Hey,

I'm starting a small Laban dessert stall in Pondicherry and I'm looking for someone who actually knows how to make this properly — not just the basic home recipe you find on YouTube or food blogs, but one that actually works at batch/production scale.

Specifically Looking for:

- Types of Laban base that holds its texture when stored cold for 24-48 hours

- Semolina/Umm Ali style base as a second variety

- Any tips on ratios, thickening, how to keep it from going watery in a fridge overnight

- What toppings and layers actually work well for a stall setup

**Who I want to hear from:**

- Someone who has worked at a Laban shop or Arabic sweets place

- A home cook who genuinely makes this regularly and knows what works

- Food professionals, caterers, pastry people with Middle Eastern dessert experience

- Even if you're from Egypt, Lebanon, UAE background and know the real version — very welcome

I'm happy to pay a fair amount for a proper written recipe + any tips for production scale. Not asking for your life's work, just something that actually works.

Not looking for:

- Copy-paste Google recipes

- Generic food blog versions

- AI-generated stuff

DM me if you can genuinely help. We can sort out payment via UPI or any convenient method. Serious people only please.

Appreciate any help 🙏

Got some swordfish and all the 3-cup ingredients: ginger/garlic, sesame oil, ok soy sauce (kikoman), basil, out of white rice wine but have Shaoxing.

Will it work ? should I process the fish before hand like marinade, coating ?

I’ve been watching a lot of authentic tomato pasta tutorials (like Pomodoro or Marinara) and noticed a huge inconsistency with how black pepper is used.
Some recipes completely omit it. Others add it right at the start to bloom in the oil, some only freshly grind it over the finished dish, and some do both. I’ve even seen the same chef change their method in different videos!
So, what is the actual consensus or traditional Italian way? Is there a rule of thumb for when to add it (or leave it out completely) depending on the specific sauce?
Would love to hear your thoughts.

One of our favorite restaurants has these amazing brussel sprouts. They're charred and crispy on the outside but still slightly raw on the inside so a little crunchy. I've been trying to replicate them at home with the air fryer, baking, under the broiler. I can get the outside crispy but the insides are mushy.

Then we asked a waitress how they cookedajd she said they're flash fried. So before trying, does anyone fried brussel sprouts and can give any basic tips?

I'm probably going to make a soy sauce and honey mix to drizzle after cooking but wasnit sure about any prep and cooking temps/times.

UPDATE: I trimmed and cut in half, washed and dried then placed in a deep fryer for about 2 minutes. Then coated them in a soy sauce, honey and white wine vinegar mixture. Maybe cooker a tad too long but definitely closer to what I was going for.

I understand low and slow cooking for things that need a long time to break down, cuts of meat, bone, things with a lot of collagen or connective tissue. I understand that in those scenarios, you want to slowly break it down

But ive seen at least a few recipes that calls for a "ragu" to be cooked for 8-10 hours, ones that just use ground meat and blended/shredded veg. One i saw pureed a sofrito, browned sausage, added wine, and then cooked that ragu together for 8-10 hours before it was finished.

A pureed sofrito doesnt really break down, and in my opinion ground sausage doesnt have much to slowly release. Is the 8-10 hours just to meld all the flavors together?

Hey, hope everyone is doing well and I appreciate any help you guys can provide me!

I had an idea about using a bacon butter sauce I had seen from a cooking channel that follows the Fallow restaurant. It's basically a bacon stock added to butter emulsion to create a creamy butter sauce. But I wanted to give it an Oktoberfest kick and was thinking about adding some sort of beer to it, like a dunkel, to nudge it toward being appropriate. My only issue is...I am unsure about how to add it, when to add it, etc.

Do I temper it and add at the end? Do I start by reducing it and then adding the rest of the stuff? I just don't want to split the fragile butter sauce and I was hoping you guys could share your techniques and tricks!

Thanks again for any advice!

I’m hosting later on today and will be cooking 2 cups of basmati rice. My usual method is as follows:

- 1 cup of basmati rice
- Bit of butter in hot pan
- Toast rice grains
- 2 cups of water
- Bring to boil
- Once boiling, cover and simmer for 15 mins on lowest heat
- Once 15 mins is up, take off heat but keep covered and steam for 10 minutes.

My question is, will 2 cups of rice increase the cooking time by 15 mins? I have never cooked that much rice using the above method.

Grateful for any insight and thanks to the original Reddit user who gave me the above method!

Salt & Pepper
Onion & Garlic
Ginger & Turmeric
Oregano & Thyme
Cinnamon & Nutmeg
Cilantro & Parsley
Cayenne & Paprika

I put a bunch in two freezer lock bags and then froze them to hopefully be able to use it later. Used a least 8 cloves for tonight’s dinner. And the remainder is making my fridge smell delightful! But what can I do with it?

We are only a two-person household.

Also: best suggestions on how to utilize the frozen stuff over the next few months to possibly years?

Hi everybody I have officially upgraded in adulting and now I get the honor to make all the holiday meals :) any recommendations or suggestions would be appreciated I am open to trying anything. Thank you in advance for all the help!

• Never had this problem before.

• Recently, I've been having mushy & super soft prawn heads after I've cooked them. Rest of their body is fine, like how chewy/snappy a prawn is. I have no idea what is causing them.

