.


I've never had them, but they are indeed edible.

Due to the high amount of potassium in them they can be bitter.

The World Carrot Museum (lol) even has an entire page for carrot greens , including several recipes.

Excerpt:

They ARE edible and are highly nutritive, rich in protein, minerals and vitamins.

The tops of the carrots are loaded with potassium which can make them bitter, so the use of them in food is limited, but there some ideas and recipes below.

The tops are antiseptic and can be juiced and used as a mouthwash.

However, it is edible, so you may mix some in with a mixed lettuce salad.

You may also use it for garnish.

Combine your common sense and your creative skills, and invent something!

That's what makes cooking fun.

It is a form of art.

Carrot greens are high in vitamin K, which is lacking in the carrot itself.

Carrot tops are an outstanding source of chlorophyll, the green pigment that studies have shown to combat the growth of tumours.

Chlorophyll contains cleansing properties that purify the blood, lymph nodes, and adrenal glands.

Scientists have been unable to synthesize chlorophyll in the laboratory, but green plant foods contain sufficient quantities to protect the human body.

I like hobodave's answer, but I'll put my .02 bucks on a negative answer: I tend to throw cooking debris in the stock pot.

Onion skins, garlic peels, anything I might otherwise throw away.

It's stock,

right?

Stock and stuffing exist to make use of leftovers.

But don't do this with carrot tops

, it'll make your stock taste wonky.

Had to make thanksgiving gravy with store broth that year.

Blech.

I have used them to make a type of pesto.

You blanch them first, shock, squeeze out the water, then proceed similarly to how you would with basil.

Delicious on carrots that have themselves been blanched and shocked.

Carrot greens are a great substitute for flat-leaf parsley in many dishes, especially ones that will be cooked, as the carrot greens tend to handle heat better than parsley.

I use them in Beet Burgers along with the carrots themselves, with terrific results.

You can also throw them in to seasoned breadcrumbs for a great topping for casseroles, etc.

We tried diced carrot tops in some salmon patties, as a substitute for parsley, and it was fine.

We sauteed them along with onions before adding to the mix.

I just used them in my chicken noodle soup -

some cooked, some at the very last minute - and it was delicious!

So much better than spending money on fresh parsley, which usually goes bad in my fridge before I can use all of it.

I love making a dry stir fry with carrot greens and coconut.

It tastes similar to a kale stir-fry.

This is one thing I miss back in my home country because here we dont get carrot greens when we buy carrots.

They are definitely edible, with a more herbal carrot taste.

Cooking with "produce offal" has become fairly popular, which means you can find a number of recipes designed to use carrot tops and other "garbage" parts of your produce if you don't feel up to experimentation, but would like to explore the idea of generating less food waste.

The ferny leaves on the top are nicely delicate and can be used anywhere you might use other leafy greens, for a slightly different taste.

I have personally used them to create a non-basil pesto, and they can make a lovely edible garnish with your meal or an addition to mixed raw greens.

The tops as a full unit tend to be better when cooked; I've found them particularly good when sauteed quickly

so the stems soften

and the leaves get a bit crisp.

If you prefer a more uniform texture (I like the variation), you can remove the leaves to toss in at the end

so they only soften; they'll cook much faster than the stems.

Any combination of seasonings you might use for sauteed or roasted carrots would serve well here, too, as the flavor is very similar.

Question: The family members who taught me to cook have always tossed carrot tops/greens into the compost pile or the trash (and my regular grocery store carries carrots without tops), so I've never really thought about cooking with them before. Today, however, I bought some carrots with fresh, green tops, and it seems a shame to waste them. Can I safely cook with them, and if so, how?

Are there culinary applications for carrot tops/greens?

Carrot tops are edible and rich in protein, minerals and vitamins, although they may be bitter due to the high amount of potassium. They have a herbal carrot taste and can be used in pesto or as a replacement for parsley, especially in cooked dishes. They are also good in a stir fry with coconut or a mixed lettuce salad.

Carrot tops are edible and can be used like parsley in cooked or raw recipes.

Carrot tops are edible and are rich in minerals. They can be bitter but have a more herbal carrot flavour.

You can use them for pesto as well as to replace parsley, for soups and stir fries or in a mixed salad.


I've never had luck keeping them out of food.

Sealed containers work, but cause fruit to ripen and spoil quickly, and they are small enough to get in anything with an opening.

However, a simple fruit fly trap can keep them in check:

Cut a 2l soda bottle where the top taper ends (above the label).

