All Questions
4,166
questions
49
votes
4
answers
1.4m
views
How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?
If I left food out of the refrigerator for some period of time, is it still safe? If I left it out too long, can I salvage it by cooking it more?
67
votes
1
answer
76k
views
How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?
How do I know if a given food or ingredient I have is still good, or if I should discard it?
How can I best preserve a food or ingredient?
This broad question is intended as a "general reference" ...
- 13.2k
208
votes
6
answers
82k
views
Translating cooking terms between US / UK / AU / CA / NZ
This post is an attempt to keep track of the terms that differ between dialects of English or exist in some dialects but not others: British (UK) / Australian (AU) / Canadian (CA) / American (US) / ...
85
votes
10
answers
111k
views
What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet?
I just purchased a new cast iron skillet. What's the best way to season it?
And if I need to re-season an old pan, is the process any different?
- 1,648
56
votes
5
answers
262k
views
Why is it dangerous to eat meat which has been left out and then cooked?
If cooking meat kills bacteria, and bacteria are responsible for problems with eating meat which has been left out, then why is it dangerous to eat meat which has been left out at room temperature and ...
- 1,407
77
votes
7
answers
274k
views
Cooking away alcohol
When you cook with wine or spirits, when does the alcohol cook away? Obviously high temperatures will do it, but how low of temperatures will work? Also, does it vary by the type of alcohol?
- 4,929
25
votes
4
answers
777k
views
How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?
If I leave fully-cooked food (particularly meat) out at warm temperature - say on the counter or in a crock pot that's been turned off - how long will it stay safe to eat?
Does it make any ...
- 251
64
votes
10
answers
1.0m
views
Is there a problem with defrosting meat on the counter?
I generally defrost meat on the kitchen counter. A friend of mine suggested that this was dangerous and suggested that I defrost meat in the refrigerator. I am no biologist but it seems to me that as ...
- 2,598
66
votes
9
answers
627k
views
How dangerous is it to refreeze meat that has been thawed?
I've often been told by people that I shouldn't refreeze meat (particularly hamburger meat) once it has been thawed. However, this seems a little silly to me. I can't imagine how meat that hasn't ...
- 2,830
52
votes
10
answers
285k
views
How do you make a cake lift equally and minimize doming?
Some time ago, I baked a cake (Sachertorte to be exact).
The taste and texture was fine, so my recipe is okay.
My biggest issue was the shape. In the middle it was really a lot higher than on the ...
- 13.3k
29
votes
10
answers
42k
views
Botulism, Garlic, Cold pressed Olive oil and mason jars
I make a product I invented called Maybe It's Marinade. It consists of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and pressed garlic as the base and comes in three varieties, AoliOliO, Dill, and Cayenne ...
k sher
25
votes
13
answers
279k
views
What is a substitute for red or white wine in a recipe?
If someone cannot or will not use wine for cooking, what would be a good substitute?
Question applies to both red and white wine.
- 10.8k
47
votes
19
answers
7k
views
How to Store Fresh Herbs
What is the best way to store fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro? I find I have about the same luck with them whether they are left in a plastic bag or I put them in a cup of water.
- 701
16
votes
1
answer
16k
views
What do I need to know about temperature and food safety?
What general rules do I need to follow to keep my food safe? How do I know what temperature to cook something to, or whether my food is safe at room temperature?
47
votes
7
answers
29k
views
How do you clean a seasoned cast iron skillet?
I have a seasoned cast iron skillet, and I don't want to mess up the seasoning when I'm cleaning it. What do I use and what don't I use to get it back to clean?
I've heard not to use soap and to ...
- 952
20
votes
9
answers
43k
views
What's the best way to make Béchamel sauce?
When I make Béchamel sauce I keep getting different results.
Sometimes the sauce becomes too liquidy and never seems to firm up. Other times it might get quite lumpy, despite my use of a recipe that ...
- 1,747
9
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What makes a moist steak (or roast)?
When cooking steak on my grill it seems that even at a steady temp of 350 Degrees F and for 20 minutes the steak seems to change in the way of texture. I get my meat from the same Hanaford and I ...
- 457
123
votes
26
answers
50k
views
How do you properly cook a steak?
