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Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 1)


jhlurie

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Absurdly Stupid Question:  How long in advance can I mix up brownie batter?  Can I mix up the batter and then just add the leavening agent to the batter just before putting them in the pan?  I want them to be hot out of the oven when I serve them.  Am I just not thinking outside of the box?

A lot of brownie recipes don't have any added leavening like baking powder or soda. I would think that the batter could hold without much if anything happening to it. However, most recipes also say to cool brownies for a period of time before cutting them. There is a recipe in an Alice Mederich book where the brownies go into the freezer right after coming out of the oven. That one might work for your situation.

I've made an alice medrich recipe ( i got it from a fellow food blogger) that is amazing. The brownies go in a cold water bath as soon as they come out of the oven. ( not sure if its the same recipe you're talking about).

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I have a glass cooktop.  When we purchased it, they said no cast iron.  So my 60 year old skillet is now stored away. Can't I use it because it's so heavy that they're afraid you'll drop it and break the cooktop, or is there some kind of heat reaction that will harm the cooktop?  What about a wok; could I use a diffuser?  And my ancient glass double-boiler has a triangular wire thingy that I put on top of my former coil burner -- I assume I don't use it now, but will the glass be okay?  What about a cast iron tagine or something else that is coated.  Appliance booklets obviously weren't written with me in mind!

No cast iron on a glass cooktop? Oops... I don't remember reading that in my stove's booklet. No problems...yet.

Bridget Avila

My Blog

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Ok, I'll bite.  For what purpose would one blanch spinach?

one reason is it makes it wilt, and then you can easily squeeze all the moisture out so it doesn't ruin the spinach souffle i'm making tonight.... uh, yeah, anyway, i'm sure there's a more technical explanation for it, but if you tried to squeeze the water out of fresh spinach you wouldn't be able to get it all out.

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I have a glass cooktop.  When we purchased it, they said no cast iron.  So my 60 year old skillet is now stored away. Can't I use it because it's so heavy that they're afraid you'll drop it and break the cooktop, or is there some kind of heat reaction that will harm the cooktop?   What about a wok; could I use a diffuser?   And my ancient glass double-boiler has a triangular wire thingy that I put on top of my former coil burner -- I assume I don't use it now, but will the glass be okay?   What about a cast iron tagine or something else that is coated.   Appliance booklets obviously weren't written with me in mind!

No cast iron on a glass cooktop? Oops... I don't remember reading that in my stove's booklet. No problems...yet.

I don't have a glass cooktop, but if I recall correctly they warn against cast iron just because of the potential to either scratch the cooktop or drop the heavy pot and break the glass.

The triangular wire thingy should be all right if it doesn't hang outside the "burner" area and conduct heat to a surface that isn't designed for hot items. When I was investigating glass cooktops I was told that you shouldn't use a pot bigger than the prescribed area, because the metal would overheat the glass outside the burner ring. If, for instance, you have a 10" burner, I think the ring of protected glass around it is a 12" diameter. My 20" canning kettle was a clear no-no.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Since I like to have roast garlic puree on hand, I break up the head into individual, unpeeled cloves, put them in a baking dish with olive oil, and bake as already directed above until the cloves are lightly browned -- if they get too dark, they will end up burnt and bitter. I let them cool some, then dump the whole mess into a food mill. Drain off the oil (and of course save it in a jar in the fridge), then pass the garlic through the mill. The skins stay, and I end up with a lovely puree. Keeps quite well in the fridge, especially if I put some of the oil back on top to seal it.

I don't have the fun of squeezing the soft sweet garlic out of the cloves that way, but I've got it for whenever I need it.  :smile:

How long does it last in your fridge?

I do the same thing, except I store the roasted, unpeeled cloves in a container in the fridge. They keep practically indefinitely. I add a few sprigs of thyme to the cloves and oil, wrap them in aluminum foil, and bake. This way, I do get the joy of squeezing the garlic cream when I need them.

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise. --- Henry David Thoreau
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I don't know how stupid this question is, but here goes. Why does soaking fish in milk make it smell less fishy?

supposedly the protein in the milk absorbs some of the trimethylamine, which is what makes it smell fishy.
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...most recipes also say to cool brownies for a period of time before cutting them. There is a recipe in an Alice Mederich book where the brownies go into the freezer right after coming out of the oven. That one might work for your situation.

