Cooking

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Susan - Honey is a super-saturated solution of two sugars: glucose and fructose. The proportions of these two sugars are characteristics of the plants that bees feed on to make their honey. It's the glucose that crystallizes, so some types of honey are more resistant to crystallization because they have low glucose. Crystallized honey is perfectly fine and normal. Some even argue that crystallized honey is even better since crystallization is a sign that your honey hasn't been altered through pasteurization or filtering. You can decrystallize honey but putting the jar in a pot of water and heating it over very low heat. The honey will return to its liquid state but will likely not stay there for long. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Eileen - Canned tomato paste can be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks or frozen for a few months. I would portion it into and ice cube tray, freeze, then transfer the portions to a freezer zipper-lock bag so you can defrost only what you need. I actually prefer tomato paste in a tube. It's a little more expensive but easier to open, portion, and store. The manufacturers say it will keep in the fridge for at least a couple of months before the flavor will begin to change but I know mine has been in the fridge for much longer than that and I don't really notice a difference. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Valorie - Our goal at Milk Street is to travel the world and learn how the rest of the world cooks on a daily basis and introduce our readers to those dishes and techniques. These are bold dishes using fresh vegetables, herbs, fish, etc., many of which I'm sure fit into the keto/paleo lifestyle, but we don't have plans to focus on any specific diets in our magazine. I am not schooled on the intricacies of the Keto/Paleo diets, so I'm not sure which ingredients are and are not acceptable. However, most reliable recipes for pumpkin, butternut squash, or sweet potato gnocchi usually also include white potato. This is because squash and sweet potatoes are significantly more wet than white potato which, in turn, creates a very wet gnocchi dough that's would be hard to work with. If you want to use squash or sweet potatoes, I would recommend really drying them out before using them in your dough. You can do this in a low oven or a dry pot on the stovetop after cooking them. Also, as I'm sure you know, gnocchi needs flour for structure so you will need to sub with a gluten-free flour as well. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hi Shawnee, There are so many excellent Indian cookbook authors, chefs and cooks working in the US and around the world! Last year, we met with cookbook author Meera Sodha in London where she taught us some dishes. You can find our version of her Coconut Curried Chickpeas and Potatoes with Quick Parathas on our website and in the march/April Issue of our magazine. Her Tandoori Cauliflower with Cashew-Cilantro Sauce is on our website and in the July/August 2026 Issue of our magazine. Our Milk Street Cooking School hosts online workshops featuring Indian cuisine with cookbook authors and instructors. We recently had the workshop Three Ways to Make a Samosa with Vina Patel. Next month will be Indian Street Food with Jyoti & Auyon Mukharji. You can look for books of these icons of Indian cuisine, Madhur Jaffrey and Julie Sahni, as well as many others.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Omar - Hmm, I'm not sure that Christopher did a recipe on the show for miso rice. He did do a fantastic recipe for a Miso-Ginger Dressing that can be used as a salad dressing, drizzled over roasted vegetables, or mixed into rice. Maybe that's the one? Either way, it's a great recipe to have in your repertoire if you don't already. It's super versatile - I even use it to make chicken salad. Hope this is helpful! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Eileen - Are you deep frying the fish? In other words, is the fish fully submerged in the oil or are you just pan-frying the fish in a small amount of oil? If you are deep frying or cooking over a relatively high heat, I would use an oil with a higher smoke point, such as grapeseed or canola oil, rather than olive oil. Olive oil will smoke around 390 degrees, extra-virgin around 350. You'd want to heat oil to about 350 before frying so you run the risk of smoking the oil, which will negatively affect flavor. Although you can typically reuse frying oil, I wouldn't reuse fish-frying oil. The strong flavors of fish can get pretty funky during storage and make your next meal taste pretty terrible. For other oil, you can strain the oil through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter (a paper towel will work too) and return it to an air-tight container. Oil can be reused at least 3 times and up to 7 or 8, if you've fried something mild in it, like potatoes. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jared - I love Portland! I used to live there too. I also lived in Colorado for a month, so I've had some opportunity to cook at altitude. It's hard. When cooking, everything takes a lot longer to finish since the boiling point at altitude is lower than at sea level. For example, an apple baked in an oven set at 350°F will reach an internal temperature of 200°F in 20 minutes in Las Cruces, NM (3,500 ft elevation), while in Taos Ski Valley, NM (10,000 ft elevation) it will take 45 minutes to reach that same temperature. So plan for everything you made in Portland to take longer in Denver. Baking is a bit more complex. King Arthur Flour has a guide to baking at altitude that is fantastic and links to two other guides from Colorado State University Extension and New Mexico State University with even more information. Hope that provides some guidance for you! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Margaret - What a nice memory. This sounds simple and perfect for a cold and wet day like we had here in Boston yesterday. Thanks for sharing! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by April Dodd

Great question, Linh. There are some nonstick pans (like Swiss Diamond brand) that are actually designed to be used without oil. If you have one of those, then you should heed the manufacturer instructions and seek out recipes designed for that cookware. For most nonstick pans, though, oil still serves multiple purposes. First, oil conducts heat more evenly, preventing hot spots that might be caused by the design of the cooktop or the pan itself. In addition, oils and butters are great vehicles for flavor in recipes, not just a protection against sticking. (Most spices, for example, are fat-soluble, so having some kind of fat in the pan allows the flavors of those spices to bloom and carry throughout the dish.) Finally, most recipes call for using some kind of oil even in nonstick pans because even excellent nonstick pans wouldn't truly succeed in, say, frying an egg with no oil at all, and getting stuck-on bits out of a nonstick pan is especially frustrating because you don't want to accidentally scratch the coating. If you'd really like to be able to control the amount of oil you use in your nonstick pan without running the risk of sticking, then I have a final (and perhaps counterintuitive) tip for you, which is to season your nonstick pans in roughly the same manner you might for a cast iron. To do this, simply rinse and thoroughly dry the pan, then place it over low heat and use a paper towel to rub about a teaspoon of neutral oil into the pan. For extra non-stick power, you can do this before each time you use the pan. - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Zachary - a brisket can feel like a big project, but we've found that it quickly becomes manageable when done in a pressure cooker. Do you have an Instant Pot or other multi-cooker? If so, the techniques described in our Mexican brisket salad are excellent for any brisket preparation, and you can easily make a sauce with a different flavor profile than the one called for here: Mexican Shredded Brisket Salad Just say the word if you don't have a pressure cooker and I'll get back to you with recommendations for other ways of tackling brisket. - April D.