I have a recipe that calls for flour and butter and then says to combine them to make a "beurre manié" but it doesn't explain what that is or how it is made. Can you please explain. - Josh Beurre manié (pronounced Burr mahn-ee-AY) is a common way of using flour to thicken sauces, stews or soups. The term means kneaded or rubbed... Read more →

I started with plain flour and yeast and realized the flour wasn't sufficient. Without thinking, I grabbed the available flour on my shelf but discovered it was self raising after I had mixed it all. Is that still edible? What will happen to my pizza now? Thanks- Evelyn In general, if you use self-rising flour in place of plain flour... Read more →

Is it okay to use extra virgin olive oil to season a pan?- Mary I wouldn't recommend using extra virgin olive oil, simply because you are paying a premium for the extra virgin part. That said, pretty much any cooking oil can be used to season frying pans. I use regular olive oil to season my cast iron pans, but you have to be careful... Read more →

How do you convert solid coconut oil weight to fluid ounces? -Marleen In order to know how many fluid ounces there are for a given weight of coconut oil, or any other ingredient, the first thing you need is a conversion factor. It turns out that the USDA has a very helpful tool, called their Nutrient Database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/... Read more →

Sometimes I make a dish which calls for Gruyere, Jarlsberg or another pricey cheese which is sold in much larger quantities than I require. Can these cheeses be frozen and used later for another cooked dish?-Zender Cheese can be frozen, however freezing can affect the quality of the cheese. In general, higher fat cheeses will freeze... Read more →

Despite its reputation as being the hallmark of a skilled chef, a beautiful cheese soufflé is surprisingly simple to do, takes very little effort, and wows dinner guests. And, contrary to popular myth, you don't need to tiptoe around the kitchen while it is baking. Just don't slam the oven door or choose then to practice your jumping... Read more →

How can I remove the oil from the top of a jar of peanut butter? Also, can I use the oil for cooking?- Tony Like you, I suspect, I prefer so-called "natural" peanut butter with no added ingredients over those made with hydrogenated oils and sugar. I find the other stuff gives it an unpleaseant texture and a cloyingly sweet taste. Ground... Read more →

This post is a bit of a rant and a bit of a cooking lesson. Recently for lunch I grabbed a bowl of soup, as I usually do, from the Boffins Atrium Café at Innovation Place in Saskatoon (shameless plug for my wife's book of watercolor paintings of our beautiful city). My choices were Golden Chicken Rice or vegetarian Mushroom Barley. I... Read more →

How do I clean a seasoned fry pan in which I've cooked chicken?-Diane I'm not really sure what this question is getting at, but I'll hazard a guess that since chicken is notorious for contamination from salmonella, enterococcus or E. coli (among others), what you are concerned about is cross-contamination of other foods by a pan in which... Read more →

When you cook larger quantities of rice (say, more than three cups dry rice), you need proportionally less water. Can you provide a rule of thumb or a chart? I cook both white and brown rice.-- Marcia I can find no detailed reference for the amount of water needed to cook larger quantities of rice but I notice that the instructions for... Read more →