What are /r/AskCulinary's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Brown the meat in bacon fat.

Gebhardt's Chile Powder. I make my baby brother send it to me in Merry Olde England from San Antonio.

Beef stock and cook down slowly.

Mexican oregano.

Finish with a slurry of masa harina and lime juice. Gives it a nice corn kick and thickens that shit up nicely.

Mexican tzatziki- shredded cuke, crema, lime zest, salt and chopped cilantro.

If you want to get adventurous, a real Texas Red Chilli made with slow cooked cubed chuck shoulder is bloody fantastic slapped on a flour tortilla with some sharp cheddar, crispy lettuce, cilantro and the aforementioned 'tzatziki.'

Similar to a previous answer, we also have a drum grater. Not only is it fun to use; so my kid does all the grating, but the speed and ease with which you can grate a brick of cheese makes it far superior than the standard box grater.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00NALMI6A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Watch Good Eats. It's exactly what you're looking for. You can find it on YouTube or, you know, elsewhere.

Mole is much more difficult to make from scratch than you might suspect. I had a mole lesson from an abuela of culinary renown in Oaxaca. I told her I wanted to learn to make mole negro. She laughed at me because mole negro takes her thirteen hours. We settled on mole coloradito instead, because it clocks in at a mere five hours.

After hours of toasting and grinding different peppers for her, I concluded I should make mole the way nearly all Oaxacans do: buy the mole paste at the mercado and reconstitute it with turkey stock. I did a side-by-side taste test with the coloradito we made and one made from reconstituted paste. The taste was the same.

Stateside I've had good results with this.

If you're looking for pairing suggestions/ideas, the flavor bible is a great resource for pairing flavors. It can provide great suggestions for flavors to pair with your protein and even great flavors to enhance your current sides.

They do sell 4 packs of 6 ounce bottles of reasonable-ish quality wine that sounds like it would fit your needs. If you have specific wines you like due to the flavors they impart to the dish, another option is to pick up a bottle of Argon for wine preservation (something like this https://www.amazon.com/Private-Preserve-Wine-Preservation-Spray/dp/B0000DCS18/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=wine+argon&qid=1575745328&sr=8-14 )

Wine spoils due to oxidation and the argon is a heavier, neutral gas that forces the oxygen out before you re-cork it (and chuck it in the fridge after open for additional preservation as lower temperatures slow down chemical reactions). Usually you can get a couple weeks to a month out of a bottle if the argon is used properly. There are also inexpensive vaccum seal pumps for wine but... they never worked quite as well for me.

Also, wine isn't completely dead when it's "gone bad" (oxidized). You can save it in the fridge and use it to make sangria for your friends or even make your own red/white wine vinegar out of it.

Source: Professional Alcoholic and former winery/wine bar guy.

I don't want to compare him to Alton Brown, but he has a cookbook that really changed the methods I used to cook. Like Brown, he puts a great deal of empahsis on the science of cooking. Even something as simple as making a perfect poached egg by using a small strainer (this video is a presentation he did at google HQ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_IKBPkGSg and his book is presently the number one selling cookbook on amazon. http://smile.amazon.com/The-Food-Lab-Cooking-Through/dp/0393081087?sa-no-redirect=1

Do you by any chance have a link to the white cotton gloves you use? Do these look okay?. I'm only worried they are too thin, but if it looks right I'll take everyones word!

Grow your own!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CD0KZ78/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_HI.fCbFYYDN3N

Search for mushroom growing kit on Amazon. There are a bunch of them. I gave one to my Secret Santa and they loved it!

I use something like this. You leave it in and don’t have to keep sticking the meat.

Oven Safe Leave in Meat Thermometer, Dual Probe Instant Read Food Meat Thermometer Digital with Alarm Function for Cooking, BBQ, Smoker and Grill (Red) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081HXD2WP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VO5eFb04CAN54

I'm a big fan of How Baking Works. It's set up like a textbook, and each chapter covers a different aspect of baking science, with review questions and practical exercises at the end of each.

You could make like a jalapeno flake. In general, I don't know if there is really a reason why it's not used like red pepper flake. Also apparently that product exists

Lately I've been into roasted pistachio oil. It's usually in the oil section of fancy supermarkets, and meant for pinkies-out salads and roasted vegetables, but it's totally stunning in cake. It's sort of an under the radar recipe on Serious Eats. At the moment, I'm a little obsessed with pistachio everything, but especially pistachio +cherry. Cherry has those subtle almond notes in it, a hint of nuttiness that makes it a total dream with pistachio.

There are lots of videos like this that go into detail about the differences of salt and why kosher salt is "kosher". It's not labelled "kosher" because it is "kosher", though it is, it's labelled kosher because it is a crystal size ideal for drawing blood out of meat, or it is suitable for koshering meat.

The reason to use kosher salt over table salt is the crystal size of kosher salt makes it easier to sprinkle over food in an even fashion. If you prefer a finer crystal size, like for table salt, or finely ground sea salt, that's your preference and isn't wrong. The issue you can run into is that because of the finer size, it is easier to accidentally over season, and as we see here on r/AskCulinary time and again, you cannot remove salt, you can only dilute it.

