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Apple cider braised turkey thighs have been on my menu for several years, although I only make the dish about once, maybe twice, a year. While flavorful, the thighs always seem to be a little stringy and somewhat chewy. I've tried adjusting time/temp a bit, and the results have all been about the same. Adjustments have been small. I've no issues with other braises ... chicken, beef, pork ... so I'm doing something wrong or there's an problem inherent with turkey thighs and a cider braise. If it's helpful to know, there is some apple cider vinegar in the braising liquid as well as some apple slices. So, any thoughts of what can be done to troubleshoot this dish?

In another thread, one of our members @scott123 said that he is looking for a Chinese pickle jar. Similar to this: Or this: Since we have a lot of members in the New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia area, I thought someone might be able to help him out. My little Chinese restaurant supply has a whole range of different types and sizes but unless he is planning to take a vacation to Costa Rica soon, that doesn't help a bit.

I have a question regarding the candy thermometer shown in the photos. You can see the red fluid line separates at the top, which has made finding an accurate reading difficult. Additionally, when I purchased the thermometer, it was fairly calibrated. Now, it needs to be calibrated by over ten degrees, I find I have to pull the glass tubing just about nearly to the top, with little room to spare. Given that context, is the thermometer broken and worth replacing? My assumption is the thermometer will continue to require to be pushed up indefinitely, but it's already out of space. I'm likewise curious if the gap in the temperature reading fluid means the thermometer is broken.

It's been a couple years, but Trader Joes used to carry Locatelli Pecorino Romano. 7 bucks a pound, and potent AF. Then they switched to private label. I think it's still imported, and the price is right, but the wedge I tried had no umph whatsoever. After that, it's no more private label for me. Locatelli or bust. I'm having an especially hard time finding a good price in Northern NJ. Aldi - doesn't carry it Shoprite - $16/lb Wegmans - only private label Uncle Giuseppe's - $15/lb Costco has it for $10/lb, but, it's a 2 lb. block. I don't go through it that quickly, and, while it keeps well in a glass jar, I don't have a jar that size, and, even if I did, I just can't afford that much space in the fridge. When it comes to finding the best price on food, I'm normally in my comfort zone, but, this is really kicking my butt.

OK, my mother, and father They LOVED Shrimp, They LOVED Lobster. And they can't touch them anymore. Yes, some years back, Mom got severely sick after eating a plate of shrimp. Her doctor revealed she is allergic to shellfish. Dad is allergic to fish in general, denying him the right to enjoy his favorite Fish Spread whenever we go down to St. Pete Beach. I want to surprise them with something similar enough to the stuff they loved, the texture, the seasoning (Old Bay?), something that can bring back a bit of that feeling, with none of the potential for swelling up and going to the hospital. What can I do?

Host's note: this was split from the I Will Never Again...(Part 4) topic. If I knew what I had done, you can bet I've never do it again. I've made only gluten-free bread before this in this Breadman machine with no problems. This time I was making a Challah, which I've made many times before in my old machine, a Regal, probably circa 1996, which I bought for $5 in a Moab second-hand store. I don't have the attribution of the recipe, but I have a feeling I found it either on eGullet or through a connection to eGullet. What I did wrong...I have no idea. None. Not a one. At least it's good for a laugh. Added: It still tastes good.

I live in Japan and I've started on Japanese cooking. I'm one of those people who likes to know why certain things are done and those answers aren't in any of the cooking blogs or books I've come across. For example, why cook black beans for eight or more hours in sugar? Around new years there's a very popular dish of sweetened black beans. I know the goal is to cook them so the skins don't burst, but up to half a day? What's more, most recipes add some of the sugar at the beginning. Were it rice, it would never cook. Does putting the sugar in the beans from the beginning slow the cooking? Does a prolonged cooking partially candy the beans? I'd really like to know, because I made a dish with Azuki beans the other day (zen-zai) and to keep the skins from bursting I cooked the soaked beans for over two hours before adding the sugar and some of the beans did burst. For reference, the recipes I followed flowed like this: 1) Soak the beans over night, change the water. 2) Bring to a boil with a bit of salt or soy sauce and some amount of sugar. 3) Reduce the heat to barely a simmer with a piece of parchment over the surface and let it boil until they're just tender -- at least eight hours. 4) Add 1/3 the amount of the remaining sugar, cook for another half an hour. Repeat. Repeat. 5) Add a bit more soy sauce. Done.

I'm frustrated! The restaurant kitchen has two gas convection ovens, a Wolf with a 6-burner top and a Viking with a French flat top top. The Wolf has long been the pastry oven and I've baked approximately a zillion things in it, including a few thousand French macarons. Unfortunately the Wolf has been out of commission and I'm left with the Viking. The cream puffs, brownies, and shortbread have been baking fine, but I've had two batches of French macaron with really poor foot development and some cracking on top. I made a batch today and gave at least a third of the shells to staff because of poor rise. I don't think I rushed the drying, they seemed appropriately skinned-over before baking. It's a nice sunny day and I've made plenty of macarons in the rain so I don't think it's the weather. The Viking seems like a moister heat when I open the oven, is it possible that one make of oven would create a more humid heat, or have I simply lost my macaron mojo? Help!

