Hello, as the title states I am looking to get some Food Grade Lye in the UK but I can't find anything that states it is, which isn't stupidly expensive.

This all stems from me wanting to make some pretzels.

After looking the best option I have found is the following
https://expresschems.co.uk/products/caustic-soda?variant=40799304614087

However, although it states "Food processing (such as peeling fruits and making pretzels)" as a common use, it doesn't explicitly state it is "Food Grade" and I would like a second opinion that it;s fine, before I end up going and poisoning myself... or worse

I frequently chop up vegetables (usually some combo of carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, mushroom, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, etc) before spraying them with olive oil and seasoning them with salt and pepper along with chicken salt, garlic powder and Moroccan seasoning. I was thinking of trying to prep them in advance for cooking since I often work quite late, and it would be nice to be able to just chuck them in the air fryer when I get home at close to 10pm rather than going through the prep.

How much can I do in advance? Will the vegetables last for a solid week? Would the seasoning help with that? I expect the oil would solidify in the fridge, but would that be a problem if the air fryer just melts it again? Or should I just save the oil and seasoning for right before cooking? What do you think is the best way of going about this?

followed recipe for Chilean bass and part of it was making a butter lemon caper sauce so I followed that by mixing the butter with lemon juice and capers as instructed and it came out like this lol. I’m still gonna eat it but I’m just curious what caused this reaction

recipe:

https://www.maryswholelife.com/pan-seared-chilean-sea-bass-with-lemon-caper-butter/

photo of butter:

https://imgur.com/a/JdVYvYX

Hello. I've spatchcocked my fair share of birds, but I recently started removing the keel bones from whole chickens after watching Alton Brown do it in a video. I just finished applying what I learned to a turkey, but I wanted to double check with people more knowledgeable than me about if removing the keel bone will drastically affect cook times and where to set oven temperature.

I'm working with a 16 lb/7.25 kilo bird and I do have an wired probe thermometer so I'm not concerned about missing any internal temperature targets.

I quite often make a yoghurt based fruit smoothie. Frozen mixed berries, milk and yoghurt( sometimes either or if the fridge is empty), usually honey and lemon juice. I’ve noticed that if I add protein powder - I use chocolate but doubt that’s relevant- and keep it in a container, it gains this airy and fizzy texture, I know yoghurt is quite an active food with lots of healthy bacteria but wondering what could be causing this as I haven’t seen it in any other foods. Even mixing yoghurt with citrus in many other situations

I need some help with using this stove in Asia with 2 wok burners and 1 medium burner.. I had been cooking on induction and a different gas stove before when I was living in Canada, and never really had any issues with controlling heat until this setup that we recently got.

I realized the heat has been really high even when I have the middle burner on the lowest setting - garlic burning, 3-ply stainless steel pan heating up really fast (in seconds) and smoking. I used to be able to cook eggs SS before but they overcook now.

I was going to get a diffuser to see if it works but the symbols on the bottom are concerning as 1 of them look like it says no diffuser? This could be due to the tempered glass cooktop. I think we messed up getting a hob with 2 wok burners, but the middle burner is technically not for woks so it should still be good.

Any ideas on how I can make this stove work? A taller gas stove bracket is the only thing that I can think of. I'm not opposed to getting a new gas hob.

Hello,

I've looked around and can't seem to find the solution for this stain. I have included a picture.

I tried the Bar Keeper's Friend, but no luck. Any help is appreciated.

All-Clad Stains

So what I did was
368 gm flour (that's all i had left)
166 ml water (45%)
16 gm salt (4.5%)

I dissolved the salt in water first then added the salt water gradually to the dough

Knead for 5 mins then let it rest for 30 then another knead for 5 mins then i left it in the fridge for 1.5 day

I didnt knead much overall and i just used standard kneading method. So pressing the dough with the palm of my hand and folding it over itself

Got it out of the fridge and let it sit for 2 hours cuz it was too cold, then the dough was easy to play with. I didnt knead it again I just went straight to rolling it out

I used corn starch for it to not stick.