As far as onion powder and garlic powder go, or any powdered vegetable for that reason, such as the multitude of dried pepper powders (paprika, cayenne, chipotle) or even tomato powder, it's just an additional seasoning to be used. I can't determine why they've become predominant in American cuisine, but they are. The primary advantage to any of these powders is to add flavor without adding water, though some of the flavors of the powders are fairly far removed compared to their fresh counterparts.

So your whetstone isn't going to actually sharpen much of anything. The grit is way too coarse to actually get an edge. It's good for repairing a chipped edge and such or reprofiling a knife if you want to change the blade angle. Then you need something finer to finish the job and get it actually sharp.

This is the stone I use. It does a pretty good job. Although the one I got was pretty far off of being flat and I had to flatten it. It's probably not a common issue since the reviews didn't mention it.

https://www.amazon.com/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/dp/B001DT1X9O

Okay, first try turning your oven down by 10° C especially if you have a fan assisted oven. When the tops crack what's basically happening is the outside is cooking much faster than the inside. So when the inside catches up and expands the top can't stay contained.

Here is a cake trouble shooter

More often than not most cake issues can be resolved but adjusting the oven temperature.

Or you could try one of these which insulates the cake to help it cook evenly throughout.

They might be adding meat tenderizer like pineapple juice or just the powdered enzyme (usually comes from papaya). Try it on a small amount and see if it works! You can get the tenderizer powder (totally natural, again, it’s just an enzyme) at most Asian markets and probably Mexican markets too, I just haven’t looked in the latter.

Here is one kind of tenderizer you can buy: https://www.amazon.com/McCormick-Seasoned-Meat-Tenderizer-3-37/dp/B0005XMQRW

Edit: the massive container is cheaper for some reason:

McCormick Culinary Seasoned Meat Tenderizer, 32 oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B4IETFY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qsrxFb534MREJ

And check out the flavored version in the link above, which I suspect is actually used in the trucks because it has Annatto and tomato powder. This stuff looks awesome.

You can find a 2kb container cheaper per oz but the small container is probably more economical.

Honestly this is probably how they’re doing it because I highly doubt taco trucks are buying fancy skirt steak. And tenderizer is cheaper than pineapple juice. Try it out! Just be careful not to let the tenderizer sit too long or else the meat will get mushy.

Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft, from the CIA. Packed full of tons of recipes, from standard plain dough recipes and sauces, to a chapter with full desserts made from the foundational components from other chapters. The recipes are scaled for very large batches though, so you’ll probably have to scale down (some have baker’s % though).

Generally, recipes in Western cookbooks and food blogs are watered-down versions of Indian food -- maybe that's your problem?

I've seen recipes for tikka masala that ask for a single onion, just a few teaspoons each of powdered spices, and no mention of ginger-garlic paste or essential things like fenugreek leaves, curry leaves, desiccated coconut or ghee, and rarely any mention of blooming spices (frying them in oil/ghee to release their aromatic oils).

Then they ask you to throw in a whole can of tomatoes and sometimes even water. Of course it will be flavourless.

Look into cookbooks that tell you how to make a base gravy (a highly concentrated, finely blended onion/pepper mixture that often uses things like cabbage and carrots, and acts as a flavour enhancer and thickener), how to make your own garam masala, how to make your own ginger-garlic paste etc.

The best book I've encountered for this is The Secret to That Takeaway Curry Taste. It's a somewhat ramshackle e-book, but it's written by a working chef who runs a small British-Indian takeaway restaurant, and the techniques are exactly right.

The base gravy is similar to the mother sauces in French cooking. With the base gravy you can make a lot of different dishes. They typically start with blooming some spices in ghee or mustard oil, adding meat or vegetables, then adding the gravy and other flavour elements like yogurt and coconut, and then cooking this in the sauce. For even more concentrated flavour, consider making the sauce separate from the protein, then blending the sauce until it's velvety smooth. Marinate and cook protein separately (e.g. chicken pieces or paneer on skewers), then add to the sauce.

If you can find it then get Pommeroy Moutarde de Meaux. While not exactly Dijon (more a wholegrain) it is one of he best mustards out there with a lot of history. If you can't find that then Maille is a good brand that can be easier to find.

What do you mean by 'tahini'?

As far as I'm aware tahini is just straight up ground sesame seeds. The oil in a jar of tahini is what was naturally in the seeds (like how peanut butter can have oil on top but it's just the solids separating from the peanut oil). It definitely doesn't involve olive oil at any point.

This is the stuff I have in my fridge (100% ground hulled sesame seeds), though I get it for about half the amzn price from my local Mediterranean store.

https://www.amazon.com/Lebanon-Valley-Tahineh-Extra-Oz/dp/B00MD780XM

Here is a nice backgrounder on the sciency side of the chemical effects - and it should be a basic part of your understanding of salt effects. The Food Lab's chapter on the science of ground meat opened a whole new avenue of cooking fun for me, just by understanding why when you add how much salt to ground meat yields totally different products. You can generally access the basic ideas by googling "food lab", including the ground meat product you want to make as a google term, if you do not have access to the book. I commend buying it, because it is the kind of reference work that cries out for annotating and browsing.

...and now for a much less technical reasons: (1) salt lightly early on, because you may want to concentrate stuff down and (2) if there is some salt there, you can easily say, "that is under salted but what else does it need?" - with no salt on board the lack of salt is all you will notice.

