Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 2)

[TdeV]

1 hour ago, AlaMoi said:

as 'things' happen,,,, bread boxes can become overwhelmed with mold spores.

 

a thorough wash with bleach or strong vinegar will kill mold spores - you may have to repeat . . .

 

I have used @Alex's concentration of bleach and submerged the breadbox in a tall stock pot for half hour or so. We'll have to see if this increases the time before mould starts.

I find that just hanging out in the kitchen, the open end of fresh bread develops a hard surface, whereas in the breadbox, the bread stays soft. Until day 3 or 4 which is time for the toaster anyway.

 

 

Edited July 28 by TdeV
clarity (log)

[AlaMoi]

I find 'how fast' bread goes 'off' is mostly a factor of home made vs commercial stuff.

the commercial breads are spiked with preservatives / etc (don't know about psuedo stuff like Panera...)

and they last almost indefinitely.

otoh, home made loaves start to stale fairly quickly.  I used the plastic sleeve wrappers (from commercial loaves) to 'store' my home made, until the loaf is small enough to go in the glass domed thingy.  round loaves . . . go directly into the glass dome keeper....

[MaryIsobel]

I bought some orecchiette pasta from Amazon. The brand la Molisana, product of Italy. I could not find orecchiette pasta locally and there is a sausage and peas recipe that I wanted to try. In the recipe photo the bits of sausage and peas just nestled in the little ears. Yesterday my daughter and son-in-law came over and spent a few hours doing some chores that are difficult for me and impossible for my husband since he is currently in a wheelchair. I wanted to make them lunch without going to the store so thought I would use the pasta to make an antipasto type salad. Anyway.... boiled the pasta, which took about 12 minutes. The water very starchy, which would be great for pasta sauce. When I drained the pasta, a LOT of the little ears were nestled into each other; 2,3,4 or 5 at a time. My question is, is this normal for orecchiette pasta? I probably spent 15 minutes separating them. Since it was for pasta salad, I ran cold water over the pasta when I drained it - I could not have separated them when they were hot.

[TdeV]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:09 PM, AlaMoi said:

I find 'how fast' bread goes 'off' is mostly a factor of home made vs commercial stuff.

 

The bleach reset the bread box's ability to keep bread without mould.

[TdeV]

@MaryIsobel, I usually use olive oil to separate smaller pasta.

[MaryIsobel]

21 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@MaryIsobel, I usually use olive oil to separate smaller pasta.

In the cooking water? I never use oil because I find that the sauce doesn't stick (for hot pasta.) I did add the vinagarette to the pasta while it was stil a little warm but that didn't help with the separation issue.

[TdeV]

No. Pasta drained. Add a little olive oil, then toss pasta. For me, it separates nicely.

 

[Kerala]

I imagine if you tossed the sausage and peas with the pasta in the fat from cooking the sausage, it would all separate properly.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

When cooking any small pasta, I have found that adding it to the water slowly and then stirring like crazy for the first minute keeps it from sticking together.

[Alex]

I've never cooked orecchiette, but I'm all ears about what folks have to say about this problem.

 

I'm wondering how much and how vigorously you stirred it as it was cooking. Perhaps orecchiette needs more than the usual amount.

[Tropicalsenior]

Since I can no longer handle big pots of water, I probably cook mine in less water than most people do. Therefore, I Stir It vigorously for at least a minute and then periodically while it's cooking. I haven't had problems with any pasta sticking although I rarely cook orrechette because I seldom see it here.

Edited August 11 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[MaryIsobel]

My instinct was to stir it more than say, spaghetti or penne so I did but maybe not enough.

Edited August 11 by MaryIsobel (log)

[rotuts]

Ive cooked  orecchiette 

 

and I cook pasta in a lot less water than traditional .

 

much less water works fine.

 

Id say :

 

the pasta choice , your only option , was not good quality pasta 

 

or , you didn't srit enough initially , and later,  to keep the ' good quality ' sticking.'

 

if you use less water , and I do , you have to do the string , the boiling water usually does :

 

moves the pasta around, after an initial stir or so.

 

 

[AlaMoi]

in my experience small shapes - especially anything that may 'nest' - like shells - needs an immediate sitr-up when going into the boiling water. 

seems the starchiness likes to make it stick together - linguini and fettuccine is also prone to 'let's make a clump' -

but stuff like small/medium shells takes some additional attention.   heck, even large shells for 'stuffed pasta xxx' like to cuddle up . . .

[ElsieD]

Dumb question here.  What is the best way to cook beets?  No matter which way I do it, they always end up wrinkled and dry on the outside.

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Dumb question here.  What is the best way to cook beets?  No matter which way I do it, they always end up wrinkled and dry on the outside.

CSO is how Anna always cooked them. 

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

What is the best way to cook beets

I do mine in the IP. I steam them in a colander on a rack. I just cut off the top and the root and cut it in half. For a 300 G beet it takes 9 minutes. But, if you remember, mine is not a true IP it is a Chinese knockoff and maybe the timing would be different on yours.

[TdeV]

I do them in the Anova, Elsie. 213ºF, 100% steam, 37 minutes. Not tiny beetroot, but not humongous either. I peel them after they've steam roasted.

[Alex]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Dumb question here.  What is the best way to cook beets?  No matter which way I do it, they always end up wrinkled and dry on the outside.

 

I always oven roast at 400F, wrapped in foil (the beets, not me). Rinse, dry, rub with avocado or grapeseed oil, wrap. After they're done and have cooled a bit, they're easy to peel by rubbing with paper towels. 

[Okanagancook]

I do mine as @Alex does but i add some sliced garlic, thyme and olive oil to the foil parcel.

[MaryIsobel]

I am making 100 charcuterie cups for my daughter's wedding reception on October 12. I have the cups, which are about the size of a cardboard container of small fries or a small coffee. The came with a cellophane cover and a twist tie. We will make them up the night before (me and 5 other women) and refrigerate them for 24 hours. As a nod to their fall theme, I would like to do a couple of apple slices in each cup. Is there a surefire way to keep the apples from browning for 24 hours? I usually do the salt water rinse, but never to hold them for 24 hours. It worked fine for 8 hours. I realize it depends on the kind of apples too so advice on that would be helpful as well!

[haresfur]

3 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

I am making 100 charcuterie cups for my daughter's wedding reception on October 12. I have the cups, which are about the size of a cardboard container of small fries or a small coffee. The came with a cellophane cover and a twist tie. We will make them up the night before (me and 5 other women) and refrigerate them for 24 hours. As a nod to their fall theme, I would like to do a couple of apple slices in each cup. Is there a surefire way to keep the apples from browning for 24 hours? I usually do the salt water rinse, but never to hold them for 24 hours. It worked fine for 8 hours. I realize it depends on the kind of apples too so advice on that would be helpful as well!

 

When drying apple slices I would dip them in orange juice to keep from browning

[TdeV]

Do you have any citric acid available, @MaryIsobel?

[TdeV]

 

I made these for a recent outdoor picnic event. Though they look like whipped cream, they were made with goat cheese, cream and granulated roasted garlic and were whipped up with the Bamix. They were airy and dissolved on the tongue. Quite fun.

 

Tomorrow I have another such event but I'm due to make pizza. Is there any way I could make a light whip similar to the above for the pizza topping, or would it just melt in the heat?

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

Do you have any citric acid available, @MaryIsobel?

I have a jar of Fruit Fresh which is probably 10 years old...