Cooking

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Joshua - This technique is strictly about \peeling\ the eggs, not cooking them, so it should work regardless of how you cook them. The idea is to take hot eggs and chill them quickly to allow the albumen membrane of the egg to contract and release from the shell making it easier to peel. For hard-cooking eggs, our preferred method is to lower the eggs into boiling water and cooking for 8 minutes and 40 seconds to achieve a cooked white and a cooked, but still moist, yolk. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Leah - Good luck on your move! As city dwellers ourselves (in Boston) we, unfortunately, have a lot of experience with this! Your best bet is to purchase a covered mesh storage bowl like this in which to store your produce. Depending on the layout/size of your kitchen, a hanging fruit basket might work also. The most important thing, when it comes to critters, is to make sure nothing is easily accessible on the ground or on counters where they can get easy access (they often come in through a stove or under a refrigerator). If you have any large holes or open space under your cabinetry fill it in with steel wool to prevent them from even gaining access to your space and make sure to fully clean your counters and stovetop after cooking so there aren't any crumbs for them to nibble on. Hope this helps! Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Karmen - Any slow-cooked sauce or braise could benefit from the addition of Mexican chocolate. It does a great job of toning down bitterness and adding a little bit of sweetness and fuller flavor to your food. It would work well in chilis and sauces for pulled pork or pork ribs, posole, or enchiladas. You could also grind it up in a blender and combine with oats, dried fruit, and nuts to make a granola (or granola bars) with the unique flavor of Mexican chocolate. If you do decide to use it for baking, make sure to find recipes that call for Mexican chocolate specifically. Because of the difference in sugar content and cocoa butter between Mexican chocolate and bittersweet/semi-sweet chocolate, they aren't interchangeable. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Esther - In order to keep true to the version we had in Liberia, we only tested this using freshly-ground rice, which is how it's traditionally made. So, unfortunately, we can't offer any suggestions on how to convert the recipe using rice flour. We think it could work, but we just don't have the ingredient conversions to give you without doing considerably more testing. If we were going to test this, we would probably start by weighing the freshly-ground rice and using an equivalent amount of rice flour and seeing how that baked up. Then being adjusting amounts of flour, baking powder/soda, bananas, oil, ginger (in case the flavor of freshly-ground rice provides more balance to the ginger than more-mild rice flour), etc. to compensate for the change in rice. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Anthony - You could use a non-dairy yogurt. Several non-dairy brands now make a plain yogurt. These are usually low-fat and, though we generally prefer full-fat yogurt for marinades, it should still work. Otherwise you can try to think your non-dairy sour cream with non-dairy milk or water. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jake - To streamline the recipe we wanted to make sure it could be made with pre-ground chicken from the supermarket, which is almost exclusively ground breast meat, so we didn't test this with thighs. Due to the extra fat in thighs and its different texture - breasts are more firm, thighs are more "shred-y" - we don't think this swap would work in this recipe. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kacy - First, at the bottom of the recipes on the website you can see if a recipe has been "Featured In" our tv show or in a website video. You can also look through the episodes of the TV show under the TV Show tab on the website. Second, bruising is a technique used to release the flavors and aromas of certain ingredients, such as herbs, spices, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. It involves gently crushing or pressing the ingredient with a tool such as a mortar and pestle, the back of or heel of a knife, or even your hands. This releases the oils and juices within the ingredient, intensifying its flavour and aroma. Hope that helps! Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi John - We often reach for acidic ingredients when we want to “brighten” or “lift” a dish. When an earthy, savory, starchy and/or rich dish needs contrast, vinegars and other tart ingredients are the perfect fit for the job. They lend much-needed lightness to meals that can otherwise feel heavy. That contrast makes any dish more interesting and pleasurable to eat. Acids also balance other flavors. We experience acids as sour-tasting; that sourness balances both saltiness and sweetness. If a dish is too salty or sweet, try adding something acidic. It’s also important to have different sensations—warming vs. cooling— in our food. These differences may refer to actual temperature differences (hot vs. cold) or to the sensation, or effect, that an ingredient has. Think about a dollop of yogurt on top of a bowl of chili. There’s contrast in temperature and also in sensation: the creamy, tart yogurt is cooling, while the rich, meaty chili is warming. On the flip side, consider chili flakes: their temperature is likely room temperature or cooler, but they have the effect of warming us up. When it comes to acidic ingredients, even if they are used at room temperature, we experience them as cooling in culinary terms. Hope that helps explain it! Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Toni - You can replace with a combination of soy sauce and rice vinegar in a 1:1 ratio. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Mary - The key to finely shredded/flossed chicken, especially when using chicken breasts, is to cook it in liquid for a longer time over low heat. This will allow the small amount of collagen in lean chicken breasts to convert to gelatin, which softens the muscle fibers that allow you to shred it more finely. You can either shred it using two forks, your hands, or cut the chicken into smaller pieces and add it to your stand mixer. A couple of minutes in the mixer will quickly shred chicken into fine pieces. Good Luck! The Milk Street Cooking Team