Balance out final heat, acid, umami, finishing herb stuff, all of which can affect final salt preference, then correct the salt if needed.

US "heavy cream" has a butterfat content of approximately 36%, about as high as you can get from allowing the cream to naturally separate from the milk. UK "double cream" has a butterfat content of approximately 48% and requires special equipment to produce. Double cream is almost impossible to find in the US but can (for $$$) be shipped from the UK.

Making your own double cream in the States is a process fraught with difficulty - you need access to raw milk from Jersey dows (or other cows that produce milk with exceptionally high fat content) and special centrifugal separators that can carefully heat and cool the milk. Other pseudo-heavy cream recipes (combing creme fraiche with heavy cream or using agar or other thickeners) can sometimes work, depending upon what you're doing but are never quite the same.

Yup, it’s called Chinese food. Well, real Chinese food, that is. Seriously though, many Chinese dishes date back well before Christ. Noodles have been found in archeological sites in China that date back to 2000 b.c. Many places today serve shaobing which are baked and filled buns that date back to the Han dynasty (200 b.c.). They’re also frickin’ delicious.

If you had European food in mind, Heston Blumenthal serves old school (albeit Michelin quality) dishes at his Dinner By Heston restaurant in the U.K. You might like his Historic Heston cookbook which has recipes dating back to the 1390’s. I’m particularly fond of the “Rice and Flesh” (1390 a.d.) and “Tipsy Cake” (1858) recipes.

Yes, all of this! I barely use plastic bags anymore.

My friend uses Bee Wraps instead of plastic wrap. I'm currently in the cycle of "I can make these" and "I don't have time to make these", so I haven't tried them myself.

I found that Cooking for Geeks was a brilliantly helpful resource. (Barnes&Noble link)

It explains about different balances of different tastes (bitter, salty, sour, sweet, umami, 'other'), examples of each type of taste and some examples of foods that exhibit each, and the effect it has on other flavours. There are also examples of different tastes together and examples of them.

It also goes on about how smell affects taste and some of the different compounds that give certain foods their characteristic smell.

It also has all kinds of useful scientific information on cooking processes.What temperature changes happen at, why and how they happen, and recipes that actually explain why you're doing each step; some molecular gastronomy; and an awesome part called "fun with hardware".

That book really improved my cooking and baking abilities, and it also gave me much more courage to experiment with flavour combinations.

Technically it can work. Steep them like you would tea. Bring the cream just to a boil, dump in chips, turn off the heat and cover. Give it an hour or so and strain it. Chill it in the fridge over night. The cream has to be really cold or it won't work. Freeze your bowl and beaters too. You don't want to reduce the cream. I'd probably add a stabilizer just to be safe. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EMGCK8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_BHRBC607MY8FN9ZNYB5C

I'd also recommend a couple teaspoons of a good banana liqueur in the whipped cream. The alcohol really carries the flavor.

I use sleeves like these in the piping industry to protect against high temp steam.
https://www.amazon.com/Kevlar-Resistant-Designer-Sleeves-Openings/dp/B072PXRJ24/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1518395802&sr=8-9&keywords=kevlar+sleeves

Most Indian cooking ends up using a multi-jar mixer-grinder because there is a ton of dry grinding and wet grinding and a mortar-pestle is just too much hassle and effort. This is somewhat similar to your ultimate food processor although I will say that most food processors are inferior to an Indian mixer-grinder. There's something about the blade setup - I don't know what but the consistency is not always the same.

One thing to watch out for is that a blender or food processor or mixer-grinder ends up heating the paste quite a bit. As a result, over-grinding your paste can end up "cooking" it and also makes it lose its freshness. So be gentle with the grinder and you should be fine.

Now if you want truly good wet grinding, a true mortar-pestle replacement is a specialized Indian wet grinder which is stone on stone grinding, just like a mortar-pestle. This is used to make very fine batters and no blender or food processor or blade style mixer-grinder comes close to this. The batter is used to make Indian style crepes and dumplings called dosa and idly. And the batter has to be super-fine and not grainy.

I have a silicon tray with handles - you put the chicken on and chuck it in the pot

later you just grab the handles and lift the chicken out. I have two

https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Reusable-Resistant-Chicken-Kitchen/dp/B07PCR4Z4D

At least when it comes to dish soap, I'll buy bulk (more product per amount of plastic packaging) and then transfer into glass bottles for dispensing. It's not quite as good as not buying plastic, but it's at least buying less plastic.

You can make an onion paste, just blend up an onion with some oil in a good blender. You can do this for any vegetable, and make a sort of sofrito cooking base to get your flavors and veggies into meals.

The age of flour and relative humidity will impact how much liquid is necessary to hydrate dough which is why recipes for breads are more like guidelines than directions. Doughs need to be judged by texture, not by the math. Take a baseline of liquid and add in flour until the dough comes together. Depending on the desired outcome, its then worked by kneading, folding, etc. to reach the correct texture.

Flour hydrates over time so doughs are often left to rest so that the liquid can be fully incorporated and allow the gluten to relax.

Mixing all of the dry ingredients at the outset means things like salt or leavening agents are evenly distributed throughout the product before liquid is introduced.