Eating a slice of just-out-of-the-oven brownies is an experience you shouldn't deny yourself. I vote nay on cooling the brownies.

I guess I missed it for the past 25 years of my cooking life...beat sugar...I thought I was buying cane sugar.  My refined sense of snobbery has me paying for the more expensive cane, but does it matter?

Sucrose=sucrose. The difference is believing the marketing trying to make you think one is better than the other. :cool:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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I guess I missed it for the past 25 years of my cooking life...beat sugar...I thought I was buying cane sugar.  My refined sense of snobbery has me paying for the more expensive cane, but does it matter?

Sucrose=sucrose. The difference is believing the marketing trying to make you think one is better than the other. :cool:

Ha, we might have to move this one to its own thread! I agree that sucrose = sucrose, but what about the trace compounds present with it? And no, I don't know if I can tell the difference; I haven't tried them side by side. But couldn't there be a difference, just as there's a difference between, oh, corn syrup and maple syrup? Or honeys from different flowers? (...shuffles off, mumbling, to consult McGee...)

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Sometimes raw chicken has yellow stuff on it -- what is it? I have always assumed it has something to do with oxidization. I also notice that, at our local grocery store, if one chicken has yellow stuff on it, all of them do. My partner thinks it's so gross that every time he sees any yellow stuff, he insists on not buying any chicken. I want to know if I'm being deprived of chicken for any good reason.

Can I say that I feel ridiculous asking this question?

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Sometimes raw chicken has yellow stuff on it -- what is it?  I have always assumed it has something to do with oxidization.  I also notice that, at our local grocery store, if one chicken has yellow stuff on it, all of them do. My partner thinks it's so gross that every time he sees any yellow stuff, he insists on not buying any chicken.  I want to know if I'm being deprived of chicken for any good reason.

Can I say that I feel ridiculous asking this question?

If you mean yellow skin or fat, it's the feed: corn! :smile:

btw thanks for the brownie advice - hot from oven, with ice cream. MMM.

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I guess I missed it for the past 25 years of my cooking life...beat sugar...I thought I was buying cane sugar.  My refined sense of snobbery has me paying for the more expensive cane, but does it matter?

Sucrose=sucrose. The difference is believing the marketing trying to make you think one is better than the other. :cool:

Ha, we might have to move this one to its own thread! I agree that sucrose = sucrose, but what about the trace compounds present with it? And no, I don't know if I can tell the difference; I haven't tried them side by side. But couldn't there be a difference, just as there's a difference between, oh, corn syrup and maple syrup? Or honeys from different flowers? (...shuffles off, mumbling, to consult McGee...)

Yes. I don't think the fleur de sel proprietors of the world would go about saying NaCl=NaCl.

Bridget Avila

My Blog

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Sugar debate...

I had heard that in its melted/dissolved form beet sugar was more granular/gritty. When I compare them side by side, the only difference I see is the fineness (beat sugar seems more powdering v. granular), making me wonder if the difference isn't the machining of the sugar.

But then, I also think the way the plant processes and the soil differences between where sugar grows and beats, all might make a flavor difference. I wonder if in their liquid or melted form there might be a taste difference.

I'll have to play more...

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I can't seem to find an answer to this specific question, so here goes. Last weekend I bought a chunk of gorgonzola, sweet soft gorgonzola, which was wrapped in gold foil and then plastic wrap. When I unwrapped it at home, there was a pinkish color mold over half of the cheese and it was very 'wet' in there. I seem to recall someone saying a mold of that color is very toxic, so I cut it off and worked around it. Mostly the color heebed me out and I didn't want to take a chance.

I expected blue and white cheese, not blue, white and slimy pink cheese, did I get a bad piece, or is this normal for the cheese? Thanks for any enlightenment.

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  I expected blue and white cheese, not blue, white and slimy pink cheese, did I get a bad piece, or is this normal for the cheese?  Thanks for any enlightenment.

