My daughter is on a gluten free diet. If I wanted to use corn starch to replace flour as a thickener in stews, how much would I need? - Dave As a general rule, you would use about half to two-thirds the amount of pure starch, depending on type, as flour to get the same thickening effect. What I would suggest, is that for each... Read more →

Hi. My wife keeps telling me that I shouldn't mix the last leftovers, say from a container of hummus, with the new one. I say there is no reason not to. What do you think?- Jake There is good reason behind your wife's concern, and that is that you are mixing food that has already had a chance for bacterial growth into new food, thus... Read more →

In our local newspaper recently was an article titled Italian twist lightens up classic French onion soup1. The author is a well known and respected chef, author and TV personality. The lead in says, "In my quest to slim down this French classic, I turned to Italy. I swapped out Gruyere in favour of Parmigiano-Reggiano and moved the... Read more →

I've heard it said that what we buy as buttermilk on the supermarkets now isn't the same as what buttermilk used to be. Can you explain the difference to me? --Strong Back in the day, as my kids would say, buttermilk was the liquid that was left behind when butter was made. The milk would be left stand for the cream to rise, and... Read more →

Why do pie crust recipes tell you to refrigerate the dough before rolling it out?--Linda Refrigerating the dough after mixing has two main benefits. First, it cools down the fat, usually butter and/or shortening, making it firm again. If the fat becomes too soft, it will mix too completely with the flour. To get a good crust, you need... Read more →

How do you measure flour after it is sifted? I can only figure out how to measure it before. I'm sifting into a big bowl and it would be so messy to then put it back into the measuring cup! -- Amy Use two approximately square pieces of waxed paper. Fold them both across their width to form a crease, and then lay them out flat beside... Read more →

My husband cooked chicken breasts on the barbecue grill yesterday. We put the remaining breasts into the refrigerator soon after pulling them off of the grill, around 3:00 pm. At 4:00 am, my daughter pulled the chicken out of the fridge to make a sandwich and forgot to put the other breasts back. My husband found them at 5:30 a.m. and... Read more →

I am reading your article about the baking powder. Mine contains monocalcium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate and cornstarch. Since the monocalcium phosphate is listed in your article as available for both the fast and slow acting components, is this particular brand I am using (Rumford, aluminum-free) considered 'Double'? It bubbled up... Read more →

I got a new quick read probe thermometer, but I'm not sure it is reading accurately. Is there an easy way to check it?-- Dan There are two temperatures that are very easy to check a thermometer for in the home kitchen -- the freezing point of water, and its boiling point. Water freezes at 32°F (0°C). If your thermometer will read... Read more →

I recently learned that all white salt is processed and devoid of some 80 minerals. Is that why iodine is added?--Name Withheld Salt, whether of the table salt variety or harvested by vestal virgins under a full moon in October contains almost no iodine, unless it is added. According to M. G. Venkatesh Mannar, Executive Director The... Read more →