While I've seen street vendors turn out roti by the hundred thru sheer muscle memory, its not exactly a beginner's dough.

Get yourself a copy of Flour Water Salt Yeast for all of the science behind how breads work.

Garum is the original fish sauce which originated in Ancient Carthage and then stolen and claimed by the Romans (After they destroyed Carthage). Worcestershire is very likely closely related to the Garum used by the Romans.

Chances are Garum travelled alongside the Silk Road gained popularity and then someone in Siam/China decided to make their own version.

There's a really good book on the production of Garum and other Fermented foods that recently came out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079VTBKHD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Get a sharp Y peeler. These are great.

And other than that it's just fast hands. I usually grab half of the spud, and peel the other half of the spud, rotating as I go. If we assume a spud has poles at the long end, I'll rotate around the n/s axis and peel from the equator to the pole, then flip and repeat for the other half. If you're peeling a ton of spuds, hold them in cold water until use. If you're using them immediately, use immediately.

Source: I don't even wanna think how many potatoes I've peeled.

Edit: changed the link to the ones I use + clarity.

you can google the name on the bottom and find somehing like this: https://www.amazon.com/Winco-SSFP-11NS-Non-Stick-Aluminum-Stainless/dp/B00Z2CP3F8

So yes, it's a formerly non-stick pan losing its coating and it's time to throw it away.

I've had good success using the baking powder technique for super crispy baked wings. You dry your wings off really well then toss them in salt and a little bit of baking powder and then bake for 50 mins and the skin turns out just as crispy as if you deep fried them.
I've never even hear of salt and vinager wings till now but damn do they sound delicious. Looks like Amazon has you covered as far as the seasoning goes.

It's an olive pick/olive fork. You put whole olives in the large bowl, pick them up with the fork, and discard the pits in the small bowl.

I use this

It's cheap, works really well even with heavy pot lids, and you can just throw it in the dishwasher when it's dirty.

In the US (maybe elsewhere too), there's a product called Accent that can be found at most supermarkets. It's literally just a shaker of MSG. The ingredients list just that. https://www.amazon.com/ACCENT-FLAVOR-SEASONING-NATURAL-ENHANCER/dp/B007HACDBA

So glad you've enjoyed the gluten-free variations in the book! For me, developing gluten-free recipes is a way to better understand the mechanics of a dessert and the many roles that traditional flours will play in a recipe at any given time. For that reason, I don't have a personal interest in commercial GF flour blends, so they're not something I'll invest time in investigating behaviorally in my recipes. I want to suss out those details for myself, for my own sake. Which, of course, is no help to anyone else, I understand.

When developing a GF riff on an existing recipe, I'll take into consideration how vital gluten itself is to the recipe. In something like, say, angel food cake, gluten is actually at odds with the goals of the recipe and the primary structure is coming from the whites, so I know I need to focus more on flours that will help with water management. If anyone's interested, the gluten free angel food cake from my book is also on Serious Eats.

In other recipes, it may be clearer up front that gluten is playing a more crucial role, as with a chewy cookie like Snickerdoodles. In that case I want to lean on flours that have more structure and can help mimic that sort of heartiness.

She's not specifically gluten free, but Jerrelle Guy of Black Girl Baking tackles a number of GF recipes in her book.

The Flavor Bible gets thrown around a lot, but for good reason. It's a great resource when trying to formulate your own recipe. It focuses on things like which foods have affinities for other foods, seasonality, and sensations different foods have. It's a great thing to page through when you have whatever the equivalent of writer's block is for cooks.

Terrible recipe, terrible source. No acid, not nearly enough salt.

Stick with trusted sources, skip these random blogs. Here's a better option: https://smile.amazon.com/Nutritious-Delicious-Turbocharge-Favorite-Superfoods/dp/1945256117

As far as your recipe goes, I would cook the farro in heavily salted water, 1 tablespoon of table salt for every 2 quarts of water. At least. I would also add some feta cheese at the end.

As for the dressing, skip the milk, add about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Use the full 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, don't be scared, there is nothing unhealthy about this type of fat, it's actually a very healthy fat. Slowly drizzle the oil into the lemon juice while you whisk at the same time to make a basic vinaigrette, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Now, when everything is done, you need to purposefully taste it for salt. If it tastes bland, add in a pinch of salt, mix it in, taste it again. Repeat this as many times as necessary until it no longer tastes bland.

My mom uses recipes from the Korean cooking blog [Maangchi.com](www.maangchi.com) — looks like she has a cookbook too

I know this is isn’t exactly what you asked for, but since you enjoyed Night + Market’s cookbook and you’re from LA, I’d suggest you check out Roy Choi’s cookbook LA Son

It isn’t exactly authentic, but an LA specific take and his personal stories are also interesting

This sounds like a really good idea. Is this what you mean? https://www.amazon.ca/Serving-Moisturizing-Jewelry-Archival-Inspection/dp/B07JQCN5RH/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=white+cotton+dermal+gloves&qid=1626014756&sr=8-9

You don't need a bread machine you have an oven. Bread has 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. The variety of breads you can make by varying the ratios of these ingredients, the length of the ferment, and cook time is staggering.

Highly recoomend: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] https://www.amazon.com/dp/160774273X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_YlgXDbTMY87DP

I cannot stand grating cheese, it’s a job I totally loathe. But I love cheese. You can see my dilemma.