NO! not normal! Slimy is not normal either. :blink:

Edited by annanstee (log)

The sea was angry that day my friends... like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

George Costanza

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I've made an alice medrich recipe ( i got it from a fellow food blogger) that is amazing.  The brownies go in a cold water bath as soon as they come out of the oven.  ( not sure if its the same recipe you're talking about).

The best brownies you can buy in the UK are from Borough Market in London where they put them straight into a blast freezer when they come out of the oven. Apparently the faster you cool them the "fudgier" they go.

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Okay, this is really, really basic but how do you properly use a turkey baster?

Last Thanksgiving, we'd taken the turkey out of the oven and my brother said he needed some of the juices for his Cajun Gravy that he makes every year.

Using potholders, I tipped the roasting pan slightly to one side so the juices would accumulate and he stuck a turkey baster in and sucked some into it. Because he wasn't close enough to his gravy pot (okay, okay, he should have moved his gravy pot right next to the roasting pan holding the turkey but the pot was only about two feet away so he figured he was close enough :hmmm: ), he sucked up enough juice and then tilted the baster, tip up, so nothing would drip out during the couple of steps that would take him to the gravy pot.

Instead, as he tipped it sucking end up, the air whooshed into the baster and out squirted hot turkey juice on to my arm holding the roasting pan.

He said he was using the baster properly, tilting the sucking end upward so nothing would drip out. I said he should have trusted the baster (and his squeezing grip on the bulb end) to hold the liquid safely inside the tube.

Granted, it was one of those cheap plastic basters with the rubber bulb at the top, but, assuming the seal of the bulb to the tube was working properly, I say as long as his grip maintained the partial vacuum on the bulb, it wouldn't have dripped if he kept the baster in its sucking position (sucking tip pointed downward).

So what is the proper use of a turkey baster? Trust the vacuum, or tilt the sucking point upward as you move the juice to another pot?

(Maybe I should have posted this in the "I will never again..." thread :raz: )

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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you need to keep the point down and trust the suction. just don't squeeze the bulb and you'll be fine. (unless it didn't suck well in the first place. in which case.... just use it quickly and often!)

it may dribble a bit, but it's not designed to take the liquid across the room. it's designed to move the liquid around within the pan, so if you are putting it in a cup, take the cup to the pan. once you've made the baster level, the liquid will slosh around, it gets clumsy and unpredictable, with air bubbles in the tube and whatnot.

i know this only because i used to play with the baster pretty often when i was a kid. i used it to add the water to my little scale models of venice. :wink:

Okay, this is really, really basic but how do you properly use a turkey baster?

Last Thanksgiving, we'd taken the turkey out of the oven and my brother said he needed some of the juices for his Cajun Gravy that he makes every year. 

Using potholders, I tipped the roasting pan slightly to one side so the juices would accumulate and he stuck a turkey baster in and sucked some into it. Because he wasn't close enough to his gravy pot (okay, okay, he should have moved his gravy pot right next to the roasting pan holding the turkey but the pot was only about two feet away so he figured he was close enough  :hmmm: ), he sucked up enough juice and then tilted the baster, tip up, so nothing would drip out during the couple of steps that would take him to the gravy pot.

Instead, as he tipped it sucking end up, the air whooshed into the baster and out squirted hot turkey juice on to my arm holding the roasting pan.

He said he was using the baster properly, tilting the sucking end upward so nothing would drip out.  I said he should have trusted the baster (and his squeezing grip on the bulb end) to hold the liquid safely inside the tube.

Granted, it was one of those cheap plastic basters with the rubber bulb at the top, but, assuming the seal of the bulb to the tube was working properly, I say as long as his grip maintained the partial vacuum on the bulb, it wouldn't have dripped if he kept the baster in its sucking position (sucking tip pointed downward).

So what is the proper use of a turkey baster? Trust the vacuum, or tilt the sucking point upward as you move the juice to another pot?

(Maybe I should have posted this in the "I will never again..." thread :raz: )

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What is the appropriate and safe way to heat plates at home? Do you just stick them in the oven at a low temperature?

I have both heavy-duty pottery plates and more delicate china with a platinum ring. and I'd hate to break either by getting a heat fracture.

Rebecca Hassell

Cookin' in Brookland

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