Add a few drops dish soap to a few tbsp of apple juice, beer or cider vinegar.

Pieces of fruit can also be used.

Invert the severed top of the bottle (sans cap), and seal with a piece of duct tape around the edge.

Set near the fruit and wait.

Open it up to empty every few days.

Google will give you a variety of other designs that you can build if you are more ambitious.

Flies can lay eggs and continue to emerge even after the produce that attracted them in the first place is already gone. After getting rid of the produce the next time, wipe the area down with a kitchen cleaning spray and wait to see if more flies appear.

If not, then give it a go again and keep an eye on the progression of the produce, refrigerating it if it is getting softer than you expect before you get around to using it.

Oftentimes the fruit flies are traveling with the produce (microscopic eggs) so try washing things like tomatoes, peaches, etc.

first before setting out on the counter/shelves.

Mesh cover.

I personally am using balsamic vinegar and dish soap.

Because I have so many tomatoes and peppers all at once they are laying on the counter

so I have put this into tiny plastic bowls (2-3 in diameter from the dollar store) and placed them among the fruit.

So far it seems to help.

There are still a few but nothing like it was.

Place the produce on the counter-top or on a plate, and then, use a upside-down "mesh-type" colander as a lid to keep the produce covered.

Flies wont be able to get in, but there will be enough ventilation.

Depending on the produce, you can obviously also store it in the fridge (not tomatoes).

This is a trick I've learned since I home-brew kombucha- same method of keeping flies out.

Get a larger bowl or a pot and put the fruit in gently.

Then throw a kitchen towel over the top and secure with a couple tight rubber bands around the top of the pot/bowl.

Make sure no fruit flies are on the fruit when the rubber band is secured.

This should keep them out, I'd just check the fruit once a day to check on ripeness and when the fruit is ripe, move it to the fridge.

I currently have 3 bowls going right now after my husband came home with 2 large crates one of peaches and one of plumbs.

I have probably 45 plumbs in one container and 15 in each of the others, and so far all is fine and happy- fly free!

Question: What is a good way of keeping fresh produce (in particular, from the garden) and herbs in the kitchen without attracting fruit flies? We dispose of tomatoes etc as soon as they start to go bad, but it seems like leaving out the produce that would be kept out is attracting fruit flies.  There weren't fruit flies before so I am wondering if there might be a better way (ie a ventilated canister?) of keeping the produce?

Fruit Flies and Storage of Fresh Produce

Covering the produce with a mesh cover or using a simple fruit fly trap should keep them in check.

Try using a fruit fly trap or covering the produce with a mesh cover.


Yes, it is true that we don't add oil to the boiling water.

I'm not aware of any good reason to waste extra-virgin olive oil that way!

Some oil is always added at the end, over the sauce, when the pasta is already in the plate!

It has to be raw, so that it retains its fruit nuances and texture.

If you are doing cold pasta salad and want to avoid sticky pasta, adding oil in advance won't help.

You have instead to wash pasta under cold water to wash the starch away (you can put the pasta in the colander directly under the running cold tap).

Alton Brown covered this on an episode of Good Eats.

There is a legitimate reason, and it has nothing to do with sticking; it's an anti-foaming agent, so you don't have to stir as much to keep down the foam you'll sometimes get.

Any oil will work, it doesn't have to be the good stuff.

Using it anti-stick apparently does NOT work.

(Just use a large enough pan and stir somewhere during the start of boiling).

Adding oil will also reduce flavor-uptake from any sauce.

cooking.stackexchange.com/users/8457/Tobias Op Den Brouw

I've never put oil on spaghetti's water and i've never seen anyone doing it here in Italy.

To keep your spaghetti out of trouble (sticking), just have the patience to mix them on the water (just for the first couple of minutes).

The most common reason that I have heard is to help prevent the pasta from sticking together (and maybe to add a little flavor).

This is unnecessary on both points, however.

Spaghetti is one of those foods that should be served right away.

If it is, you will rarely have a sticky mess.

If you do let it sit until it sticks, the pasta can be rinsed to loosen it up.

Adding oil to the water does not add much flavor or anti-sticking power.

Most of it will be discarded with the water, and what is left may help prevent the pasta from taking up the flavor of the sauce.

Update:

Joe's answer about oil being an anti-foaming agent is a great tip!

I never used to use oil in the water when I was cooking spagetti but I found that it tended to stick together in a pick clump that was hard and difficult to eat.

