What Chowhounds are discussing on the General Topics board.
Trends identified, obscure questions asked and answered, and weird, fantastic food finds found.
Sometimes raw ground beef is a healthy-looking red color on the outside, but inside it's more of a brown color. This is perfectly normal and exactly what it should look like, says Uncle Bob. (And Ray Venezia of Fairway Market in New York seconds what Uncle Bob says; check out Ray's CHOW Tip video on how to choose ground meat.) Meat "blooms" (that is, it turns red) when the myoglobin in it comes into contact with oxygen, Uncle Bob says. Break up the hunk of ground beef, and the inside will turn red, too. "You'll also see this with other pieces of meat, like steaks," says tommy. "If two steaks are lying on top of each other (well, that's physically impossible, but you know what I mean), you might notice that they are brown where they are coming in contact with each other."
Discuss: Interior color of ground beef
Ground beef image from Shutterstock
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on Monday, May 28th, 2012
What's the easiest cookie you can make that you won't be reluctant to eat? Tubes of slice-and-bake cookie dough get high scores for convenience, but some hounds object to the flavor. The packaged doughs all have a bit of an artificial taste, says gooddog—especially plain sugar cookie dough. But "with more stuff added, that taste gets masked." READ MORE
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on Sunday, May 27th, 2012
While traveling through Quito, Ecuador, standish was intrigued by the unusual way the owner of a hostel prepared coffee. "Basically she had a tall, glass, refrigerated decanter of thick, syrupy coffee that was possibly slightly sweet," says standish. "You simply added this to hot water with or without milk to a desirable proportion." This elixir wasn't in a commercial bottle, and seemed to be a homemade preparation, though Alan408 notes that commercial instant coffee comes in liquid as well as granulated and powdered forms.
The concentrated liquid preparation that standish mentions reminds John E. of the concentrated cold-brew coffee he likes to make and dilute with cold milk over ice, or with hot water—though it doesn't have the syrupy, gel-like texture of the stuff standish remembers. "Cold brewed coffee is quite strong but seems to be less bitter with less acid," he says. "I put a pound of ground coffee into a kettle and pour 12 cups of water over it and let it steep for 24 hours in the refrigerator. After straining the coffee, I put it into .5 liter water bottles and freeze it for future use."
Discuss: Strange coffee prep while traveling?
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on Saturday, May 26th, 2012
There's perennial confusion about sweet potatoes and yams; most sweet tubers for sale in the United States are sweet potatoes, not true yams. But Will Owen has found a kind of true yam—"the football-sized white-fleshed ones"—at Latino markets around Los Angeles, especially those markets catering to Cubans, he says. "You need a good, heavy-bladed knife to cut them into cooking-sized chunks, but they're delicious and very sweet."
Discuss: Yams vs. Sweet potatoes
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on Friday, May 25th, 2012
What "weird" foods do Chowhounds eat in the kitchen when nobody's looking? Surprisingly, delicious fats usually reserved for cooking are a popular indulgence. biondanonima's secret snack is butter—straight from a spoon. "My husband found this equally fascinating and repulsive when we first started living together, but to me it's no different than eating a very rich triple creme cheese, or a spoonful of crème fraîche, etc.," she says. Jzone has a similar penchant: a spoonful of good extra-virgin olive oil. "I love a great evoo from almost anywhere in the Mediterranean and will sip some straight up with a pinch of grey salt or fleur de sel," Jzone says. "Currently really enjoying a Palestinian evoo." Finally, mutti likes pure duck fat smeared on French bread. READ MORE
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on Thursday, May 24th, 2012
Large dried lima beans (called "butter beans" when cooked and canned) have a completely different flavor from small limas, says greygarious, even though they're the same color. greygarious says these beans make a great substitute for potatoes in "fauxtato salad"—their taste and texture are virtually indistinguishable from spuds.
Uncle Bob likes large lima beans with andouille sausage and cornbread, while dberg1313 likes to use them for Boston baked beans.
Discuss: Dry large lima beans - going the way of the dodo?
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on Saturday, May 19th, 2012
Is a deep understanding of wine something anyone can learn? How about pairing wine with food? "I know what sommeliers will tell you (what they are trained to tell you): drink what you like!" says mp413. "But I also know that sometimes a wine just doesn't work with some food, while another wine will work perfectly, and I don't just want someone to tell me what to order, I want to know what to order." READ MORE
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on Friday, May 18th, 2012
Onions keep best when stored in cool, dark places—sparrowgrass thinks the fridge works just fine. "Don't store potatoes and onions in the same place," sparrowgrass warns. "One causes the other to sprout and spoil."
Sweet onions (including Vidalias) that haven't been cured for dry storage can be individually wrapped in paper towels and stacked in the crisper, says Karl S—they keep for months that way.
Discuss: Storing onions and garlic
Sweet onion image from Shutterstock
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on Thursday, May 17th, 2012
What do you do when your tub of yogurt separates into watery liquid (whey) and thicker yogurt? Do you mix it back together or drain off the liquid?
Draining results in a thicker, creamier yogurt. "Greek yogurt is just regular yogurt with the whey strained out," says Kajikit. "My grandfather made yogurt and yogurt cheese and farmer's cheese letting each one drip through a cloth and then throwing away the water," says rccola. "When it gets dense enough, use it as a spread on toast or fruit, especially bananas with nutmeg."
But the whey contains nutrients that some hounds are reluctant to waste. "Yogurt whey is a combination of sugars, proteins and minerals, particularly calcium," says JungMann. "The more whey you drain from the yogurt, the more sugar and calcium you drain, however you do end up with a more protein-dense final product."
If you like the richer texture of strained yogurt but don't want to lose the whey, drain it off and save it for another use. ipsedixit likes whey for cooking oatmeal or baking bread. It lasts a long time, too, says JungMann—a month or more in the refrigerator—and it freezes well. No reason not to keep it for some future use.
Discuss: When yogurt separates - mix it in or drain it?
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on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
Hakka rice snacks, also known as sticky rice dumplings, are "greenish, glutinous objects" made from soft dough and any number of fillings. DaveCook recently tried two from a Chinatown bakery: One was full of sweet, sticky rice while the other contained a crunchy, slawlike filling. "The outside is flavored with mugwort and sweetened," says calf of the latter. "The savory filling includes shredded dried radish, mushrooms, pork, maybe also onion, dried shrimp. In other words, maximum umami."
Discuss: Name that filling!
Photograph by DaveCook
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on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
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