Hello, recently I tried to make filo pastry/ puff pastry sheets at home and tried with margarine and butter and they came out ok. I see these small unorganized bakeries near my house and they make stuffed puff pastry. To save cost I am sure they do not use butter ad also when I eat them, I cannot taste butter. I too want to try at home the same procedure but have no idea what they use. Can I try to make puff pastry sheets with oil, will it work. Pleas guide as to what all I can use Thanx

The freezing liquid in the bowl of my Cuisinart 2 quart ice cream maker no longer freezes. It's about 20 years old; is this the inevitable destiny of all such freezing liquids? Everything else in my freezer is as hard as granite :o)

I want to leave my sourdough (itself, not baked loaves of sourdough bread) for a while (going abroad) but I do not want it to die, can I leave it in the freezer? do you have other ideas?

Greetings, I've cooked several recipes from Keller's "Bouchon" the last couple of weeks, and have loved them all! At the moment (as in right this minute) I'm making the boeuf Bourguignon, and am a little confused about the red wine reduction. After reducing the wine, herbs, and veg for nearly an hour now, I'm nowhere near the consistancy of a glaze that Keller specifies. In fact, it looks mostly like the veg is on the receiving end of most of it. Is this how the recipe is meant to be? Can anybody tell me what kind of yield is expected? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, kindly.

So I've been looking for the ultimate matcha brownies (technically blondies but it just doesn't have the same ring to it). I've made chewy and fudgy regular brownies, but I find white chocolate based blondies to be much trickier. I have made a few matcha brownie recipes in the past, but they all came out sad and cakey. So I have taken it upon myself to come up with my own recipe. My matcha brownies came out very moist and "fudgy" but not chewy. I'm thinking next time I should try using vegetable oil instead of butter and only dark brown sugar.

Wouldn't you know it! We have a family wedding in a couple of weeks, and I've had a misfortune in the basement adding some extra humidity to the air. It won't be fixed before next weekend, which is when I need to have everything finished. Adding to the problem is a lot of rain. I made a batch of pizzelle, and within hours, they were soft. Since I don't want to have to redo again, does anyone know what the optimal percent of humidity should be in the air when baking cookies that need to stay crispy? I'm looking for an actual number, such as 40%, 30%, etc. If I need to get another dehumidifier, I will. Thanks in advance! AG

What is the best way to execute tamales as an appetizer in a restaurant? I'm looking at 7-10 minute ticket time. I can only think of pre-steaming the tamales and steaming or simmering in sauce to order. Does anyone have any experience with these in the professional kitchen?

Does anyone know if using a high-protein flour, rather than AP flour, in a quickbread formula could create a gummy texture as a result of the protein slightly developing as it absorbs water? I was attempting to reduce water activity in the formula by using flour with 14% protein rather than 8-10% protein. Am I out in left field on this one?

I made my fifth ever batch of chocolate over the weekend, a 45% milk chocolate. I did the usual warming of everything, and the batch started off without a hitch. After running 24 hours I got ready to cool the chocolate to temper, and the stone seemed awfully hot. Sure enough the chocolate was 147 degrees F. Normally it comes out at around 120. The chocolate seemed kind of thick, but this is my first batch as low as 45%, so not sure if that’s normal. The chocolate tempered just fine, and tastes fine for have gotten so hot. I’m wondering if I got a minuscule amount of water in the batch? I’m not sure how that would have happened, though thinking of everything ad nauseum I can think of possibilities. The ingredients themselves are all ones I’ve used before without issue, though first time with the roasted nibs, but they came from the same reliable source as all my other nibs. Just curious if anyone else has seen this happen.

Hi, I need to make portions of exactly 12g (=0.423oz) of truffle ganache. These truffles will be packed in a cardboard box with the total weight written on the package - so I cannot mess up... What solutions do you have to control the weight of the ganache for truffles? I tried to measure them on the scale but it's time consuming and not very reliable... I bought a silicone mould - the cavities are too small and the ganache seems to stick to the mould. Have you tried to make your own shells for truffles? It's not very clear how many cm in the mould will translate in how many grams in the product.... any suggestion will be appreciated.

