Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 2)

[jimb0]

most cornbreads are quick breads; imo the dish it's cooked in has more to do with what form factor you want than really affecting the bake (doing it in a hot cast iron with melted butter gives a nice crunchy crust, though). i often use mix-ins when i want something different (i make a lot of cornbread). i like adding jalapenos to a slightly sweeter cornbread, mostly because i really enjoy the combo of sweet+hot.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Our local food store sells a jalapeño corn bread.

If your heart is set on cornbread then this will not be of value to you. When the borders were open and I could travel I would often pick up a loaf of jalapeño cheese bread from Wegmans for my son-in-law.  I then began simply adding chopped, pickled jalapeños to my own cheese bread recipe. I’m not suggesting it’s the same as cornbread but is very good and just another alternate way of incorporating jalapeños into bread. 

[jimb0]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

If your heart is set on cornbread then this will not be of value to you. When the borders were open and I could travel I would often pick up a loaf of jalapeño cheese bread from Wegmans for my son-in-law.  I then began simply adding chopped, pickled jalapeños to my own cheese bread recipe. I’m not suggesting it’s the same as cornbread but is very good and just another alternate way of incorporating jalapeños into bread. 

 

oh man i love jalapeno cheese bread. definitely it's own thing but totally good

[TdeV]

I made mayonnaise this afternoon; it's better than the last time I tried to make it, but still a bit wonky. I told DH he had to use it up! 🤣

 

But, I decided late that I wanted to make mayonnaise, and so I fussed all afternoon because the egg was cold for a very long time.

 

So, in future, can I take an egg out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for 24 hours?

[Anna N]

20 minutes ago, TdeV said:

So, in future, can I take an egg out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for 24 hours?

You could but it isn’t really necessary. Two minute mayonnaise.

[haresfur]

29 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I made mayonnaise this afternoon; it's better than the last time I tried to make it, but still a bit wonky. I told DH he had to use it up! 🤣

 

But, I decided late that I wanted to make mayonnaise, and so I fussed all afternoon because the egg was cold for a very long time.

 

So, in future, can I take an egg out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for 24 hours?

 

Grocery stores here don't refrigerate eggs and we just keep them on the counter at home. Fridge space is too precious. I have heard that there is some difference if they are washed or not but the eggs here seem like they might be cleaned since even the free-range ones in the grocery store don't have any muck on them.

[Toliver]

51 minutes ago, TdeV said:

So, in future, can I take an egg out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for 24 hours?

 

19 minutes ago, haresfur said:

I have heard that there is some difference if they are washed or not but the eggs here seem like they might be cleaned since even the free-range ones in the grocery store don't have any muck on them.

In the United States, the eggs are washed, which washes away the protective coating, before selling  the eggs in stores. If you're in the U.S., your egg needs to be refrigerated.

 

edited to add: If you're saying you've taken the egg out of the refrigerator and it's still too cold after 2 hours, have you tried cracking the egg into a small bowl/dish and let that sit out? Two hours would be the food-safety maximum. But I would think the bowl would, through heat exchange, bring the temperature of the egg up to a useable degree.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Toliver (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

I've used the two-minute method for years and it never fails me. But not everyone has an immersion blender. The matter of the room temperature Egg couldn't be simpler. Just said put them in warm water for about 20 minutes and you have room temperature eggs.

[Toliver]

An absurdly stupid question about this display of fully cooked packaged bacon:

 

Why aren't these packages being refrigerated?

I took this photo at a local VONS grocery store and have seen the same sort of non-refrigerated display of fully cooked bacon at the local Walmart Grocery store.

Just because they're boxes of fully cooked bacon doesn't mean they can just sit on a store shelf at room temperature, can it?

It's cooked bacon.

Won't it go bad without being refrigerated?

It's not like the bacon is hermetically sealed inside either, or vacuum-packed. I've seen my sister-in-law open a package of Oscar Meyer Fully Cooked Bacon and the bacon isn't in air-tight packaging.

What's going on here?

[rotuts]

well

 

TJ's has shelf stable fully cooked

 

dahl and the like

 

vac packed shelf stable tortellini 

 

and olives w herbs.

 

I think Radiation might be involved.

 

or what ever else gets the few items ive seen

 

TJ's

 

( I dont get out that much these days )

 

its all Delicious Food for Bugs 

[rotuts]

I tried one of the shelf stable tortellini a while back

 

you did need to cook it

 

but w the right Amendments

 

similar to the refrigerated items

 

it was fine

 

cooking time might have been different.

 

not the same of course

 

from a tortellini meal

 

made in a small , pleasant town in Italy

 

 

near the Coast

 

w  gentle Sea Breeze

 

the you could walk to 

 

none near me , so there it is.

[lemniscate]

12 hours ago, Toliver said:

An absurdly stupid question about this display of fully cooked packaged bacon:

 

Why aren't these packages being refrigerated?