I was advised to start using oil in my water

and I have not looked back since.

It keeps the spaghetti separate and therefore an overall better eating experience.

As for oil, it does not have to be olive oil, it can be any kind of oil...or at least that is what I have found!

I have always been told that adding fat to the pasta water coats the pasta in the fat, which prevents the pasta from absorbing the sauce.

I have tried it a couple of times.

The results weren’t disastrous (it was edible), but the pasta did indeed seem to shy away from the sauce, so I don’t do it any more.

In my opinion, all else being equal, Italian style water-boiled pasta tastes bland.

But I have grown eating pasta and rice boiled with virgin olive oil, so I am certainly biased.

Even after washing with cold water to use for salads as Lorenzo advises, I can tell the difference.

Why, I ain't sure, but I think it might be due to the oil interacting with the starch.

I have also noticed less sticking, but that's not the main reason for me to use it.

Normally, I cook pasta without olive oil.

But due to timing differences (I arrive home time X, my wife Y, and the kids Z).

To make sure the pasta doesn't stick, and can be prepared beforehand, I cook it in salted and buttered water for taste.

I stir it continuously to avoid sticking, but after draining the water, I add some EVOO to the pasta as it cools and stir it.

I find that hot pasta tends to stick as it cools.

In Italy we indeed put a bit of oil in the boiling water, but ONLY in case of fresh homemade pasta, not in the DRY one that you buy in the supermarket.

In case of fresh pasta, we use flour as anti-sticky, but when put in the water flour doesn't work anymore and a bit of oil helps.

In case of dry pasta is not needed anymore because the causes of stickiness are different.

Beware that you should stir the pasta in the boiling water at least when you put it in and every 2 minutes.

Anyway, stirring to much the fresh pasta can break it (since has different consistence and "physical properties").

Enjoy your pasta!

Question: Many people (at least in Germany) think that Italians add olive oil to the boiling water for spaghetti. However, Italians tend to tell the opposite (from my experience).  So, can you please state objective reasons for or against adding olive oil to the boiling water for spaghetti?

When you cook spaghetti, do you add olive oil to the boiling water?

It is true that Italians usually don't add olive oil to the water when cooking dried pasta, but they do add a little with fresh homemade pasta. Oil is added to the sauce at the end, when the pasta is on the plate. While adding oil to water is often thought to help the pasta not to stick, this apparently does not work. However, it can help to reduce foaming and the need to stir as much.

In general, Italians don't add oil to cooking water for pasta. This is said to prevent the pasta sticking together in the first few minutes. It also stops the water from foaming up.

Italians do add oil to cooking water unless it is for fresh pasta. It does not help with dry pasta sticking together.

Adding oil to the water is supposed to stop it sticking together.

Oil is an anti-foaming agent and it stops the water from foaming up too much.


Could be an unfinished roux (the butter, flour mixture).

But most likely it's because the cheese was heated too quickly or too much, causing the protein to clump up.

Suggestions: Melt with less heat Use a double boiler (to reduce hot spots within the pan)

Toss the shredded cheddar with cornstarch first (starch helps reduce clumping)

Add cheese in smaller batches (easier to maintain correct heat level and stir cheese in)

In my experience it's because of: too much heat too much acidity (for example from a shot of lemon juice)

Too much heat causes the protein in the cheese to clump.

You can use a mixer to dissolve the clumps (mix at the highest speed).

Too much acidity also does the same.

The more sour a sauce gets the faster it clumps when heating.

Lemon juice gives a nice flavour but it's finnicky.

When the sauce clumps you can save it somewhat using a mixer.

I have two suspicions: One, you're undercooking your roux, the flour and butter mixture, and not fully incorporating the flour.

Two, you're adding too much cheese too quickly and it isn't melting smoothly.

Solutions: cook the roux until light golden brown, finely grate the cheese and add it slowly, stirring constantly.

I've run into this problem the first few times I made macaroni and cheese from scratch.

Things that I've learned are: don't use low fat milk --

the higher the fat content the smoother your cheese will melt/incorporate.

once the base is made (the flour, butter, milk "sauce" -- bechamel?)

take the pot OFF the heat.

The more your heat your cheese sauce, the more it will get gritty.

if possible, mix with a good melting cheese -- to make my cheddar sauce, I use 1 part moteray jack (which has no taste (IMHO) but is a really good melting cheese) to 1 part sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Hope that helps.

Three other possibilities are: If you used pre-shredded cheddar it's sometimes dusted with an anti-caking agent which can make things tricky.

