Questions tagged [culinary-uses]
Questions about the culinary uses of products that are normally discarded or used in non-culinary applications. DO NOT use for everyday ingredients, leftovers, etc - this is off topic.
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What is a "roux" and what are its uses?
I've had excellent Macaroni and Cheese that I was told was made with a "roux." What exactly is a roux, when is it used and what are the benefits of using it versus other cooking methods?
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What is chickpea flour used for? [closed]
I bought a bag of chickpea flour once thinking (erroneously) that I could use it to make hummus. I've since bought dried chickpeas and made hummus the "right" way... but now I have no idea what to do ...
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What uses are there for basil flowers?
I have tons of basil in my herb spiral.
However, this stuff is precious, and I always feel bad when I throw away the basil flowers when I make pesto sauce.
Is there a way to use the basil flowers ...
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Uses for stale bread?
Community wiki question. I'd like to compile an index of uses for stale bread. Here's a couple off the top of my head. Feel free to just go ahead and edit this list:
As an ingredient
Breadcrumbs, ...
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Are the leftovers from making stock good for anything?
Having made stock and strained it, can the meat and vegetables boiled up in the stock be used for anything, or should they go in the bin?
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How should one go about reheating pasta?
Ok, so, I know the answer, "You shouldn't, because it's easy to make it fresh."
But on occasion, I end up making too much pasta, not having enough sauce, etc. and the pasta gets stowed in a ...
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What are other uses for Vegemite or Marmite besides as a spread?
My Australian friend introduced toast with butter and vegemite to me. Recently I saw an episode of "Chopped" on the food network and one of the ingredients in the basket was Marmite. One of the ...
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What is the best way to reheat leftover grilled fish?
I have rarely (if ever) looked forward to eating leftover grilled fish. What is the best technique to reheat the fish so that it has the best flavor and texture?
I understand that some of the ...
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How can I reheat coffee without imparting bad flavor?
I have a carafe of coffee brewed today that is still mostly full, and I would like to serve it tomorrow.
How can I reheat it without negatively impacting the flavor?
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What can you do with leftover corn husks?
We made tamales today, and had a lot of corn husks left over. Any suggestions on how they can be used?
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Can you eat the seeds of Tamarind if you roast them or boil them?
I just bought some fresh Tamarind & was told that I can eat the Tamarind seeds. Are they really edible? How would I prepare them if so?
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What is a good use for lots of fresh cilantro? [closed]
I have a few recipes I like to make which call for fresh cilantro, but when I buy it at the store it's usually in large bunches and I have a ton left over. What's a good use for the leftovers?
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Culinary uses for lavender
I have some lavender bushes in the garden. They last well and smell wonderful. I have always considered lavender a herb, but can't think how it is used in cooking.
If people have any good recipes for ...
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What do you do with left over tomato paste?
I sometimes make sauces that use tomato paste. The problem is that usually I need only one or two tablespoons and I don't know what to do with the rest of the can. The smallest can I could find is 6 ...
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What can I do with frozen eggs?
Although a previous question asks if raw eggs can be frozen, my eggs froze, in the shell, because the chicken coop into which they were delivered was very cold last week.
I thawed the eggs, and they ...
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What can I do with a lot of bay leaves?
I have a bay tree, and it's far too big. If I cut it back, I think I'll have around 40 pounds of bay leaves (and I'll still have a bay tree).
It seems like a waste to throw all those bay leaves away.
...
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What can I do with a lot of sage? [closed]
We have this sage plant and it's grown into gigantic monster which is consuming my herb patch.
I'm going to attack it with gusto and will have lots of sage to do something with. Last year we made a ...
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Uses of Horse Meat
What (roughly) does horse meat taste like?
What kind of dishes can I make with it?
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Should I keep the meat boiled off of bones when making beef broth?
I am making a simple beef stock from the leftover bones from a New York cut roast beef. Beyond adding a mirepoix and boiling the bones for three hours I'm not doing anything special. When I make stock ...
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What to do with leftover almond peel?
I always soak almonds at night and peel them the next morning. I'm just wondering if I can do anything with the leftover almond skin. Any suggestions?
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Uses for Old bread dough
I found some old bread dough that I had left, sealed in tupperware, in my fridge. It has a powerful fermented smell, but doesn't appear to be moldy or otherwise bad. Is there any use for this ...
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Culinary uses for hops
Hop flowers are primarily used to preserve and flavor beer. Now that hops are starting to ripen in the northern hemisphere, I'm wondering: are there any other uses for them in the kitchen?
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What is "Fish Sauce" typically used for?
A while ago I bought "Fish Sauce" for a recipe (that I've long forgotten) and ended up not using it. Now we don't know what to use it for because none of the Asian cuisine recipes we come across seems ...
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What can I make with the broken corn chips at the bottom of the bag?
Once I've eaten all the biggish chips with salsa, there are a bunch of small-to-crumb sized corn chips left. I always think I'll eat them plain later, but I happen to want more salsa now...and they ...
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What can I do with extra sourdough starter?
I recently made a sourdough starter from wild yeast, but the process I followed for making it resulted in a lot of starter.
Instead of throwing it away I'd like to use it, and then once it gets down ...