I took this photo at a local VONS grocery store and have seen the same sort of non-refrigerated display of fully cooked bacon at the local Walmart Grocery store.

Just because they're boxes of fully cooked bacon doesn't mean they can just sit on a store shelf at room temperature, can it?

It's cooked bacon.

Won't it go bad without being refrigerated?

It's not like the bacon is hermetically sealed inside either, or vacuum-packed. I've seen my sister-in-law open a package of Oscar Meyer Fully Cooked Bacon and the bacon isn't in air-tight packaging.

What's going on here?

 

From USDA website:

To make bacon safe to store at room temperature (shelf stable), it is precooked in the plant to have a water activity at or below 0.85 to control Staphylococcus aureus. The cooked yield is 40% of the raw weight.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/meat/bacon-and-food-safety

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

44 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

 

From USDA website:

To make bacon safe to store at room temperature (shelf stable), it is precooked in the plant to have a water activity at or below 0.85 to control Staphylococcus aureus. The cooked yield is 40% of the raw weight.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/meat/bacon-and-food-safety

 

 

Who ever wrote the header for that USDA link is clearly a foodie!

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Who ever wrote the header for that USDA link is clearly a foodie!

Who knew that the USDA could wax poetic? Wow!

[haresfur]

On 3/20/2021 at 10:59 AM, Toliver said:

 

In the United States, the eggs are washed, which washes away the protective coating, before selling  the eggs in stores. If you're in the U.S., your egg needs to be refrigerated.

 

edited to add: If you're saying you've taken the egg out of the refrigerator and it's still too cold after 2 hours, have you tried cracking the egg into a small bowl/dish and let that sit out? Two hours would be the food-safety maximum. But I would think the bowl would, through heat exchange, bring the temperature of the egg up to a useable degree.

 

I'm saying that eggs here certainly seem washed and they aren't refrigerated in stores or usually in people's homes. So maybe the washed vs unwashed thing is a myth and Americans are overly cautious.

[AlaMoi]

hardly a myth thing.

the chicken puts a coating on the outside of the shell - called the cuticle.

the process of washing/rinsing/inspection washes that away.

leaving the shell 'porous' whereby in theory bacteria can get thru the shell.

some producers re-coat the egg with mineral oil.

 

the problem is that USA does not require laying hens be vaccinated against salmonella.

many other countries do.

but our government prefers to make the most stupid decisions possible - and require refrigeration from chicken to pan.

economically it is way seriously less expensive to vaccinate the hen than run all those refrigeration units - but heh, USA is energy independent, right?

 

[TdeV]

How does one make sure that scallops have had all the grit removed (before grilling)???

[heidih]

10 minutes ago, TdeV said:

How does one make sure that scallops have had all the grit removed (before grilling)???

Scallops?!  At least in the US generally they are shelled at sea and rinsed so by sale they are baby clean. Mussels and clams different process. What have you experienced grit wise? I love them and have never experienced grit.

[TdeV]

These weren't. Not the first time. Don't remember if they came from the same place as I last noticed the grit.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

56 minutes ago, TdeV said:

These weren't. Not the first time. Don't remember if they came from the same place as I last noticed the grit.

 

Seldom I treat myself to scallops but I never remember grit from scallops.  I was about to ask of grit in clams.  I have two dozen littlenecks in the refrigerator.  The last batch I got from Citarella were a little sandy.

 

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Seldom I treat myself to scallops but I never remember grit from scallops. 

Cannot get my head around gritty scallops. 

[weinoo]

Scallops - rinse them off once out of the shell.

 

clams - I like to soak in a bowl of cold, sea-salted water barely to cover, for an hour or two.  Some use cornmeal. 
 

I once shucked 240 diver scallops for an event. You wouldn’t believe the stuff inside the shells. 

[Anna N]

16 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I once shucked 240 diver scallops for an event. You wouldn’t believe the stuff inside the shells. 

Never been quite so lucky as to have scallops that fresh! Guess we need to know more about the source of @TdeV scallops. 

[weinoo]

This was my prep station...

 

 

Downstairs at Aquavit (the groundbreaking Nordic restaurant here in NYC), at the time helmed by the great chef Marcus Jernmark, currently of Frantzén in Stockholm.  See all those little anchovy like fish at the bottom left? They were the least of what was inside these day-boat diver scallops, dived off the coast of Maine. There were also all sorts of little crabs, so a little grit was par for the course.

 

They got rinsed.

[SLB]

I don't know if this query is absurdly, stupidly basic; but I am embarrassed about the lapse which is reflected in my having to ask.

 

How long can I keep un-rendered beef fat (suet) in the refrigerator.  It was previously frozen, but I did not have room to put it into my freezer with the actual beef.  I haven't gotten around to dealing with the rendering, and it's been exactly two weeks. 

 

Toss??? 

Edited May 29, 2021 by SLB (log)