Your cheddar is a reduced fat cheese which doesn't have enough fat content.

The flour you are using for your roux shouldn't be a whole wheat/whole grain.

You can cook that down and it still won't be as smooth or finely integrated as using an all-purpose flour.

Hope this helps.

Good cheddar has little chunks of calcium lactate on/in it - could it be that?

At Modernist Cuisine, they wrote: Cheese is an emulsion of dairy fat and water, but that emulsion tends to break down when it gets hot.

The starch particles and milk proteins in béchamel act as emulsifiers, but they aren’t very good at their job and result in poor flavor release. ... ...

Sodium phosphate keeps the water and fat droplets mixed when the cheese is melted.

We use sodium citrate, which has the same effect and is easier to find.

The resulting texture is as smooth as melted American cheese, but as complex and intense in flavor as any of your favorite cheeses. and watch this video .

I can think of a few reasons why you may be getting this grittiness.

I use the following method when making cheese sauce, and it tends to turn out very smooth.

Melt (hard) butter in pan at a low temperature.

Add the appropriate amount of flour.

(Better too little than too much, as adding more later should not hurt.)

Whisk the butter-flour mixture quickly to create the roux, still at low temperature.

(10 - 20 seconds)

Add the milk and whisk quickly, mixing in the roux.

Turn the heat up immediately and continue whisking.

When the sauce is sufficiently thick, reduce the heat and add in the grated cheese.

Stir until smooth again.

I have found that adding gradually adding flour to the butter using a sifter reduces the likelihood of a gritty texture.

Many of the other answers are good, but I still often have the same experience with certain cheeses such as cheddar

(it's 'smooth', but not as smooth as I would like).

If the proportions are reasonable, a hand blender works for me every time.

It's best to use half and half or whole milk.

Every time I use 2% milk it comes out separated and grainy/gritty!

I guess it has something to do with the fat content that gels it altogether!

Question: Sometimes when making a very simple cheese sauce (butter, flour, milk, cheese [cheddar, usually]), the final sauce has a sort of gritty or slightly pebbly texture (rather than smooth) - it seems like maybe the cheese hasn't totally melted, even if I continue to heat the sauce.  Why does this happen? How can I avoid it?

Why is my cheese sauce gritty?

It is possible that the cheese was heated too quickly or not added gradually enough to allow it to melt smoothly. Another possibility is that the roux is undercooked or the flour is not fully incorporated. Use a white flour for the roux and gradually add it using a sifter. Use half and half or whole milk and avoid pre-shredded cheese, as this contains an anti-caking agent that can affect the texture. If the sauce is still not smooth, a hand blender should help.

The cheese should be add slowly and not heated too fast. Try sifting the flour and adding it bit by bit. Make sure your cheese doesn't have an anti-caking agent. You can also try mixing with a hand blender.

The roux is undercooked or the cheese was added too fast. Try sifting the flour first.

The cheese may have an anti-caking agent or calcium lactate.


Milk curdles due to acidity, so if you can raise the pH of the soup by adding something basic, it would help, although it could affect flavor.

The other thing to try is heating the milk to ~90 degrees C before adding it to the soup.

This will cause the protein in the milk to change in a way that curdling won't result in as bad a final result--it may in fact appear that the milk hasn't curdled at all.

You can also "temper" the milk (as mentioned by Ocaasi):

add a bit of the soup to the milk first; then add the milk-soup mixture to the soup at large.

And yes, higher fat milks will tend to work better.

Try adding the milk separately to only a single cup of broth.

Stir thoroughly.

Then slowly add this to the pot.

It will allow the milk to come up to temperature gradually in a less acidic environment.

Also, higher fat milk will be less likely to curdle, in case when you said milk you meant something other than milk .

You might also try using cream instead of milk; I'm not sure I remember the technical reasons

but it is much less likely to curdle.

You would want to use less of it than the milk, but it won't introduce the possibly unwanted sour flavor of creme fraiche.

For protection against heat, you can stabalize the milk with starches.

(eg, a white sauce made with milk won't curdle, even if you boil it).

I unfortunately don't know how much you'd have to add, and of course, it'll end up affecting the texture of your soup).

For soups, you're likely better off making a corn starch/milk slurry before adding the milk, so you don't have to cook it like you would flour to get rid of the raw flour taste.