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What do I do with a kohlrabi? [closed]
I've recieved several kohlrabi from my CSA, and I have no idea what to do with them. I found a recipe for a curry using kohlrabi, but it wasn't great.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to get the ...
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In which kind of food items can Asafoetida be used? [closed]
I have heard about the medical benefits of Asafoetida.
I used it once in Brinjals (which while cooking contained only Ginger powder, Fennel powder, salt and red chilli powder). The addition of ...
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What can I do with the meat and fat trimmed from the top of lamb ribs?
I'm making rack of lamb tonight. I got the rack at a local farmer's market and it was a bit less butchered than I expected. I can (and did) trim it myself, but there seems to be a lot of meat embedded ...
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Using beet stock
There's a pot full of water left over after boiling beets.
I know beets are full of good stuff. I'd rather not throw this beet stock down the drain, but rather use it.
How can this beet water or ...
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How would you use a lot of lemons?
We've got a lemon tree and an overabundance of lemons at the moment. Aside from lemonade, what should I do with them?
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What can I do with leftover wine?
We don't really drink wine in our house, so we only ever buy a bottle for cooking. Typically whatever meal we have made requires ~1/2 bottle.
How can I incorporate the rest of this wine into some ...
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Culinary uses for honeycomb?
On a whim, I bought real honeycomb (not the cookie type dessert) from a local shop. I tried eating it plain, but the wax makes it unpleasant and chewy.
What can I do with it?
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Uses for the Bulgarian/Balkan condiment "lutenitza"
I saw a jar of this condiment called 'liutenzia' on sale at the supermarket here in Los Angeles. The ingredients say that it has tomato paste, pepper paste, carrot paste, and spices. It looks/sounds ...
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What to do with tofu? [closed]
Last night I made a delicious vegetarian stromboli and was left with a lot of excess crumbled extra-firm tofu. It was the first time I have ever cooked with tofu, and as such I have no idea with what ...
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How can I use roses in cooking?
I have some very pungent roses in bloom at the moment, on smelling them my first thought was that they smelled like Turkish Delight. My Second thought that was it should be possible to use them in a ...
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Burnt milk uses
Though infrequently, when boiling milk, it gets burnt if you forget about the milk on stove.
I usually boil 2-3L of milk in one big pan on stove/induction.
When it gets burnt, it develops a peculiar ...
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What can I do with apple peel?
I made an apple pie the other day and peeled 6 or so apples. I ended up composting the peelings, and it got me wondering, what else could I have done with them?
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What to do with leftover whey from vinegar-based cheese preparation
Whey is a valuable protein-rich by-product of cheese preparation. There are many advises for using whey came out of cheese preparation by culture. However, the whey produced after cheese preparation ...
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Why do instructions for carving a chicken disregard the back?
Many instructions for carving a roast chicken don't mention doing anything with the meat on the back. For example, Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything, describes how to cut the breast, leg, and ...
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What is the best way to re-serve day old meat balls?
I've noticed that meatballs are one type of food that often tastes much better the next day. So whenever I make meatballs, I make lots of extras and put them in my fridge to allow the flavors to "...
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What are some savory banana applications? [closed]
I have a lot of bananas, but I don't particularly like bananas. I would like to try using them, but I want to use them in a more savory application. I'm not looking to make a dessert or bread with ...
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What to do with grapefruit seeds?
I have several grapefruit trees and get tons of grapefruits almost year round. When I eat the grapefruits, which is fairly regular, I typically eat a good amount of the seeds with the fruit for ...
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Making pickles or preserves from hedgehog cucumbers (cucumis africanus)
Tiny hedgehog cucumbers, cucumis africanus, are usually grown as ornamental. The blurb in the seed catalogue mentions they were historically pickled and preserved, although they are rarely used for ...
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What is sumac used for?
A friend of mine told me she uses sumac (I am not sure she was teasing me, or what).
Is sumac used in cuisine? If it is used, what is it used for?
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What to do with crumbled muffins?
I made some muffins that apparently didn't have enough liquid to stick together (perhaps substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream was not such a good idea, as that, butter, and an egg contributed the ...
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Uses for radish and turnip greens? [closed]
Got a lovely bunch of radishes and turnips from the farmer's market, giant mass of greens included.
Can I use the greens for anything aside from compost? Are they edible? Worthy of salads? Stir-...
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Culinary uses for bolted lettuce?
Does anyone have a culinary use for a lettuce which has bolted? Or do I throw it away?
Bolting being what gardeners call that moment when your lovely full bodied lettuce suddenly shoots skywards, in ...
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Reheating Hamburger Helper
When I make Hamburger Helper I always follow the directions exactly and the consistency of the sauce is usually good--not too thick and not too watery--but whenever I reheat the leftovers the sauce ...
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What to do with old coffee beans?
I have several bags of quality coffee beans brought from Costa Rica. Their best before date is over a year ago. I just grinded and made a pot of coffee of them, and although it was drinkable, taste ...
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Culinary use for the green parts of lemongrass?
In most recipes/applications I've seen only the white part of lemongrass is used. Is there any culinary use for the upper/outer green parts?
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