This however is game changer: KitchenCraft Stainless Steel Rotary Cheese Grater / Vegetable Shredder (4-Piece Set) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001IWZJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ejRxDbXVZTA3Q

It can grate a huge amount of cheese with minimal effort. Best £5 I ever spent.

https://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Housewares-UNCOOKED-Steamer-ARC-743-1NG/dp/B0055FSN3Q/ref=sr_1_8?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1549788080&sr=1-8&keywords=rice+cooker

​

Got this for my girlfriend on Valentine's day 4 years ago. She's now my wife. Use that info as you wish, actual milage my vary.

​

But seriously it's a great foolproof cooker.

OP here! Just wanted to say THANK YOU guys <3

I tried again after the great advice I got, and it turned out SO MUCH BETTER! https://tinyurl.com/zuhplfp

The flour+cornstarch coat before the breading made it stick so well. And dunking it in the wet ingredients with one hand then dunking it in the dry ingredients with the other hand made a world of a difference. No clumping at all!

I think I'll try just cornstarch next time to see if I can get it crispier (or just to experiment). Anyway, thanks again guys! Onto my next step of becoming a beginner cook!

or this one has interchangeable heads https://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Dispenser-Interchangeable-No-Drip-Silicone/dp/B079YB69LS

Check out a book called "Modern Batch Cookery" put out by CIA. It has professionally scaled recipes for about 50pax, scaled by weight. It would put you in the right direction for a lot of your menu planning and ordering.

I seem to have misplaced my own copy, so I can't confirm that is has alfredo for 50, but it likely did. It's a really solid base for what you're going for.

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Cookery-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/047029048X/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=Batch+Cooking&amp;qid=1569694919&amp;sr=8-6

Sorry, but that's an atrocious price. OP, why not look into an Indian mixer-grinder? They're all metallic and super powerful, should be able to do nut butter without issues. Here's a respected brand, there's many similar products for under $150.

It's a flavor injector, and it's basically just a big syringe.

I've never seen one of these things used in a professional kitchen, which tells me they probably don't work that well.

It is complicated. Mostly yes but depends on bacteria and type of wood. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228343502_Survival_of_bacteria_on_wood_and_plastic_particles_Dependence_on_wood_species_and_environmental_conditions

This may be starting you off a little 'advanced' (not because it's difficult to use, but just because it's going from 0 spice to flavortown in one burst) but try adding ras el hanout to your chicken. Just toss the chicken with olive oil and a couple of big pinches of the spice mix, plus some salt, and bake that in the oven in a baking dish or tinfoil. Will be really good with veggies over rice.

Given how butter-forward the flavor you're describing is and the possibility/tendency to maybe cut corners in Shanghai bakeries, I wonder if it may be from a butter flavor addition. You can actually get butter extract to boost the buttery flavor of things. If you're already at a really high percentage of actual butter, that's probably your best option.

Is it actually the consistency of whipped cream? Meaning, does it have a lot of air incorporated? Or is it just a lot thicker?

If it's just a lot thicker, then it's probably age gelation. Age gelation is a common problem in UHT dairy products. The extra-high temperatures in UHT processing denatures whey proteins. Those denatured whey proteins can bind with casein and form complexes. This can lead to increased viscosity down the road. The actual mechanism is still debated. Here's a few sources on that: Source 1 Source 2.

I'm hesitant to say that's exactly what's going on, especially considering higher fat products are usually less susceptible to age gelation.

Also, leaving it for about 5-10 minutes makes the nutrients in garlic more bioavailable.

Re garlic press, I think it's worth getting a higher end one that opens up to clean. This is the one I use and I'm sure it'll last a lifetime.

https://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-2315-Epicurean-Garlic/dp/B0000CD0HX

I ordered the belt on Amazon. And I misremembered the price, it was more like $24 not 14.

I also ordered a set of high grit (400/800/1200) belts for it to put an edge on a dull piece of metal. I'm about to try my hand at making my own knives.

I've never been good at hand sharpening knives, but with that little Harbor Freight belt sander and these belts I got my old worn out cheapie chef knives and butcher knife sharp as heck. You gotta be EASY with the 400 grit belt, it will remove a LOT of metal fast, light pulls. I practiced on some -real- cheap knives first.

Maybe you can get it shipped in if it doesn’t contradict your import regulations?

https://www.amazon.com/Ajika-Sabudana-Tapioca-Sago-Pearls/dp/B006GK58FK

If not - https://thesourcebulkfoods.com.au/shop/cooking/sago-small-pearl-tapioca/

Also, quick Amazon search reveals that food grade alum is much cheaper than shaving alum ($.54 per ounce for food grade, $2.16 per ounce for shaving) so I'm not sure why you'd want to take the risk of impurities anyway.

They were also conquered by the French. France used to have a large number of distinct local dialects, but most of them were suppressed by the central government in the 1800s.

""the French language has been essential to the concept of 'France', although in 1789 50% of the French people did not speak it at all, and only 12 to 13% spoke it 'fairly' – in fact, even in oïl language zones, out of a central region, it was not usually spoken except in cities, and, even there, not always in the faubourgs [approximatively translatable to "suburbs"]. In the North as in the South of France, almost nobody spoke French."

