CookingAsked Feb 09, 2021 by John V.
I've long loved the mushroom toast concept (wild / wacky mushrooms I otherwise don't know what to do with, garlic, white wine reduced, some yogurt or creme fraiche, thyme all on good toast), but I'm on the hunt for how to make it without the dairy. Almond milk didn't work. Suppose I could find a non-dairy yogurt to try with it, but wondering if the Milk Street team had any ideas?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi John - Obviously you could just eliminate the dairy element and it would still be delicious, but I assume you want to keep that creamy element on your toast. If you can find it, Kite Hill vegan ricotta is pretty good and would be great here. Or, you could make your own dairy-free labneh. There are a bunch of recipes online that use either coconut or soy yogurt or, even better, cashews in place of the dairy. We do this in our Butter Chicken recipe to add creaminess without the weight of dairy and it's amazing how creamy it is! Let us know if you try any of these options and how it turned out! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jan 20, 2021 by Roger M.
Any subs for fish sauce
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Roger - A combination of soy sauce and minced anchovies would be a great substitute. If anchovies are not an option then a combination of equal parts soy sauce and vinegar will work pretty well too. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Dec 21, 2020 by Shelly R.
Do you hold any online cooking classes geared specifically toward kids? Like for 12+ year olds?
Answered by April Dodd
Shelly - thanks for getting in touch! Occasionally, we do offer livestream public cooking classes with kids specifically in mind, though we don't have any on our calendar right now. That said, many of our classes are a great fit for adventurous and aspiring young cooks, even if they're not created exclusively for kids. Our 60 Minute Spice Master class, for instance, is an awesome introduction to spices for any age. You can see that class, and others, on our livestream class calendar, here. - April D.
Read MoreAsked Dec 20, 2020 by Ann T.
Many of your Milk Street recipes call for various types of peppers. I am a fan, but my family, not so much. They don’t care for “hot” spicy. Is there something you recommend to substitute for that layer of flavor? Thank you!
Answered by April Dodd
Ann - great question! Any time we think about substitutions, the first step is to think about the "work" that any ingredient is doing in a recipe. A chili pepper will bring some heat, of course, but depending on which techniques are used and whether the chili is fresh or dried, it might be used to thicken a soup, add crunch to a salad, or something totally different. That said, a good jumping-off point for replacing spicy peppers is to look to sweet peppers. Use a red bell pepper to replace red chilies, like Fresno, since they share a fruity flavor profile; turn to a green bell pepper instead of green chilies, like jalapeño or serrano, as they all have a nice minerally, vegetal quality. Instead of dried chili flakes, sweet paprika is often a good option. If your family can tolerate mild heat, I'd play around a bit with Aleppo pepper, which has a mild heat and fruity flavor that won't overwhelm. If you are wondering about specific recipes where you want to replace a hot pepper, let me know and I'll be happy to work through the substitution puzzle with you! - April D.
Read MoreAsked Dec 11, 2020 by Stephanie K.
Hello, I purchased what I think is whole farro (as opposed to pearled) at the market and tried to cook it but it never got as tender as I've had it in restaurants. It was on the stovetop for over an hour. Any tips on how to cook whole farro? Thank you!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Stephanie - You might want to try soaking it overnight in water. Then drain and cook it using the pasta method - adding the farro to salted boiling water and then cooking and draining. This should be faster. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Dec 07, 2020 by Anne E.
For the first time this week, I tried Hello Fresh. In the meal kit, I cooked a pork tenderloin with Bulgogi Sauce. It might have been the best sauce I have ever had in my life. How can I make Bulgogi Sauce? I looked for it at my local grocery store (Safeway) and didn't find a jar of it in the Asian aisle or the BBQ sauce aisle. If someone has something they could share with me, I'd be forever grateful. Thank you!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Anne - Our Korean-Style Spicy Pork is actually a bulgogi recipe. Even better, it's from our new cookbook, Cookish, which means it comes together in a snap with a few flavorful ingredients. Hope you like it! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Nov 11, 2020 by Glover W.
Looking through my pantry, I've amassed a number of oils due to recipes specifying which to use, but I realize (beyond sauteing with olive oil for its taste or deep frying with peanut oil for its high smoke point) that usually I don't understand why any particular oil is called for instead of any other.