Rolled them a bit thick because i like the noodles on the thicker side, and i'm afraid to make it thin it will turn out like fettuccine flat pasta.

So i tried to cook them for 12 min they were mushy from outside and raw from inside

Then another patch cooked for 16 min it got firm from outside but still raw from inside

Another patch for 18-19 min still raw from inside

Then tried for over 22 mins it got mushy

What did i do wrong?

I'm making baked shells from a cookbook and the recipe's instructions are to stuff the uncooked shells and then cook them in a gallon of simmering water until al dente. Afterwards you transfer them to a baking tray and finish cooking them in the oven. I've never made stuffed shells before but I thought that I would be par-boiling the shells then stuffing them and transferring them to a baking tray.

I've googled other recipes and can't find another that uses this method. I want to follow the recipe in the cook book but I'm afraid that cooking the shells this way will just cause the filling to spill out into the water. Has anyone made stuffed shells like this?

I apologize, this is a long post and I know this is a stupid question, but I’m really struggling to get a consistent/accurate temperature when I cook chicken breast.

I’m cooking chicken breast right now (in the oven on a sheet tray at 350 degrees) and one piece got don’t before the other ones. I inserted the probe at the thickest part of the chicken breast and the temperature read 165 (this took maybe 40ish minutes), so I pulled it off. The rest were reading at about 140, so I put them back in.

I put the rest of the chicken back in the oven to continue cooking (for 10 minutes) and when I pulled them out and inserted the thermometer again, the temperature was 160 (I know technically I could pull at this point and let it carry over cook, but with how inconsistent my temperature readings are, I’m too paranoid to do that).

I put it back in the oven again for maybe another 5 minutes and the temperature on both were down to 140.

I’ve had multiple thermometers and have always had this issue, so I’m definitely the problem.

Now I’m questioning on whether the chicken breast that gone done first, was actually done. It looked done in the middle. No pink and tender. I made a quesadilla with it, so it was heated on the stove after being taken out of the oven.

See the imgur link for the symbols in question: https://imgur.com/a/P2lsiap

I understand the one, two, and three stars in the Michelin Guide website. But what I don't understand: Why do some restaurants listed have no symbol at all, and some have the tire mascot symbol?

Additionally, what are the general differences between one, two, and three starred restaurants? And where does James Beard fit into all this?

Thanks in advance.

I am going to a Lions game with my brother tomorrow. He typically had me cook food for the tailgate when I go with him once a year. He's ben watching the Bear and wants Sydney's cola braised short ribs. Right now I finished the braise and have the ribs and the juice in the cooler. I need to take the fat off the juice, reduce it and fortify it with butter. I will have 1 burner at the tailgate. I will be finishing risotto on that burner. Plan on holding the ribs hot for the trip. Can I make the reduction, finish it and cool it tonight, then vacuum seal the reduction and the ribs, throw them in a hot water bath and take them like that or will it break the sauce? Is there a better way?

Recipe

Salt the short ribs, brown in oil on all sides. Remove.

Add chopped carrots, onion and celery to oil season with salt and pepper.. Cook until they begin to soften. Add chopped garlic and tomato paste. Cook, stirring until fragrant. Add red wine, bring to boil, add cola and beef broth. Bring to boil. Lower to medium low. Add the beef. Add a bundle of thyme and parsley. Cover. Move to 325 oven for 2 hours. Uncover, cook for another 45 minutes in the oven. Remove beef. Set aside. Strain solids. Cool the liquid. Strain the fat. Reduce the liquid, finish with butter and vinegar.

Long story short: will a hot water bath to reheat break a sauce like this or will it be fine? Do I need to finish the sauce on site?

I live in Malaysia, which is why some of the ingredients have Malay names. Lately I've been cooking a lot of Asian dishes that use small whole spices, and I fish them out when the cooking is done. That's a pain, especially when the sauce is dark.

What do other people do to get them out?