• Historian Eric Hobsbawm, taken from wikipedia

There's a very good book on the 19th century creation and consolidation of the modern French state (and language) called The Discovery of France.

I make a butt load of Mac and cheese at work. It's a popular menu item. My old recipie was a standard mornay- roux, milk, cheese, salt, pepper. However, I recently discovered Sodium Citrate. It's the chemical compound that is used in making "American" cheese and Velveeta. Allows me to do a gluten free Mac and cheese if someone wanted, but it also decreases cost (by omitting the butter, reducing the milk needed, and removing cream on the pickup) and increases the quickness of the pickup (melt sauce, add pasta...2 mins)

265 g water or milk

11 g sodium citrate

285 g shredded cheese

Bring the liquid and sodium citrate to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low. Whisk in your shredded cheeseyntil all cheese is melted and incorporated. If your sauce looks "broken" just keep whisking over low heat. Cool in ice bath.

I use yellow cheddar. Liquid gold. But, I've seen parmesan, provolone, blue, gruyere, chevre, ricotta, and brie all used. Basically, any cheese will work. Up the Sodium Citrate to make a more slicable cheese. This recipie makes about a pint of sauce.

Edit: Food Grade Non-GMO Sodium Citrate(16oz/454g) Excellent for Creating Cheese Sauces, Spherification and More https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D393SVS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6.xyAbSP8VV0H

Obligatory Bourdain: > You know what? If Jacques Pépin tells you this is how you make a fucking egg? The matter is settled, fuck nuts.

From here

Stock is easy as hell to make- Basically, leftover bones from various preparations. Short answer is "Yes" you can use those left over bones. Longer answer is, you'd get a better result if you started with a whole chicken but your solution is, without a doubt, better than water by itself.

If you have it on hand, add some chicken powder to your stock to give it a bump. This product is pretty solid in a pinch.

The rule I've heard is that pasta with eggs is generally for things with dairy based sauces (cacio e pepe, Bolognese, Lasagna, Carbonara, etc.). Flour/water pasta is usually in other situations (pasta alle vongele, aglio e olio, arabbiata etc.)

I've never tried to make fresh wheat/water pasta. I've heard it can be more difficult and that boxed is already pretty good.

I think it's important to remember that more work / cost doesn't always equal better. People tend to equate fresh handmade pasta with better because of the effort, but it's just a different tool for the job. I really prefer the toothsome bite of al dente dried spaghetti to an egg based pasta for something like aglio e olio

One thing that IMHO is delicious if you want to go the extra mile is to use a thick spaghetti instead of a regular size one for oil based sauces (you can order this online). You get more of a gradient of soft to firm when you cook it al dente. In these sauces the pasta itself really shines, and to me I like this thicker spaghetti.

It's also worth remembering that, as dogmatic as Italians can be about how pasta is made, pasta has evolved quite a bit over time. What people eat today is not what they ate even 75-100 years ago necessarily (partly due to greater prosperity / globalization). A great authentic resource is the book Sauces and Shapes

Finally, I usually just use all dried non-egg pasta unless I want to be fancy. I personally don't care a ton.

**Edit** Fixed some mixup in my brain between cacio e pepe and aglio e olio.

I have this ginger grater and I use it A LOT! I also couldn’t live without my immersion blender.

Kyocera Advanced Ceramic 3-1/2-inch Ceramic Grater https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017OCTTS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Ii5iFb9HGV7M6

Similar here. I have about 100 different brown lab bottles (https://shop.sciencefirst.com/wildco/bottles-jars/8930-AMBER-REAGENT-BOTTLE-1000ml32oz-WIDE-MOUTH-PLASTIC-STOP.html) They come in all sorts of different sizes.

These bottles are in a nice rack in my kitchen and hold all my everyday spices. The rest is vacuum sealed in the pantry. I don't bother about storing in the freezer. Not enough freezer space, and not really necessary as I use the spices up fast enough.

On a related topic, I recommend against buying whole cardamon. Decorticated cardamon costs not much more and is much nicer to cook with.

Also, make sure to have a spice mill: https://smile.amazon.com/SHARDOR-Electric-Removable-Stainless-grinding/dp/B07LG33LV3

i dont think it would be a problem seeing as stocks/broths are usually cooked at a low temperature for a longer amount of time. i recommend adding dried shiitake and perhaps finding some ajinomoto in order to give it the classic saltiness/savoriness most people look for in a broth. hope this helps even if only a little bit!

I love my OXO. It has a nice wide plate that can accommodate all sorts of produce and unwieldy objects, and a pull-out display for those occasions when I'm scaling onto a wide bowl or half-sheet pan that would otherwise obscure the readout on a smaller scale. There's also a backlight you can click in when it gets dark in the kitchen. It switches between ounces and grams, no prob, and the latest version of this scale can do ounces-only, rather than splitting measurements into pounds and ounces.

For small measurements, anything under 4g, I recommend a jeweler's scale like this one. Measuring anything under 1/8th of an ounce is a real crapshoot on large format scales.

My first choice for grocery shopping is always the Asian market! I'm lucky to live close to our local "Chinatown" so I have a lot of choices. They have the best prices and selection for produce and seafood especially!

