63
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to cook an egg in a thermos flask?
Yes, it is possible to cook an egg in a thermos.
After thinking about the physics some, I decided to try this out. In particular, I considered that the egg is maybe 50ml in volume; with 500ml of ...
- 5,673
39
votes
Food is still undercooked on cast iron
Your pan was too hot. Cast iron pans can get ripping hot (which is good) and retain heat very well (which is also good). But, on the other hand, if you have a thicker piece of meat and want medium ...
- 3,466
39
votes
Could it really make sense to cook garlic for more than a minute?
It's not about "bang for the buck" - it's about different flavor profiles from the same ingredient. A small amount of nearly-raw garlic is not the same as a large amount of cooked garlic, ...
- 15.1k
32
votes
I want my potatoes to be baked within an hour, but I forgot to preheat the oven. Should I put them in while preheating or not?
In the UK, we call these 'jacket potatoes'1.
As already mentioned, putting them in a cold oven as it heats might win you five minutes, but not much more. It's very slightly more efficient overall than ...
- 28.9k
24
votes
Bell peppers become either crunchy or soggy
There is a slight carry over with most things you cook. However I think the answer to most "Why is my stir fry not like the restaurant's?" questions, has to do with heat. Their stoves are much, much ...
- 11.2k
23
votes
Accepted
Double cooked pasta
It's par-cooking the pasta, cooling it down (typically an ice water bath), so that when a customer orders, they can significantly reduce the time needed to get the dish prepared for them.
Yes
Boiling ...
- 79.3k
22
votes
Resolve a "the eggs take longer than the pizza" issue?
Another thing to try -- start or end the cooking with some minutes of the toaster oven on "broil". This should activate only the top heating elements, preferentially cooking the egg without ...
- 321
21
votes
Accepted
Sous Vide ribs -- can't eat for 2 days... best choice?
Pull them out on time. Cool them rapidly in an ice bath. The rapid cooling is for food safety reasons rather than any affect on the cooking. Reheat them for cooking however you were going to finish ...
- 19k
21
votes
Accepted
What, if at all, is the difference of cooking an egg on high or low heat?
The proteins in egg white and egg yolk behave differently at different temperatures. It is an ingredient that responds to very subtle temperature variations. That is why it is a favorite item to ...
- 73.2k
20
votes
Resolve a "the eggs take longer than the pizza" issue?
Put the eggs in something. Add boiling water (don't boil them on the stove, just pour boiling water over them and wait). Start a timer. Figure out how long you need to to that for before you crack ...
- 15.1k
19
votes
I want my potatoes to be baked within an hour, but I forgot to preheat the oven. Should I put them in while preheating or not?
You can put the potatoes in the oven while it's heating, and that's not going to make any overall difference in how long it takes the oven to get hot. Opening the door to put the potatoes inside ...
- 58.9k
17
votes
Accepted
How to cook dried red beans faster?
If you want to reduce total preparation time, you can skip the soak. Then you can just boil for about 4-6 hours, instead of soaking overnight. This is not a tradeoff most cooks are willing to make, ...
- 135k
16
votes
Accepted
Charles Darwin high altitude cooking of potatoes
My guess of what happened was that the potatoes were sitting in an open pot that was not in a rolling boil. I'm going to assume that they went down from the pass and the place where "they took up &#...
- 12.1k
16
votes
Is it possible to cook an egg in a thermos flask?
There's no magic solution, to cook an egg you have to expend a certain amount of energy. The issue you had with the flask method was that there wasn't enough heat in the water to cook the egg fully. ...
- 74.2k
16
votes
Is it possible to cook an egg in a thermos flask?
You don't need a dedicated device to steam an egg. I hard-boil eggs by placing the egg in a small pot with ~1.5 inches of boiling water. Cover with a lid and set over low heat (just enough that you ...
- 473
16
votes
Could it really make sense to cook garlic for more than a minute?
Depends on the cuisine, and the recipe. Cooking garlic for a long time generally makes it milder.
In some traditions, garlic can be cooked whole for a long time. In French cuisine for example, such as ...
- 1,687
15
votes
Food is still undercooked on cast iron
The very short answer: You had bad temperature control.
You have to leave meat on the skillet until the proper internal temperature is reached. If the outside burns before that, then you used too high ...
- 135k
13
votes
Is it just me or do you have to cook for a long time for it to be intuitive?
If your goal is to cook more intuitively (i.e. to make food without always following a recipe, and to be comfortable adapting a known recipe to suit your ingredients/preferences), then you will need ...
- 11.7k
12
votes
Accepted
Vegetable lasagna a bit too wet. How to adjust baking temp/time?
Mushrooms can throw off excess moisture. I would suggest cooking them down a bit further and draining on paper towel before adding them to your lasagna. You didn't mention how you baked your lasagna,...
- 73.2k
11
votes
What does this chart mean when it says "lbs per round" or "lbs per sqare/rectangle"?
It is a scalable recipe. First, you decide in which pan you want to bake the cake. You take your pan and measure it. Let's say you have a 9" round pan. You go into the column "lbs per round" and find ...
- 135k
11
votes
I want my potatoes to be baked within an hour, but I forgot to preheat the oven. Should I put them in while preheating or not?
Here's a hack: You can microwave your potato before baking it (like suggested in this great answer).
From The Spruce Eats:
The only problem is they take an hour to cook, which requires planning ahead....
- 3,581
11
votes
Resolve a "the eggs take longer than the pizza" issue?
I think the biggest issue you run into is thermal mass. The pizza is frozen, which is absorbing heat that the elements are trying to radiate onto the eggs, but the eggs are being chilled from the ...
- 111
10
votes
Does squeezing out liquid from shredded potatoes significantly reduce cook time?
Squeezing out moisture from grated potatoes doesn't make them cook faster, the reason you do that is because it gives you a crispy result. If you don't wring them out they'll be mushy, and any water ...
- 74.2k
10
votes
Could it really make sense to cook garlic for more than a minute?
How you cook garlic has substantial affects on it's flavor.
I use garlic in four different ways, each providing different flavors:
Raw, grated. (Good for Guacamole). Very intense, so, use it small ...
- 383
9
votes
Meaning of do not thaw for frozen food
If you're cooking store-bought frozen food (a pot pie for instance) and you thaw it first, following the cooking instructions on the package will lead to over-cooking, burnt crust, and a dry meal. The ...
- 91
9
votes
Accepted
I have been cooking yogurt cakes in the US for a while and each time it has to cook for an extra 20 min. Why?
My first suspicion would be your oven. Home ovens are notoriously inaccurate, and it may be that yours is just slow, which is to say that it doesn't quite reach the temperature to which you set it. If ...
- 4,796
9
votes
Accepted
My oven seems to cook the outside faster than the inside
so I have used a laser temperature probe pointed at the chicken and adjusted the dial so that this value is 180C
That's not how you are meant to do it. 180 C is the oven temperature, not the ...
- 135k
9
votes
Accepted
Cooking pasta longer to get it al dente?
This is almost certainly a packaging error. It is the reverse of what your picture shows, and you are correct. Al dente (or "to the tooth") is achieved before the noodle is completely soft ...
- 73.2k
8
votes
What is the lowest temperature possible (of water) to cook meat in?
The answer depends on the type of meat as well as the thickness. There are different things you need to worry about killing in different kinds of meat, and it takes a different amount of time for ...
- 58.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Why cool creme brulee?
Crème brûlée is supposed to be served cold, with a hard, crisp caramel layer on top. So that requires cooling after baking. The baking is needed to set the crème, it might just be a bit firmer after ...
- 1,147
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