You may also want to consider the heat that you're cooking the soup at -- you likely want a low simmer, not a full boil.

you can also possibly experiment with creme fraiche, which won't curdle, but the flavor is different (nuttier, but not as sour as sour cream) than milk, but at least you won't have the curdling problem! :)

Question: There are numerous chicken stock based soups that also have milk as an ingredient  and the milk always seems to curdle - how can I prevent this?

If I'm using milk as an ingredient in soup, how can I prevent it from curdling?

Try heating the milk to 90 degrees C before adding it to the soup, and use milk with a higher fat content. Cream or crème fraiche should resist curdling better than milk.

Use a high fat milk and heat it before adding to the rest.

Try heating the milk before you add it in.

Higher fat milk is less likely to curdle.


I have the giant box of Ener-G egg replacer sitting in my cabinet, but I've found that in most cases a flax egg will do.

1 T flax seed 3 T water Grind the flax in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle and then mix in the water.

Voila, you have one egg.

As some people pointed out it really depends on what you are trying to make.

(and believe me

it's not easier to replace the girlfriend as someone above suggested, vegan baking is so easy)

You can use the egg replacer that's available at health food stores

(you mix one tbsp with water, following the directions on the box for each egg).

The downside of this is if you are trying to replace several eggs, the powder does give it a weird taste.

For muffins, pancakes, waffles etc.

you can easily replace it using apple sauce and oil.

I've made cookies where the recipe called for mixing oil and maple syrup, i'm sure that's what kept them together instead of egg.

Flax seeds in water also become all sticky like egg and keep things together.

Banana is another great one but your food will taste like banana, so this is great if you don't mind the banana (it works amazingly in brownies).

Silken tofu can be used to make all sort of custard/ mousse desserts.

This site will probably explain it much better than I did above http://www.theppk.com/veganbaking.html

IMO the best cake/ cupcake recipes are from "vegan cupcakes take over the world", they always come out fluffy and tasty, and everyone i made them for loved them and couldn't tell they were vegan, it's a little cookbook i'd invest in if you're planning on baking for her.

Another thing- to replace eggs for breakfast try making scrambled tofu (lots of recipes online),

when it's spiced properly it is SO delicious.

Basically you crumble up firm (not silken) tofu with your hands, add spices (tumeric to make it yellow like scrambled eggs), herbs, nutritional yeast, oil and fry it up.

Mix with diced tomato just before serving, it is super yummy.

In Brownies without egg , Darin Sehnert makes a reference to commercial "Egg replacer".

In pancakes, I use 2" or so of a banana per egg.

The more banana you use, the more banana-y

it tastes, so no harm done!

If you were to use a little less, it's possible to remove the banana taste completely from the pancakes.

My roommate who HATES banana with a passion tried my pancakes and loved them, claiming she couldn't taste the banana at all.

This substitute is used while making pancakes with your typical Aunt Jemima/generic brand pancake mix, and adding soy milk as well (soy cooks better than almond or rice).

For brownies or cookies, you can use applesauce or maple syrup or more banana, it's really up to you.

Applesauce doesn't add much flavor, thus making them quite similar to real ones.

Maple syrup also works well, but doesn't add to the fluffiness.

If you were to use banana in your brownies, I would recommend blending with a little water, so it's completely smooth and not lumpy.

As ya probably know,

brownie batter from CVS even, can be vegan.

Banana bread is obvious - use more banana! and add walnuts or pecans because of the obvious YUM factor.

I find that using baking powder or soda does NOT work well and would advise against.

If you wanted to make French Toast: I would heat up vanilla soymilk, a little citric fruit juice (orange banana), more banana, seasonings such as cinnamon and vanilla.

Stir in flour to thicken it up a bit, and when its thick enough, soak your bread and cook it up!

There is a commercial egg replacer named Ener-G that you can find at most health-food stores.

Here is a link to the product FAQ: http://www.ener-g.com/Faq/productfaq.aspx .

I wouldn't say it does 100% of the things an egg can do (good luck making a custard with it!), but many vegans seem to find it helpful.

There was an episode of "Good Eats" where Alton Brown replaced eggs with avocados.

They have similar properties, though I think he fixed the dishes in other ways as well.

In addition to the many commonly known egg substitutes, there is one less known: aquafaba.

Aquafaba is the resulting liquid from cooking beans and other legumes such as chickpeas in water, and it is quite useful as a substitute for eggs.

The official aquafaba site ( http://www.aquafaba.com ) explains the history, the science, and what has been said about aquafaba.