I love steaks so much, that I would like to get a green card and live in the States just to enjoy good steaks whenever I want.
When I try to cook a steak at home (I live in Italy), it always turns ...
- 4,603
18
votes
9
answers
51k
views
Stripping seasoning from cast iron
After reading this article, I want to try to re-season a skillet with flaxseed oil; I'm fairly certain I did a terrible job when I seasoned the skillet several years ago. Is it possible to do this ...
- 3,090
86
votes
8
answers
19k
views
Browning Avocados - What Helps?
Years ago Koobz asked "Oxidized Avocado: What's Going on & How to Prevent It?" That question has been merged with this one because it's dealing with the same issue.
Recently, we had this question:...
- 58.5k
13
votes
8
answers
39k
views
Substitute for onions and garlic
I love the taste of onions and garlic and it seems lots of other people do too. But they upset my stomach so much that I can't really cook with them. What can I use in their place to give my food a ...
10
votes
7
answers
3k
views
How many different varieties of 'pancake' are there?
I'm not talking about ingredient differences like adding blueberries or chocolate chips, or even buttermilk or cooked pumpkin to the batter ...
How many fundamentally different regional types of '...
- 80k
178
votes
11
answers
151k
views
Why add salt to the water when cooking pasta?
What is the effect of adding salt to the water when cooking pasta?
- 2,391
45
votes
17
answers
156k
views
Is there something I can do to keep ice-cream soft?
I have bought a electric ice-cream churner, I have tried so many different flavours, different recipes, used alcohols.
Have read previous questions and a don't believe that leaving ice-cream out to ...
39
votes
14
answers
301k
views
How can you make a sauce less spicy/hot?
Sometimes when I'm making a sauce or soup that needs to be a bit spicy, I have no troubles spicing how I want to.
But if the dinner party is a bit late, or I made the sauce in advance to really draw ...
user239
31
votes
18
answers
77k
views
Is there anything I can add to homemade bread to preserve it?
I love making our own bread - we rarely buy shop bought, but it tends to go off very quickly. Part of the appeal is that it doesn't have any "junk" in it - artificial preservatives - which I'm sure ...
- 2,539
26
votes
8
answers
154k
views
Why are there no recipes combining both yeast and baking powder?
I've never seen anything with both yeast and baking powder. What's the reason for that? Shouldn't e.g. muffins get even more fluffy by adding some yeast? Or bread by adding baking powder?
I know there ...
- 271
23
votes
6
answers
233k
views
What oil is best for seasoning a cast-iron skillet
I just cleaned up a rusty cast-iron skillet and I would like to season it. The thing is that I don't have lard handy and I'm wondering whether any of my other oils and fats would do.
I have: canola, ...
- 597
13
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Are there any vegetarian-friendly egg substitutes that can be used in cakes?
I spent about 2 1/2 years as a lacto-ovo vegetarian but, I gave up eggs in October. The problem is that I really like cake. Unfortunately, the cake recipes that I've found that don't use eggs produce ...
- 233
82
votes
31
answers
461k
views
How can I keep pasta from sticking to itself?
Whenever I boil pasta (specifically spaghetti), it always sticks to itself before I'm ready to use it. What can I do to avoid this without it becoming mushy (which happens if I keep it in the water)?
...
- 1,617
28
votes
11
answers
33k
views
What are the pros and cons of storing bread in various locations?
Why should/shouldn't I store my bread in the fridge/freezer/breadbox/plastic bag/etc?
- 1,069
9
votes
2
answers
31k
views
Rules for refreezing food
What are the general rules regarding when can you refreeze food that was frozen and then thawed in the fridge? and what are the reasons behind them? (Hygiene? Food quality?). Let's assume for the sake ...
- 1,140
113
votes
14
answers
295k
views
Do you heat the pan first, then add oil? Or put the oil in and heat up with the pan?
As the title says...
I personally heat up the pan first, then put the oil in and after it's heated up add the ingredients. I go with the line of reasoning that doing it this way gives the oil less ...
- 4,947
96
votes
10
answers
253k
views
Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge?
I heard that putting really warm food in the fridge right after cooking it is not the right thing to do. It might cause bacterial growth? Is this true?
