Questions tagged [ingredient-selection]

Questions about selecting desirable ingredients (e.g. checking fruit ripeness). Please do not use for "which ingredient should I use in my dish" - this kind of question is subjective and will be closed.

The tag is for those looking to improve their "catch" when out picking ingredients, usually at the market. Questions about gauging the ripeness of a particular fruit or recognizing when a particular vegetable is still fresh are welcome topics in this tag.

This tag is not meant for general recipe-modification questions, i.e. "what can I add to X?" Those questions are likely to be closed, unless they focus on a very specific type of improvement. In that case you should a tag that describes the modification instead, e.g. or .

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What is levure equivalant in America?

We have a chocolate cake (brownie) recipe from France and calls for a packet of levure. We have been putting in yeast but not sure if it is wrong or right. Yeast, baking powder, other?
blankip
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Which cuts of beef are suitable for slow cooking methods?

If I want to simmer or braise a piece of beef for a few hours, how do I choose suitable meat? Which of the usual cuts are great, which are adequate, and which ones will just turn tough? It would be great if you could, beside giving a list of the…
rumtscho
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Belgian chocolate milk

I've tried a lovely chocolate milk (cold, not to be confused with hot chocolate) from Marks and Spencer (a supermarket in the UK) and I'm trying to emulate it's rich Belgian chocolate taste. My recipe so far looks like this: -Mixture of dark…
seeker
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Melon buying tips

I've just started buying rockmelons and they were only sweet a couple of times. The other times, they've been very low in sweetness and it felt like a waste of money. Are there any tips when buying melons: Which melon to buy - rockmelon, honeydew,…
Divi
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What Tea leaves are used in Kashmiri Pink tea

I want to make Kashmiri pink tea but have not found an exact name in English for those tea leaves used in Kashmiri pink tea. As I am right now in china, here they have varieaty of tea. I would like to know the name in English so that i can translate…
Ali Asad
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What am I doing wrong with my Kool-Aid pickles?

I'm trying to make Kool-Aid Pickles (koolickles). I've tried with quartered Ba-Tampte pickles and I seem to get it right, but I'm not seeing the results I expect with halved pickles. I want to go with halved because quartered seem to shrivel…
JoshDM
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How common are worms in dried mushrooms?

I was excited to try cooking with dried mushrooms until I saw some comments from people who found (many) dried worms mixed in with their dried mushrooms. How common is this?
Jeff Axelrod
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Where to buy food chemicals

So I want to experiment with making a food product, and I'm wondering where I acquire the chemical ingredients? Things like vitamin chemicals and caffeine. Thanks.
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What is the name of this dish involving fruit & sugar - blended and baked thin and flat?

I don't know what it is I'm doing (IE, the name of the technique or dish) I can't research it. I cook either rhubarb or passion fruit with a few tablespoons of sugar, blend until very smooth, spread out very thinly on a baking mat and then cook on…
Dave
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What makes a good quality pasta brand?

When I browse the pasta aisle I see a number of different brands (De Cecco, Rummo, etc.). Are there any notable differences between these brands? If I have a choice between different brands of the same pasta (spaghetti, penne, etc.), how should I…
mines
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What are these small, fleshy, salty, fried things in my Chinese food?

I ordered some salt and pepper dishes from a Chinese restaurant. I know how these dishes are prepared because I've made plenty myself. Generally it's a wok-fried mixture of sliced onion, green pepper, spring onion, diced garlic, red chilli, and…
WackGet
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What are the benefits of dried ingredients?

I've been cooking from Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, and I most recently made Braised Chicken with Dried Shiitake Mushrooms. This made me wonder about what the dish could have been if I were unable to find dried shiitake…
Darla
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What does the halal label mean to non-muslims for non-meat foods?

For example kosher berries or salad are checked more thoroughly for insects than usual as far as I know, so could be attractive to non-jews who don't want to accidentally eat insects. Are there similar reasons to search out or avoid halal food for…
Nobody
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Can I use freeze dried fruit in a Sangria mix?

I want to make a few little gifts for some friends, and I had the idea of creating little bottles of all the things needed for different drinks. I was hoping that people would be able to hold on to these until they wanted to make them. So far I have…
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"Rose Flavoured Water" vs "Rosewater"

I would like to try a few recipes which call for rosewater. I have made these in the past but it seems difficult to get rosewater here. Many places seem to sell "rose flavoured water". To me this sounds like one of those fudge words to suggest that…
Dannie
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