I've had an idea flowing across my brain waves over the last few months. It's on every channel and I'm getting ready to pull the trigger. I'd like to try to braise a dish in my smoker. I am thinking of braising a rabbit, but the I'm not looking for guidance on the protein/ingredients, rather the technique. I turn to you, o internet, in hope you will tell me your secrets. Has anyone ever braised in their smoker before? I've done some research, but I haven't seen much on the "how to" for the technique. Here's my plan: - Brown the rabbits on skillet (stovetop) - Get the aromatics/other stuffz sweated browned, etc. - (MEANWHILE) Smoker heats up to 300-325 degrees. - Add stock to rabbit, bring to a simmer on the stove top. - Transfer to smoker, braise uncovered for 1-2 hours, then cover with foil to finish for as long as necessary. I've seen folks smoke and then braise, but I haven't seen much on the idea of braising something IN the smoker. I saw something on CookingwithMe.at about doing something similar with pork belly, but that's about it. All I know is that after using stock+drippings from a smoked turkey created this CRAZY MIND-BLOWING flavor, so I'm basing this a lot off that idea. -Franz

I've looked, but the search engine and I don't get on. I followed this recipe http://vst.to/SvrsUMj the result is dry and crumbly. Top notch ingredients went into the mix. I've only cut off a small piece to try it. Any ideas ? Thanks from a novice brownie baker....

FOOD BRETHREN! I need some advice. I have one last piece of pork belly confit in the fridge. I brined these bad boys for about 5 days (brine included pink curing salt), vacuum sealed the squares of pork belly with lard and sous vide them at 158 F for 16 hours. I cooked this on 11/10/16 and its been in my refrigerator since. Here is the general recipe I followed, with some modifications based on my taste: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/... The last piece is still vacuum sealed and submerged (mostly) in lard. Any visible pork only has contact with the bag. It's staring at me. And calling my name. I want to deep fry this sucker and have a little date night with the handsome devil I see in the mirror every morning, but the last thing I want is spoiled food. I can't find any conclusive information about how long pork confit lasts for. I've only seen references that duck confit or in general that the confit technique will last for months in the fridge. I have found no sources which directly addresses pork confit. Questions/Factors I'm Considering: - Does pork confit keep for as long as duck confit? - Does vacuum sealing have any effect on the length of preservation? - Does sous-vide cooking method affect the length of preservation? I know I am probably being a bit paranoid, but I thought I would do my due diligence before taking the plunge, so to speak. Any advice on these questions would be extremely helpful and appreciated! The Franzisaurus-Rex PS - you should totally make this if you are into sous vide, confit, food, or have any respect for the enjoyment of life. Flash-searing these things after cooking was OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Last week I wanted to try a recipe (for the first time) from a cookbook I've had for over 20 years. So I did just as the recipe instructed, even though after reading the recipe I felt like it wouldn't work properly - as it was written. But dutifully, I followed the many steps. The damn recipe took hours (fortunately, there was no rush), and when it was finally finished, it pretty much sucked. As a matter of fact, I didn't even give a taste to Significant Eater. Of course I should've known better, but I wanted to give the written instructions their shot. And then I thought of this video/essay from Jacques. Which is really what a "recipe" is about in a nutshell. http://www.pbs.org/video/2365717095/

I was just wondering if it would still be safe to make Turkey Soup from a turkey carcass that is 12 days old. The carcass is in a stainless steel pot in a commercial fridge. I sort of forgot about it, as it was in our second fridge.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone on here has tried using an induction cooktop with confection making (caramels, fondant, marshmallows ect...). My stove has literally three settings, and the low setting still burns sugar and there is no such thing as maintaining any sort of "simmer". I was looking into getting a cooktop and buying some copper sugar pots and mauviel makes this thing that goes inbetween. I would love to hear any input into this idea or your experiences! ~Sarah

I am a Baker and Cake Decorator in India. India has a huge Vegetarian Population that does not even eat eggs/gelatin. So I am constantly looking at finding vegetarian options. Issue at Hand: Regular Butter Cream - American Butter Cream ( Icing Sugar 10X + Butter + Milk/Lemon Juice / Cream) is an option ..and a lot of decorators use this as it sets hard, and they also add shortening into it ..and I am like , Nope I can't eat that , much less serve it. Its too Sweet /Gritty and Crusts and just tasteless. It has also made sure that people in my country to completely throw out any butter cream cake . You say Butter Cream and they say - too Sweet/gritty. I have been successful in the last two years to break that impression by making European Meringue based butter cream - I love Swiss Meringue Butter Cream . It is smooth, just sweet enough , takes colour well, pipes well , and is mostly temperature stable. But I can't serve it to people who don't eat eggs. I have so far been making a substitute - Ermine/Rue/Cooked Butter Cream - a Flour + Milk+ Sugar custard (AKA Pastry Cream minus the eggs) and whipping butter into it. It tastes good - people like it ..nut its a misery to work with - will not hold shape , will not colour well , and most of all weeps and weeps some more when we chill the cakes. So I am looking for suggestions on finding a starch that will not weep when frozen in a custard? And my second approach is to move to Aqua Faba to build the meringue and make SMBC. The starch custard option is easy and economical and does not leave me with mountains of Chickpeas . would love to hear thoughts . Thanks