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Questions tagged [culinary-uses]

Questions about the culinary uses of products that are normally discarded or used in non-culinary applications. DO NOT use for everyday ingredients, leftovers, etc - this is off topic.

This tag is used for questions about the culinary applications of edible items which:

  • Would be considered waste (e.g. stale bread or apple peel);
  • Are edible but primarily used for non-culinary applications (e.g. hops or lavender).
  • Are extremely rare and difficult to find recipes for (e.g. sumac). At a minimum, items in this category should be unavailable in typical supermarkets.

Questions about leftovers or common ingredients are not an appropriate use of this tag and will likely be closed as they are equivalent to recipe requests. When using this tag, please make sure the question fits one of the above criteria in order to avoid having it closed.

Tip for answerers: try to answer with classes of use (e.g. nutritional yeast is a flavor enhancer for soup, starter dough can be used for quickbreads) and also explain why the ingredient is effective in that class. Favorite recipes are not useful answers.

149 questions
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How can I use roses in cooking?

I have some very pungent roses in bloom at the moment, on smelling them my first thought was that they smelled like Turkish Delight. My Second thought that was it should be possible to use them in a pudding of some sort myself. I have seen rose…
Jeremy French
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Using beet stock

There's a pot full of water left over after boiling beets. I know beets are full of good stuff. I'd rather not throw this beet stock down the drain, but rather use it. How can this beet water or beet stock be put to good use?
DontLetMeDown
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Culinary uses for honeycomb?

On a whim, I bought real honeycomb (not the cookie type dessert) from a local shop. I tried eating it plain, but the wax makes it unpleasant and chewy. What can I do with it?
Alec
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What can I do with leftover wine?

We don't really drink wine in our house, so we only ever buy a bottle for cooking. Typically whatever meal we have made requires ~1/2 bottle. How can I incorporate the rest of this wine into some other simple meals without resorting to any…
csgillespie
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How would you use a lot of lemons?

We've got a lemon tree and an overabundance of lemons at the moment. Aside from lemonade, what should I do with them?
Jon Galloway
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Reheating Hamburger Helper

When I make Hamburger Helper I always follow the directions exactly and the consistency of the sauce is usually good--not too thick and not too watery--but whenever I reheat the leftovers the sauce practically turns into water and it becomes like a…
Matt
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Making pickles or preserves from hedgehog cucumbers (cucumis africanus)

Tiny hedgehog cucumbers, cucumis africanus, are usually grown as ornamental. The blurb in the seed catalogue mentions they were historically pickled and preserved, although they are rarely used for such purposes anymore. I have been looking for any…
Megha
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What can I do with apple peel?

I made an apple pie the other day and peeled 6 or so apples. I ended up composting the peelings, and it got me wondering, what else could I have done with them?
Sam Holder
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What to do with leftover whey from vinegar-based cheese preparation

Whey is a valuable protein-rich by-product of cheese preparation. There are many advises for using whey came out of cheese preparation by culture. However, the whey produced after cheese preparation with vinegar (without culture) should be…
Googlebot
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Why do instructions for carving a chicken disregard the back?

Many instructions for carving a roast chicken don't mention doing anything with the meat on the back. For example, Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything, describes how to cut the breast, leg, and wing from the bird, but doesn't say to do anything…
Michael Hoffman
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What are some savory banana applications?

I have a lot of bananas, but I don't particularly like bananas. I would like to try using them, but I want to use them in a more savory application. I'm not looking to make a dessert or bread with them. How can I use a banana in a savory…
GeneratorHalf
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What is the best way to re-serve day old meat balls?

I've noticed that meatballs are one type of food that often tastes much better the next day. So whenever I make meatballs, I make lots of extras and put them in my fridge to allow the flavors to "develop". However, when I warm the meatballs up in…
Adisak
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Burnt milk uses

Though infrequently, when boiling milk, it gets burnt if you forget about the milk on stove. I usually boil 2-3L of milk in one big pan on stove/induction. When it gets burnt, it develops a peculiar smell and taste and in our house nobody can bear…
Ojasvi
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What can be done with left over mussel shells?

What can be done with left over mussel shells? I have heard of them being boiled to make sauces etc. Is there any other culinary use for them once the mussels have been removed?
Jack Robinson
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What is the purpose of vermouth in potato leek soup?

I have taken elements of a number of different recipes and have developed my own recipe for potato leek soup. The ingredients are: Potatos Leeks Vegetable and chicken stock Butter Garlic Heavy cream Salt, various herbs and spices Vermouth Quite a…
squillman
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