Cooking questions

[Anonymous]

I have a few questions to ask about cooking that I hope you can help me with.

1. What part of the leek can I use in soup? Meaning am I only supposed to use the green/white part?

2. What is better for hard boiled eggs? Fresh eggs or a few days old?

3. What is a soft boiled egg? How do I cook them?

4. What is the season for avocados?

5. What is disodium phosphate? Is it ok in my creamer?

Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

2. The older the better. A month old or more, ideally.

4. Year round.

[Anonymous]

1. discard the bearded/stringy thing on the white part and very dried end on the green or more of the green if it’s tough. Clean leeks b/f using b/c they can retain a lot of grit:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/best-way-clean-leeks

2. Whatever egg you have in the fridge is the best egg.

3. Soft boiled egg is just less time than a hard boiled egg. Here’s a timing guide:
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/boil-eggs-perfectly.aspx

Or if you prefer a poached egg, you can buy an individual egg coddler, e.g.:
http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Poachers-Premium-Stick-Poach/dp/B00IOD3NQI/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1416180765&sr=1-2&keywords=egg+coddler

4. They are available year round b/c food comes from all around the world. Buy them firm and let them ripen (soften slightly) at room temperature.

5. No idea. An unnecessary chemical. So just buy plain half-n-half.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. discard the bearded/stringy thing on the white part and very dried end on the green or more of the green if it’s tough. Clean leeks b/f using b/c they can retain a lot of grit:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/best-way-clean-leeks

2. Whatever egg you have in the fridge is the best egg.

3. Soft boiled egg is just less time than a hard boiled egg. Here’s a timing guide:
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/boil-eggs-perfectly.aspx

Or if you prefer a poached egg, you can buy an individual egg coddler, e.g.:
http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Poachers-Premium-Stick-Poach/dp/B00IOD3NQI/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1416180765&sr=1-2&keywords=egg+coddler

4. They are available year round b/c food comes from all around the world. Buy them firm and let them ripen (soften slightly) at room temperature.

5. No idea. An unnecessary chemical. So just buy plain half-n-half.

#2 Wrong. Old egg.

[Anonymous]

Definitely true that old eggs are better for hard boiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely true that old eggs are better for hard boiling.

I've never heard this before. Why are old eggs better?

[Anonymous]

As an egg ages, it loses some carbon dioxide through tiny pores in the shell, making the egg white more basic. At the same time, it loses moisture, which increases the size of the “air cell” at the bottom of the shell, between the inner and outer membranes. The dynamics of this process are, in the words of a University of California, Davis agriculture publication, “not completely understood,” but the combination of these changes makes an old egg a lot easier to peel than a one that is fresh out of the bird.

“The best guarantee of easy peeling is to use old eggs!” wrote Harold McGee, in his monster 800-page tome, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. “Difficult peeling is characteristic of fresh eggs with a relatively low albumen pH, which somehow causes the albumen to adhere to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it coheres to itself.”

“As the contents of the egg contracts and the air cell enlarges, the shell becomes easier to peel,” the USDA Shell Eggs from Farm to Table fact sheet states. “For this reason, older eggs make better candidates for hard cooking,”

http://www.wired.com/2009/10/eggs-hard-to-peel/

[Anonymous]

Leeks: you need to clean them very well as they get dirt on the insides. The very outside parts of the top (where they are green) can be tough and fibrous. Trip any fibrous parts from the tops, trim the bottoms, then slice in half lengthwise and then again (so you have four long quarters. Rinse each of these very carefully, separating the rings to get any dirt out.

Eggs: I put the egg in cold water, bring to a boil, and boil 3 minutes for soft and 10 for hard. Agree with PPs that an old egg peels easier.

[Anonymous]

2. What is better for hard boiled eggs? Fresh eggs or a few days old?
Older is better as they are easier to shell - however, put raw eggs into a container of water. If the eggs float... don't eat them. Fresh eggs stay on the bottom, "use these really, really quickly" eggs will tip up onto one end.
3. What is a soft boiled egg? How do I cook them?
the white is softer and the yolk is not cooked through/solid. Delicious on buttered toast. Boil 1/2 inch of water - add eggs gently - cover - boil 6 min. Drain, rinse until cook enough to handle, shell gently. Devour.

[Anonymous]

Leeks - I trim off the very bottom (the fuzzy stuff) and the very tops, where the green section is stiff and fibrous. I'm left with white and part of the green. I usually cut it lengthwise once or twice, then slice crossways into sections (thin slices or 1" wide for cubes, depending on what I want in the finished product). Rinse well between the layers.

Eggs - 1-3 weeks old is ideal for hard boiled eggs. The hard part is that when you buy eggs from the store, you don't really know how old they are at that point. I aim for cooking them about a week after I buy them. The pot of water test that a PP described is perfect, I like to boil them right when one end starts to tip up a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely true that old eggs are better for hard boiling.

It doesn't really matter what's "better." Are you going to wait several days just to make hard boiled eggs? That's silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely true that old eggs are better for hard boiling.

It doesn't really matter what's "better." Are you going to wait several days just to make hard boiled eggs? That's silly.

Young or old, they peel like magic if you peel them in the sink under running water.