I've thought about a spice bag (like a tea bag), but the spices usually need a quick fry first to get fragrant. Biting into a soft clove is one thing, but a soft piece of star anise is flavour overload for me.

This recipe is my home-grown take on a dish I tried at a restaurant in Langkawi. This one is pork. I've made a beef version before and had the same problem. Photo attached.

Cika Pork (Sweet and Sour Black Pork, Shoulder)

Pork shoulder braised in a thin, glossy, near-black sauce of dark soy, tamarind and vinegar, with a red chilli oil rim. Strongly sweet and sharply sour.

Serves 4 | Prep 20 min | Cook 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients

Pork

• 600 g pork shoulder (boston butt or collar), cut into 3 to 4 cm cubes, excess fat trimmed

Blended paste

• 8 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 cm ginger
• 2 tbsp water, to help it blend

Whole spices

• 1 cinnamon stick, about 5 cm
• 2 star anise
• 3 cloves

Sauce

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 tbsp cili boh (dried chilli paste)
• 4 tbsp thick dark soy sauce (kicap pekat)
• 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
• 1 tbsp tamarind pulp, mixed with 120 ml water and strained
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar, plus more to taste
• 1 1/2 tbsp palm sugar (gula melaka) or brown sugar, plus more to taste
• 500 ml water
• 1/2 tsp salt, to taste

To serve

• Coriander leaves
• 1 stalk spring onion, cut long
• Lime or lemon wedges
• Whole green chillies
• Hot steamed rice

Method

1. Prep. Blend the shallots, garlic and ginger with 2 tbsp water to a smooth paste. Pat the pork dry.
2. Brown the pork. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a heavy pot over high heat. Brown the pork in two batches, about 2 to 3 minutes a side, then lift it out onto a plate.
3. Fry the paste. Lower the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Fry the cinnamon, star anise and cloves for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the blended paste and fry 5 minutes, stirring, until it smells sweet and is lightly golden. Add the cili boh and fry another 5 to 7 minutes until the oil turns red and separates from the paste.
4. Braise. Return the pork and its juices. Add both soy sauces, the tamarind water and 500 ml water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then, until the pork is fork-tender. Skim the fat from the surface. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick; the sauce should stay thin and glossy.
5. Sweet and sour. Uncover, stir in the sugar and vinegar, and simmer 10 minutes more. Taste and adjust with more vinegar, sugar or salt. Fish out the whole spices if you like.
6. Serve. Ladle into a shallow bowl so the red oil pools at the edge. Top with coriander and spring onion, add a lime wedge and green chillies on the side, and serve with hot rice.

For a milk-based white sauce using 30 g butter, 30 g flour and 500 ml milk, should a ghee substitution use the same 30 g of fat, or a smaller amount? Since ghee has much less water than butter, I'm unsure whether equal weights would leave the roux too oily. Does that difference matter once the milk is added, or should the fat-to-flour ratio be adjusted first?

I keep making pan sauces that look perfect until I add heavy cream at the end, then they get all separated and greasy. Is it a temperature thing, or am I adding it wrong? What's the actual technique to keep everything emulsified?

4lb beef honeycomb tripe
2lb pig feet
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 6 limes)
1/3 cup vinegar
3 tbsp salt
2 white onion
2 head of garlic
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp menudo spice mix
20 New Mexico chili pods
4 California chile pods
4 pasilla-ancho chile pods
13 cups precooked hominy
Water

Wash feet and tripe and let them sit in the vinegar/lime/water mixture for 3 hours.
Drain and rinse and put in pot with 1 onion, 1 head of garlic, 3 bay leaves and salt and enough water to cover everything.
Boil for 20 minutes, remove scum, add 1tbsp menudo mix.Boil for 2.5 hours.
Put chilis in pot of water, boil for 10 minutes.
Blend chile pods, 1 onion, 1 head of garlic and water used to boil chiles.
Strain and add to pot of feet and tripe.
Rinse hominy and add to pot.
Add 1 tbsp of menudo mix.
Let simmer for another hour.

