apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i have a question! i am participating in the cure and roasted a chicken, made stock with it, and made soup with the stock. why is it that my homemade stock is so gelatinous when refrigerated and commercial stock is not? whether it is swanson low sodium brand or pacific organic free-range, neither of them change consistency when they get cold. i know that gelatin comes from stewing bones, but isn't that how they make stock too? i mean, how else could they be doing it?
thanks!

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@cassiopia,

You have just had an epiphany! Look at the ingredients on those store-bought broths. I wouldn't be surprised if "chicken" was not the first ingredient. I believe that chicken SKIN is probably the major ingredient in these broths. Chicken skin is a major byproduct and it gives chicken flavor and color to a broth. The rest of the ingredients are probably those that would be found in chicken base (chicken skin, sodium, soy protein, etc.)

Keep makin' your own stock chef!

For any of those Top Chef geeks out there, here is a NY mag exit interview with Jennifer:

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/04/departed_top_chef_has_a_few_wo.html

art,

i hadn't even thought to look at the ingredients. both of them list chicken stock as their first ingredient, which really doesn't tell me anything. the pacific stock says chicken stock is made up of organic chicken and water. who knows what part of the chicken is used. the next on the list is organic chicken flavor which is made up of organic chicken flavor and sea salt, then natural chicken flavor, etc.
i wish i had been making my own stock all along! it's so much better and way less cryptic...

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A bit of a silly question to all the wise cooks out there: My husband and I are (for the next 3 months at least), making do with a 75-sq foot kitchen/eating space...which doesn't leave much room for storage. We store almost all our produce in the fridge, although I know it's not good for things like onions, potatoes, shallots, etc. We usually keep our garlic & ginger in a spoon rest thing right on our stove (a bad habit I picked up from my ex-roommate!). Things things like potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, etc., should be stored in a cool, dark place, right? How would you recommend storing in an apt. where every square inch of storage space is being used for grains/beans/cans, etc?

Thanks, all!

@christinamill,

try one of these:

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Metro-3-tier-Hanging-Kitchen-Basket-in-White/2964654/product.html?cid=128280&fp=F&srccode=cii_9324560&cpncode=17-6748941-2

Any tips on preventing honey from crystallizing in the bottle? I have a squeeze bottle of honey which is only half-empty. I don't have a microwave, and would hesitate to heat the plastic bottle. Must I warm it in a pot of water each time I use it?

Onions and such: I'd put the beans and cans out in the light (cover with a nice dishtowel if they aren't to pretty or use recycled glass storage) and the things that should go in the dark into the covered storage.

Honey: heat up the bottle once and drain it into a glass jar. Then make honey lemonade with what is left in the sqeeze bottle--yum!

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning, Kaanswfm. Thank you.

This is a bit off-topic, but an issue with me. My S/O is extremely critical of my cooking and always has something negative to say about it, mostly referring to how his late mother or ex-wife were excellent. However, he's seriously handicapped and has lost almost total use of his hands, so I can't just say, "Fine, cook for yourself." His hands are so useless he can't even make a peanut butter sandwich without breaking things.

His best friend and I have discussed how he has a tendency to damn with faint praise and sneak criticism into almost every sentence, but still ... constant ego-beating is hard to live with.

I'm not a pro chef, but other folks happily eat my cooking, and friends actually make requests when they're coming over.

Any suggestions on how to deal with his criticism would be appreciated. (And no, I can't throw him out ... although some days I wish I could.)

"he has a tendency to damn with faint praise and sneak criticism into almost every sentence"

Madampince, to be honest, this sounds like a much larger issue than just your cooking skills; I would not be optimistic that any amount of magic in the kitchen would cure what ills your S/O. Would he consider counseling? Beyond that, I am not sure what to say other than I hope you have a lot of wonderful, supportive family members and friends to lean on!

Long-time lurker, first time poster. I have a problem with my 8" square baking pan. Whenever I use it, anything I make comes out raw and uncooked in the center, but dry on the edges. This week, I made an applesauce spice cake and that's exactly what happened. I popped the pan in the oven for a few more minutes and I covered the pan with foil to prevent further browning/drying out, but it didn't work. The edges dried out more and the center remained raw! Any tips? I'm thinking about trying this caramel banana cake recipe (I don't have a round cake pan, so I'd have to use my problematic square one), but I'd like to sort this out first. I hate it when what I bake goes awry!

afs -- my friend's mother is a beekeeper, and she told me to store my honey on the back of the stove (in the place between the burners) to keep it from crystallizing and to melt it if it does. it works great! since yours is in plastic, you might want to move it if you use the oven on a high temp or use both of the back burners on high.

J, I really appreciate your comments. I think you're right -- I could be Paula Deen and he'd still have something negative to say. He's not open to counseling. But I do have good friends & family -- and thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

Two, I have an 8" square pan that gives me similar problems -- perhaps their usefulness is limited? So few recipes call for them -- I see lots of references to 13 x 9 or two round pans, but not many square. Wish I had more info for you.

Two toasters, you might try lowering the oven temperature a bit when you use it. I had everything coming out that way, no matter the pan, and I finally figured out that my oven runs very, very hot.

christina,
My solution to a tiny kitchen is to store less food and to buy small quantities more often, especially the dry and canned stuff. It's a bit of a lifestyle change, but your small-space predicament won't be lasting very long.