- 1,125
55
votes
6
answers
65k
views
Why does my food turn out poorly using an All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan?
I have an All-Clad frying pan, the precise one shown below:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005AL5F
I made this purchase out of curiosity after reading about the benefits of this professional ...
- 1,035
51
votes
13
answers
35k
views
Should I refrigerate eggs?
I've read a lot of conflicting advice on whether it's advisable to store eggs in the refrigerator. The case against seems twofold: (1) that eggshells are porous, and eggs can take on unwelcome ...
- 663
42
votes
14
answers
746k
views
How to quickly and safely defrost chicken?
What is the safest, quick way to defrost chicken? Microwave? Running water over it?
- 585
40
votes
13
answers
265k
views
How to fix food that got extra salty?
How to fix food that got extra salty? I imagine this depends on what the food is. With spaghetti, you can add water or change water if you detect it on time. But what about grilled meat? Or a tomato ...
- 1,341
37
votes
4
answers
8k
views
What oil or fat to use for different purposes?
I understand that one of the main reasons to use different kinds of fat or oil is the temperature at which it burns, e.g. an extra-virgin olive oil to fry a steak wouldn't work. Taste is also a very ...
- 1,083
32
votes
11
answers
102k
views
Dissolving cocoa powder in milk
I wanted to make a Stevia-sweetened chocolate milk so I tried mixing some unsweetened cocoa powder with the milk and stevia, but I found that the cocoa powder doesn't mix with the milk at all. It ...
- 493
20
votes
7
answers
414k
views
Is it safe to cook a steak that was left out (raw) for 7 hours?
I left a round steak out for 7 hours in a container of cold water. It was wrapped very well, hadn't been opened yet.
Is it ok to cook this? I planned on cooking it in the crockpot for 8 hours.
- 209
12
votes
3
answers
36k
views
How to measure the temperature of a pan?
When I need to know if a pan is above or below 100 Celsius but don't have a thermometer handy, I squirt some water on it. Say I want to check for another temperature, e.g. for the Maillard reaction or ...
user4697
105
votes
10
answers
843k
views
Is it safe to eat potatoes that have sprouted?
I'm talking about potatoes that have gone somewhat soft and put out shoots about 10cm long.
Other online discussions suggest it's reasonably safe and the majority of us have been peeling and eating ...
- 4,170
60
votes
11
answers
53k
views
How can I get chewy chocolate chip cookies?
My chocolate chips cookies are always too crisp. How can I get chewy cookies, like those of Starbucks?
Thank you to everyone who has answered. So far the tip that had the biggest impact was to chill ...
- 4,603
51
votes
12
answers
163k
views
Frying Oil Reuse
What are some guidelines or rules with regard to filtering and reusing (vegetable/canola/sunflower) oil that has been used for deep frying?
Is it safe and acceptable under some circumstances to ...
- 695
45
votes
11
answers
181k
views
How long can I keep eggs in the refrigerator?
To keep eggs useful and healthy, what is the average time I can keep them in refrigerator? Can I freeze, and re-use them after melting, or will they be useless or not healthy to eat?
- 883
25
votes
3
answers
11k
views
How deeply will the flavors in a brine penetrate chicken?
I'm not asking about salt or "juiciness". I think there is enough evidence here and elsewhere to answer that question with "pretty deep, or all the way to the bone". My question concerns spices and ...
- 58.5k
20
votes
6
answers
20k
views
How to calculate the calorie content of cooked food?
I like to cook from scratch, and I'm currently trying to loose a few pounds. I know that cooked food is generally more calorific than raw food, so if I add up the calories of the ingredients I know it ...
- 383
19
votes
5
answers
56k
views
Can adequate heating transform spoiled food into safe food?
Suppose I have some food that became unsafe or contaminated by any means besides explicitly adding dangerous substances. It could be past the expiration date, or handled unsafely by leaving at room ...
- 4,940
18
votes
5
answers
122k
views
How do you know when a cultured item is no longer safe to consume?
How do you know when yougurt (for example) is no longer safe to consume?
Do I know it from the taste, how it smells, or something else?
- 7,052