There are cook books devoted to the use of aquafaba in recipes from lemon cake to Pavlovas and Swiss buttercream: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612437214/ref=crt_ewc_title_oth_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I've been using bananas in my brownies since I started living with Vegans (3 years ago) and I've gotten nothing but praise (except for those extremely rare few who truly detest the taste or even smell).

I generally use 1 or 2 (about 8 in / 20cm in length)

but sometimes I'll throw in 3-4 for that extra banana kick.

I also add some water in there (in lieu of milk) and throw some other smaller ingredients into the blender to make a nice liquid which better facilitates mixing (assuming you're doing it by hand).

I've been using corn flour as a substitute of eggs in pancakes, with mixed results, but its some option to investigate.

I just found an extensive list of egg substitutes in case you're baking: http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

It's a 3 page long table, sorry for not reposting it here.

Not all the options are vegan, but most of them are.

Question: My girlfriend is vegan.  How can I replace eggs in a recipe?   Maybe with banana or soy? How much?  The egg is the key ingredient to keep everything from falling apart.

With what can I replace eggs?

Ener-G egg replacer is a commercially available option, or you can use a flax egg, silken tofu for custard/mousse desserts, banana in pancakes, apple sauce and oil, avocados or aquafaba.

You can buy an egg replacer at most health food stores. Otherwise, try using banana, silken tofu, apple sauce or oil.

Substitutes for eggs include banana, silken tofu, apple sauve, oil, avocados and aquafaba.


Back in the late '90s, biologist Joe Staton did a comparative study of the tastes of different animals for the Annals of Improbable Research .

His hypothesis was that the relatedness of tastes of animals is correlated to their evolutionary ancestry.

You can read an abridged version of his article here .

Looking at the phylogenic tree at the bottom of the article, horse meat has the general flavor of beef and is most closely related to deer (venison) and American buffalo (bison).

In my experience, horse meat is like a cross between venison and beef.

Edit :

In case anyone was wondering, human apparently tastes like pork.

Horse meat is dark red and usually quite lean.

The risk is to overcook it and end up with tough meat.

This probably has to do with the fact that most horse meat is "recycled" animals, that's to say horses that were not bread for meat and

that spent a part of their life working.

In my part of Italy (Parma), we also eat it in its raw ground form (like a steak tartare ).

The traditional presentation is ground fine, spread on a white bread, salt, pepper, lemon juice and a drop of olive oil.

Garlic also goes well with it.

Horse meat is less likely to host parasites that are harmful to humans, so I wouldn't be too disturbed by the thought of eating it raw - and it does taste great.

A filet americaine with horse meat would probably taste very good too.

Here is a recipe for picula 'd caval , a sort of horse chili from nearby Piacenza http://italianfood.about.com/od/furredgameetc/r/blr0881.htm although I would not cook it for quite that long, to avoid having tough rubbery bits at the end.

For the same reason, reheating horse meat is usually a bad idea.

Here is also a discussion about the true recipe, but it is in Italian http://www.coquinaria.it/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000843;p=0 of course every family has their own version and of course it is a point of religious faith that that one is the only true one - after all it is Italy.

Like a filly cheese steak.

I'd hate to saddle you with a bunch of recipes.

Good with stallio-- scallions.

Careful, frying it, since it tends to be a bit tempermental.

Leaving now.

I've had it in Italy as a child - I was actually told it was beef so that I wouldn't ask questions.

The big differences are that it is leaner than beef, and has a coarser texture.

It tastes like whale meat :)

It's a red meat, with a characteristic texture.

Personally, I like it a lot, but it's difficult to find if you are outside of Italy and France (as far as I know).

You can use it as a regular steak, instead of pork, for example.

Pork is more delicate as a taste, horse is more intense.

Horse meat is often consumed in Mongolia, especially during the long cold winter periods; it contains a lot of nutrients suitable for winter.

It is very lean so its good to consume when cold, meat is quite smelly while you cook it

but once it's done it is a good substitute for beef, and of course it contains a lot of collagen.

Question: What (roughly) does horse meat taste like?  What kind of dishes can I make with it?

Uses of Horse Meat

Horsemeat is leaner than beef with a coarser texture, and tastes like a cross between venison and beef. It can be eaten ground or as a steak, and can be a good substitute for beef.

Horse meat is very similar to steak. You can cook it as you would a steak.

Horse meat is very similar to beef, but it is leaner and has a courser texture.

You can cook it as you would a steak or eat it raw as a tartare.