When raw fish or shellfish is mixed with citrus, like in a ceviche, what happens to the fish? Is the fish considered "cooked" or is it still raw? Is the end result the same texture as cooked fish?

Well - this might sound dumb, but I'd like to know more about what makes some plants / fruits / seeds / nuts more oily than others. How does a plant generate oil or fat (growing up I had always associated fat with animal products, so I'd be curious to know for example how coconuts or olives generate so much oil / fat)? And what makes that good for you or bad for you (LDL / HDL, or mono/poly/unsaturated etc)?

I'm sure I'm confusing the terminology in the above, but it's worth a shot to ask!

@brandemt,

the acid in citrus will transform the protein in fish making it appear to be cooked. And the texture is quite similar to cooked fish.

Please explain ghee. Sure I've googled it, but I'd love to see the food science version.

Well, speaking of eggs.....will someone PLEASE tell me a full-proof method for peeling hard-boiled eggs? I've tried every trick in the book, and I am only occasionally awarded with easy-to-peel eggs.

berkeleydaisy,
I'm reaching back to my high school biology here, but I seem to remember that plants produce lipids (oils and fats) the same way and for the same reason that animals do, to store excess "energy" for use at a later date. Surplus glucose produced in photosynthesis is recombined into fatty acids. They are especially concentrated in seeds to act as an energy source for the shoot to grow up out of the ground before it reaches sunlight.

The part about LDLs vs HDLs and mono vs polyunsaturates I'll leave to an expert...

Easily Amused: Ghee is just clarified butter with browned milk solids. Clarified butter is butter that's been heated to the boiling point of water and cooked until the water content of the butter has boiled off. During this process, milk proteins separate from the butter and form a sediment that you spoon off or strain out to finish the clarification. To make ghee, you let the protein sediment brown, which gives the strained butter a nutty taste.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee, for anyone who doesn't know it, is the definitive source for answers to all manner of food science questions. It's a very, very dense but fascinating read.

Substituting Stevia for sugar... there's certain things, like making ice cream, where I worry that using stevia won't act the same way as sugar and will ruin the final product. Does using stevia result in the same custard as using sugar would? I've had trouble finding an answer to this online. Typically I substitute stevia for half or three quarters of the sugar in my baked goods, but I'm afraid to try anything else, like cheesecake, ice cream, or puddings.

I have a question about the big pancake batter. It is almost exactly the same as my crepe recipe. Both say to let rest for 30 minutes. the big pancake then puffs up in the oven, but crepes stay flat in the skillet. So, I guess my question is: what is the purpose of the 30-minute rest?

Should you 'roast' nuts to deepend the flavor if you will be baking them anyways? As in pecan pie and almond biscotti. My recipes says yes but it simply makes no sense.

If I shock hardboiled eggs _immediately_ after boiling they are always peelable. The morning before a hike down the grand canyon I boiled many eggs and then walked the drained pan to the cold water spout. The walk apparently took too long and resulted in 'impossible to peel' eggs. I'll never forget.

Pennyplastic, I was always told to boil old eggs and they'll be easy to peel. I'm not super fussy about my eggs being fresh so it's not uncommon for me to boil month or so old eggs and I never have a problem peeling them. WHY that's the case is another story.

Anothersplash, nuts are usually roasted above 200 degrees F, and they never get that hot inside a cake or any other baked product. That is, unless you roast them beforehand, you'll still have raw nuts in your biscotti.

I live on a boat and we are frequently on the move. Often I do not have a 'shop round the corner' to buy ingredients I have run out of such as butter milk eggs etc (but never chocolate!). I get cravings for sweet things and would love to know substitutes I can use specially when baking. Anyone have useful tips?
btw recipes without these ingredients welcome too!
Thanks a bunch in advance

I would love a comparison of the major sugar substitutes (Aspartame, Sucralose, Stevia, etc) and a matrix of how each can be used. For example, which will work for baking cakes or pies, which dissolves best in iced tea, will any of them caramelize like sugar, etc?

resting pancake/crepe batter:
it allows the starch molecules of the flour to become fully saturated.

probably also moves your leavening up a step too.

older eggs contain more air between the shell and the thin skin underneath, that's why they are easier to peel (as the egg ages, it adsorbs air through the shell pores)