My favorite pick is this mushroom umami powder stuff - when I first bought it, the only english on the bag said "MUSHROOM MAKING DELICIOUS" so that's what I always affectionately refer to it as. They don't carry that brand anymore but I'm not sure what the real name... I used to assume it was a mushroom MSG thing but apparently there's no MSG. It's this stuff. I put it in everything as a salt substitute. Gives a more nuanced flavor and makes every sauce and soup an umami bomb! ��

I doubt it would work, but I'd be interested to see what the result is. Popcorn isn't just dried out regular corn (which does exist and can cooked basically like you're describing), it's a different strain of corn with a much thicker and harder hull that AFAIK isn't really suitable to be cooked or eaten in any way other than making popcorn and maybe grinding into meal or flour.

I use refined avocado oil exclusively for searing. It has no flavor and a high smoke point, 520 degrees F, 270 c. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cooking-oils-and-smoke-points-what-to-know-and-how-to-choose#chart-of-oil-smoke-points

Bear in mind pans will get much hotter than the smoke points, so you need to keep that oil moving and add food to keep the oil from burning.

• Fish spatula

• Palette knife

You're set.

Different shapes hold different quantities of different viscosities of sauces and then theres regional styles and variations...

Fantastic book ive given to several people as a gift. https://smile.amazon.com/Geometry-Pasta-Caz-Hildebrand/dp/1594744955/

Taco Bell most likely doesn’t make them. They probably have a distribution company that make is for them so they won’t have to pay as much for labor, as well as the ability to have a consistent product.

Restaurants that do make them in house will use a similar product to this. restaurant taco shell fryer

For at home this should suffice.at home taco shell fryer

Never noticed this before, but when I changed the URL above from ".ca" to ".com" the ratings and the number of reviews changed from 130 reviews @ 4.5 stars to 15 reviews @ 3.5 stars.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NALMI6A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

Pastry chef here. Your first step is to get an oven thermometer. Well properly your first step is to clean and service your dang oven, but realistically your first step is to get an oven thermometer. I'm going to guess that your oven bakes at a much different temp than it says it does.

Secondly, could try doing what some bakers do for large tiers of wedding cakes and put metal cores in the center of the pan. I like the pin ones best.

Thirdly, if you've got a pizza stone or even some unglazed bricks around, put a few of them in the oven. This won't actually help you if your problem is the wrong temperature, but if it's about heat circulation and fluctuation, they'll help avoid cold spots.

Finally --and I know this is a no-brainer-- make sure all your ingredients are at room temp before they go into the oven unless otherwise stated.

Good luck and keep us posted!

The Victorinox Fibrox 8 inch chef’s knife is only $36 on Amazon and is consistently rated top honors by America’s Test Kitchen. It is sharp, keeps an edge, and even though I own a Wusthof I usually end up reaching for it first. It’s not $80-100 but I still can’t recommend it enough!

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/1433-chefs-knives

Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 8-Inch Chef's FFP https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M5U1C2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QxTOCbC90W0RV

If you’re looking for something reliable and sharp for daily use (and aren’t yet sure-about/familiar-with high end knives), look no further.

Care is pretty straightforward. Don't put them in the dishwasher or leave them in the sink. Wash with Dawn (or whatever), dry and put them away. I have a magnetic wall mount knife block, as opposed to a counter top model or drawer, as it keeps them from resting on their edge or rubbing against each other. Plus, it looks way more cool!

&#x200B;

You'll hone more than sharpen. Get a decent steel and give it a few runs once you feel the cutting ability decrease. There are 1001 videos on YouTube on this so no need to go into the technique here. I only have to sharpen about once every six month or so. There are (again) 1001 different products and techniques, most of which will provide reasonable results. My personal choice is a DMT diamond sharpening stone but there's a bit of a learning curve to that and there are lots of other options which provide great results. Rule of thumb, when it's sharp enough to breeze through paper without tearing, you're good to go.

&#x200B;

And above all, be careful with them. Good knives get way sharper than cheap steel and will cut the ever living bejeebus out of you before you know it. (Don't ask me how I know.)

No, not really. Microwaving and baking are two completely different kinds of cooking methods. What you need is a countertop convection oven like this one. Convection ovens have a fan to evenly circulate the heat when cooking, permitting even browning, avoiding burning, and baking faster. You still have to be careful not to let food get too close to the heating elements and sometimes lower the baking temp/time by about 20% of normal recipes. I've owned several different models over the years. The model I listed above has the best features for the price. One of the most useful features for a college student is the extra depth to be able to cook 12" pizzas and also baked goods using 12" round pan instead of the awkward rectangular toaster oven sizes. That size lets you do normal cakes and pies. In case you haven't noticed, most frozen pizzas under 12" usually suck and are bad values. You can save money by stocking up on sales if you can use the most popular sizes.

If you have a larger budget, you can get a combination microwave/oven like the Cuisinart CMW-200 or a convection oven with rotisserie to roast chicken.

Consumer reports did an investigation where they bought 316 different chicken breasts from across the nation, and they found that 97% tested positive for at least one of six bacteria that cause foodborne illness. While only about 10% of them contained salmonella, around 60% contained E.coli.