Right now I've got olive, vegetable, canola, safflower, grape seed, (refined) coconut, and avocado oil. Are there certain situations that call for one of these over all the others? Can anyone explain why? Left to my own devices I'd probably just use vegetable all in almost all non-deep frying situations -- is there any reason not to do this?
Thanks for any input!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Glover - We get this question a lot and Christopher Kimball and Sara Moulton did a great breakdown on canola and vegetable oil in this link. At the end of the article there is also a link to our testing on high-heat cooking oils with surprising results. Our favorite for high-heat cooking, and the one that consistently had the highest smoke point, was grapeseed oil, which is made from grape seeds, a byproduct of wine-making. Safflower oil—made by extracting oil from the seeds of the safflower, a cousin of the sunflower—was the second-most durable. And the biggest surprise: olive oil. Though extra-virgin olive oil is ill suited for high-heat cooking (we prefer it for off-heat applications such as vinaigrettes and for a finishing drizzle of flavor), we were impressed by how hot we could get refined olive oil. Avocado and refined coconut oil would be fine for a sauté over medium heat, but I wouldn't use them for high-heat searing or sautéing. Safflower, grapeseed, vegetable and canola are all in the same basic category. We like grapeseed or safflower, since they don't produce the "off" (sometimes described as "fishy") flavors that canola and vegetable oil do. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Nov 01, 2020 by John B.
Hi!
I tried the Babylonian Stew. Wonderful recipe.
My question. In the recipe (and any other time I try it) it calls for cooking the onions in the first-ish step to brown them. The leeks needed to be washed but then dried so the moisture wouldn't prevent browning. Well, with or without leeks, whenever I try to "brown" or carmelize onions, it doesn't work. I just get translucent onions because the amount of moisture inherently in the onions leaches out and more steams or boils than fries them. Especially not in the timeframe indicated in the recipes, including this one which I think was about 6 minute. So, how does one actually go about getting carmelized or even just browned onions? I'd love to be able to put some on a bbq sandwich or a hamburger.
Thanks,
JB
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi John -
Browned onions and caramelized onions are two different things. Caramelized onions are generally cooked for a longer time (1/2 hour or so) over lower heat. This yields sweet, soft onions that are great on a burger, pizza, or sandwich. Browned onions are usually quickly cooked and yield crispier, slightly more bitter onions. A couple of key things for properly caramelized onions - make sure to use a large enough pan. If the pan is too small, the moisture released from the onions will not evaporate and the onions won't caramelize. Second, don't overcrowd the pan. Again, if there are too many onions, the moisture won't evaporate and the onions will brown unevenly. For browned onions, we generally cook these over medium or medium-high. Everyone's stovetop is different so our "medium" in a recipe may align more closely with your medium-high. If you find they aren't browning in the time called for in the recipe you can either cook them longer until they start to brown or increase the heat (or both). Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Oct 31, 2020 by Joshua F.
What prep or changes to the recipe should I do to my homemade pasta in order to substitute it for pre-cooked or no bake lasagna noodles?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Joshua -
I assume you are referring to our Lasagna Bolognese recipe? We haven't tested this with homemade noodles, but I would probably follow the directions for soaking the noodles, but wouldn't soak them for the full 10 minutes. Just enough to moisten the noodles so they don't absorb too much of the sauce. Again, we haven't tested this in our kitchen, but that would be my advice based on the recipe notes. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Oct 21, 2020 by Larry K.
Today I tried the Spicy Pork with Leeks, following the recipe to the letter. I wound up with predominantly tough, dried out pork. I did cut the pork pieces uniformly, and about a third of the pieces were acceptable, whilst the others were not. Did I braise the dish too long, not long enough, at too high a temperature, or should I use more wine? I’m at a loss as almost every other recipe from Milk Street is “dead on”. I do live at 8500 feet in Colorado, but generally this only affects baking.... any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Larry - It actually is probably the altitude. The key factor is declining air pressure at higher altitudes. Falling air pressure lowers the boiling point of water by just under 1 degree Fahrenheit for each 500 feet of increased elevation. The lower boiling point means water will cook off more quickly, and at a lower temperature. Therefore, certain moist-heat cooking methods, boiling and braising, for example, can take up to 25% longer to properly cook food at altitude than at sea level. Next time I'd continue cooking until a knife or skewer inserted in the meat meets little or no resistance. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
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