Milk Street Q&A

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Heath - The Cooking School and customer service teams don't monitor this board so, in the future, you will have a quicker response if you head directly to them at either at cookingschool@177milkstreet.com or info@177milkstreet.com. We will go ahead and forward your inquiry to them. 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 Laure - We haven't had a chance to taste this yet, but I'm sure the folks in the store can answer your question. I will forward your question over to them but, in the future, if you've got questions about store products, the fastest way to get an answer is to email them at - store@177milkstreet.com. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Cheryl - Many chefs and bakers believe that using unsalted butter will allow you to control the salt content in your dishes better than using salted butter. But we've tested salted versus unsalted butter in a number of savory and baking recipes and we didn’t find any measurable difference between the two. The small amount of salt in salted butter (it's about 1/4 teaspoon per stick, depending on the brand) is undetectable when cooked or baked in a recipe, we found. Still, we have a preference between the two. Though most culinary professionals and publications will recommend using unsalted butter, we prefer the salted kind because it tastes better when you’re not cooking with it. Unsalted butter doesn’t cut it on toast! Since we prefer to stick with one kind, salted butter is our choice. It also has a longer shelf life. So if you don’t go through butter at a fast rate, buying salted butter is a good idea. You can certainly still use unsalted butter in our recipes if you prefer. You just may need to adjust the salt to your personal tastes. Using salted butter in the lemon almond pound cake will not make the cake salty, it will just give it a more rounded, deeper flavor. Hope that helps! 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 Eric - Nope! The raw corn is cut off the cob and then cooked in the skillet. It only takes a few minutes for fresh corn kernels to cook. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Dana - If you're making something that is cooked you could add ground coriander when you add garlic, onion, or spices. Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant so their profiles will be similar however, when dried and ground, the flavor isn't as potent. Also, instead of substituting with just fresh parsley, add a a splash of lemon or lime juice. Cilantro has a grassy flavor with citrus notes so the grassiness of parsley combined with the citrus juice can replicate it better. And, depending on the dish, you could also substitute with basil or, if you can find it, Thai basil. Both of these would be good in southeast Asian dishes or tomato-based Mexican dishes. Good luck! Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Catherine - Since all of the chicken won't fit on one sheet pan, this might be challenging. Because you will need (at least) two pans you will need to put one sheet tray on a higher rack than another. When it comes time to use the broiler to brown the chicken, one rack will be closer to the broiler and might burn, rather than brown, while the other tray won't be exposed to the broiler at all since the tray above it will block it. Assuming you can fit everything on two trays without overcrowding the chicken (overcrowding will cause the chicken to steam rather than brown due to lack of air flow), we would probably recommend cooking the chicken to temperature - one tray on the lower-middle rack and one on the upper-middle rack - and then taking out the chicken on the higher rack while you brown the chicken on the lower-middle rack. Then remove that tray and add the other tray back (on the lower-middle rack) and brown that batch of chicken. Hope this helps! Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team