Source

You can buy cold brew bags on amazon. Game changing for me. You put the grounds in these reusable bags and let it sit so there's no need to be hand-filtering all the grounds out or for you to be drinking sludge

I sometimes add a little olive oil too towards the end with my seasoning, French style.

Also, what sort of masher are you using? I use one of these because it's super heavy duty and I can really get some air into the whip...the once with more of a sieve-like mash (lots of holes in a plate) are too dense and really just flatten it.

A roux based sauce is not the best way to go, although it can be ok with more milk to thin it out and really sharp cheddar to keep the flavor focused, but sodium citrate is the way to the sauce you are describing. It is cheap, easy to source and stable for bloody ever.

Spicy vegetarian you say?

Vegetable curry with freshly made naan, I say!

Spicy vegan potato curry: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-vegan-potato-curry/detail.aspx?event8=1&amp;prop24=SR_Title&amp;e11=vegetable%20curry&amp;e8=Quick%20Search&amp;event10=1&amp;e7=Recipe%20Hub

Naan: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/naan/detail.aspx?event8=1&amp;prop24=SR_Title&amp;e11=naan&amp;e8=Quick%20Search&amp;event10=1&amp;e7=Recipe%20Search%20Results

ETA: I cook the naan on a really hot iron skillet when I don't feel like setting up a grill. If you don't have iron, any really heavy skillet will do; nonstick would be best.

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20110525/cooking-temperatures-for-pork#1

USDA Revises Cooking Temperatures for Pork Whole Cuts of Pork Should be Cooked to an Internal Temperature of 145 degrees, with a 3-Minute Rest Time

Costco is cheating and ruining steaks.

There is a chance with Ecoli on the outside of the meat and not inside. Basically any surface a knife might have touched. Since it had needles put into the meat the inside could be contaminated

http://imgur.com/a/HrZRr Here are pics I took for the mechanical tenderizing

here is the label

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/06/has-your-steak-been-mechanically-tenderized/index.htm

The introduction to this paper seems to have some good information. "Gluten" itself is a bit of a simplification - the term incorporates subtypes of prolamin proteins - glutenins and gliadins - which polymerize generally at low(ish) temperatures - making them useful for baking, and imparting structural properties to food.

The summary of the paper that I linked is that Teff expresses protein products which fall within the categories of prolamins, as well as albumin-derived Ha group peptides.

This other paper has just a bit of insight into the nature of these alternate prolamins.

Here's how I make umami salt.

First I make an umami mix (75% MSG, 25% I+G). Then I make a mixture that is 90% salt, 10% umami mix.

The I+G package recommends a super low usage rate, which is way too low. I recommend a ratio of 25% I+G to 75% MSG. This gives you a much better effect while still conserving the more expensive ingredient.

Oddly enough, I picked up this one about a week ago. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00837ZGRY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

But I got it because my kid got a pet snake for his b-day and we need to make sure its enclosure is the right temp! I have one of those Himalayan salt blocks that was a present, so thanks for the reminder that I need to use it. The temp. gun is easy to use and seems to work well, I just can't vouch for its utility in cooking yet.

What are you going to cook on your block?

This tom yum base is absolute fire. Pretty sure it's the base many restaurants use.

Food processors usually have a grater attachment that can be used for cheeses, carrots, etc.

If that's not quite your style, there are also hand-cranked rotary graters like this one.

MY mom had one of these and I just bought my own this at H-mart

https://www.amazon.com/Plate-Iwatani-Cb-p-y3-Large-IWATANI/dp/B001028IWY/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=korean+bbq&amp;qid=1576164019&amp;sr=8-10

https://www.amazon.com/Doritos-Nacho-Cheese-Flavored-Tortilla/dp/B01N11TDUF/ref=sr_1_7?fpw=pantry&amp;keywords=doritos&amp;qid=1569350011&amp;s=pantry&amp;sr=8-7

They usually spell it out as monosodium glutamate hoping people wont realize its MSG

For all the people here wanting to know about ramen, I'd recommend also investing in some fried garlic in chili oil and sesame chili oil, along with always having some green onions on hand to toss in.

You might not want the chili oil products in your Shin Ramyun, but they go well in pretty much any non-spicy ramen.

Rolling Pin Guide Ring Spacer Bands (8 Piece Set) Multicolored Flexible Silicone Slip On Baking Accessories Fit 1 3/4” to 2” Wide Dough Rollers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079MHLBPQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F0LuCb6PHEVG0

Rolling pin thickness rings. Work like a charm

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Now if you want a dessert, a nice sweet one that will test you and impress, and that is pie oriented I tend to lean towards a good cheesecake with a nice fruit or caramel topping - apples go well as does a strawberry or cherry topping. My favorite cheesecake recipe is this one if you want to give it a try. Note that I think it needs 2 tblsp vanilla instead of just one, but that is just me.

Not quite. It's acid that the baking soda reacts with, not water.

Baking powder already contains an acid.

Decent explanation here: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/baking-powder-vs-baking-soda-whats-the-difference#how-to-use-baking-powder-in-baking

HA! I'm currently in the doghouse for buying myself one of these at Christmastime.

Apparently the lady had commissioned a custom wood cutting board and was none too pleased when she came home and saw me about to oil it. I was very impressed at the quality for the price, but alas it's going back to Amazon for the sake of my relationship.