That’s what I did and it doesn’t have that tangy flavor menudo usually has, I don’t know what to add bc all the recipes I looked at are pretty similar, they just used different chiles.

Hello all i’m wondering if there is any texture loss when grinding chicken thighs. I want to make a sandwich and the best way i’ve found to cook chicken is dice up chicken thighs to about 1 inch “cubes” (even though they never come out that shape).

I then pan fry and this has made the best chicken in my opinion save for hard smoked and grilled of course. So I’m wondering, to make chicken patties will coarse grinding chicken thighs end up changing the mouthfeel?

I’m creating a recipe for a chicken bacon ranch and before I try making it into a patty I thought I’d hear from some experts.

Every recipe ive seen that claims beautiful caramelized cabbage ends up one of two ways for me:

1. Cabbage is cooked through but has little color

2. The edges of the cabbage are caramelized/darkened, but the middles are crunchy (this is usually the case when it's wedges).

Ive done wedge-based recipes/recipes with bigger pieces of cabbage and cooked them insanely long, like 2-3 hours at 400+ degrees, and the middles just wont cook through.

How do i get good caramelized cabbage?

I'm cooking two geese for a large Friendsgiving party next month. One in the oven with the recipe I've done every year for over a decade, the other on the smoker. There isn't enough room in either the oven or the smoker to do them both together.

I'm cooking both at 325* F and estimating about 3 hours to get them to 165* F at the thigh, aiming to serve around 7 PM. I normally aim to have the oven roast goose in the oven at about 2:30 PM, hopefully hitting 165* F at about 5:30, raise the oven temp to 450* F and put it in to crisp for 15 minutes at about 6 PM (it's a slow oven, takes time to heat), then let rest until 7.

I'm thinking of trying to get the smoked goose on the grill by about 1:30 PM, to give extra time and let me break up the schedule a bit so I'm not trying to do everything at once. So it'll hopefully be at 165* by about 4:30 PM, raise smoker temp to 450* F and crisp for 15 minutes, and have it done by about 5 PM.

But I want to serve both geese at the same time. Is waiting two hours between 5 PM for the smoked goose being done, and 7 PM for the oven roast goose to be done and rested, too long?

I've been trying to get that perfect golden, crackling skin but it either comes out soft and rubbery or the flesh overcooks before the skin crisps up. I'm patting it dry, starting skin-side down in a cold pan with oil, medium-high heat. What am I missing here?

I’ve tested side-by-side steaks from the same cut, one wet-aged 4 days and one dry-aged 21 days at home. Both are patted fully dry, brought up to room temp, seasoned with kosher salt 40 minutes before cooking, and seared on the same cast iron at the same high heat.

The wet-aged steak develops a deep, dark, crispy crust quickly. The dry-aged one only gets a pale, thin brown layer, even if I leave it longer. It never builds that rich, fragrant sear I expected. Internal temperature targets are identical, 130°F for medium-rare.

I know dry aging concentrates flavor and removes moisture, so I assumed it would brown better. I avoided oil overload and didn’t crowd the pan. Is the breakdown of proteins during dry aging changing how Maillard reactions happen? Or is the remaining moisture in dry-aged meat different somehow?

I’m not looking for a quick trick. I want to understand the chemistry here. Am I misunderstanding what dry aging does to browning potential?

Long story short, I bought too much shrimp and scallops with the intention of making stuffed salmon for two. How do we feel about freezing left-over stuffing? I'm winging it, but I'll put ingredients below in a recipe-esque format to satisfy post requirements and inform responses. Again, this is obviously not the recipe:

- Lump crab

- Peeled and deveined shrimp

- Sea scallops

- Mascarpone cheese

- Parmesan

- Herbs and seasonings

The shellfish will be fairly finely chopped and fully cooked. My concern is the palatability of the frozen and thawed finished product. I absolutely will not use the shellfish for anything else before it goes bad, and I have an excess of mascarpone as well, so I'm not looking for alternative ways to use it.

Thanks in advance!