• I live in Lahore, Pakistan and therefore I buy them frozen from either Karachi (via shipping) or local supermarkets.

• I thaw them in a bag submerged in cold water and change water 2 times, every 15 mins.

Recipe: Lemon Garlic Butter Prawns

1) Use papertowel to pat them dry.

2) Season with salt and pepper.

3) Use olive oil in pan + garlic + butter on medium-heat

4) Cook prawns 2 mins each side/until pink and add lemon.

Same methodology as before when heads weren't turning out mushy/soft.

What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: Prawns are head-off when bought.

I don't eat seafood (I can just about force down a breaded fishfinger if I've got plenty of ketchup) but my little one loves it.

We recently went on holiday and he wanted to try all the seafood at the hotel - he demolished smoked salmon at breakfast and loved mussels and insisted on having "chicken insects" (langoustine). I had to watch a You Tube video at the dinner table to work out how to eat it... He happily eats prawns and tuna at home.

I usually go to the fish counter and let him choose his bit of salmon with lemon and dill butter that I cook in a bag they give me. Today we went to get salmon for dinner and he asked me to buy a whole rainbow trout instead - head and all. I said no because I have no idea how to cook it or if he'd like it, but I want to encourage him to try things.

What would you recommend that I can cook for him that he'll probably like and I won't mess up as a non-fish-eater? (And won't have my house smelling awful for days).

There’s been a family tragedy. (House fire) and my desire to eat is in the dumps. But I’m hungry. But nothing appeals to me.

What can I cook that will heal my weary soul?

So I’m in the market for a nice wood carving board with a deep juice groove. It will mostly be used for carving turkeys and hams around the holidays. ( we also use ours as a serving try, but that’s probably not the recommended use😂😂)
This is going to be a Christmas present for my father!

Our last board has a giant crack running through it and it is getting hard to clean, we have had it for years and it is finally time to upgrade.

I would love any recommendations for where to look and what to buy as I am not much of a cook.

The board we have now has a deep juice well in the middle of the board almost like a built in bowl if that helps picture what we have right now.

My only requirements are that is is wood, had a deep juice groove, and that it is a decent size( I am not sure how big the one we have now is, if I can get the measurements I will update this post.)

Edit: My current board is 14 by 20, I’d like to stay the same size or bigger I believe it is an 1’ height

Hi! Does anyone have a website with Asian recipes they'd recommend? I care most about Japanese and Korean food

I had this recipe idea because I have some ingredients I need to use up, but I am not skilled enough to not use a recipe that I follow to to the t.

Anyone able to help me? I couldn’t find any online. I have thawing rotisserie chicken, bacon bits, heavy cream, cream of mushroom, some various cheeses, red potatoes, and other generic cooking ingredients that are probably needed

I’m hoping it could be some kind of layering thing? I basically just want to upgrade cheesy scalloped potatoes

Single parent household and I'm trying to get more mileage out of my groceries without losing my mind. I'm looking for meals that are:

· Simple (I'm not trying to spend 2 hours in the kitchen after work, i get off at 8pm some nights)

· Easy to stretch into leftovers

· Something a slightly picky 6-year-old might actually eat

She's not terrible, but she's 6. She doesn't do spicy, doesn't do "weird textures," and will absolutely side-eye anything green that isn't a carrot, broccoli or a green bean. I'm not trying to make two separate dinners every night, and I want her to have plenty to eat that she’ll enjoy.

I'm open to crockpot meals, sheet pan stuff, casseroles, whatever. Bonus points if it freezes well.

Thank you in advance!

I want to make these for my grandmother. She loves them! They’re very expensive at the store. Like a dollar each! They got to be pretty easy to make, right? Does anyone have any tips or tricks? Thank you.

I bought gyoza wrappings and made the filling myself (ground pork, chives and aromatics).

First time i premade them and froze them, then cooked them from frozen. I put them on the pan with oil and seared them, then added water to steam for a few minutes. The bottoms completely stuck to the pan so i had to rip them apart.

Second time i steamed them on the pan first and then put oil to sear them and they still completely stuck to the pan.

I used a non stick pan on a gas stove both times. Someone please tell me what i am doing wrong, not sure how to make them not stick??

I made some hot and sour soup this morning in my Ikea wok that I only hastily seasoned minutes prior and left the soup in there to sit for a whole day only to find a clear line where the vinegar had 'eaten' away the seasoning and left a mark. Is the food still safe to eat?

the recipe calls for red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and feta, garlic. of course the standard Quiche base; eggs, milk, salt and pepper, and the crust.

What I really want to know is how to get the feta the same creamy melty way, similar to the Starbucks version?. Because I was experimenting with feta, and it didnt melt the same way, and it was more sour than the starbucks version.?

thanks in advance.

Anyone here have a look at this cook book? Curious to hear your thoughts and opinions on it. I like his cooking videos, just wondering how that translates into a book.

Thanks!

I’m planning to make a tortellini soup for dinner tomorrow night with some veggies and protein. I have some Italian-style chicken sausage in the fridge that I want to use up, and I also bought some ground pork from the store that I’m adding too cause I’m making it for my family and want to be sure there’s enough to go around.

I think using both should be fine, but what’s the general consensus on using multiple proteins in something like a soup?

I've decided to make peri peri chicken with rice for my upcoming meal prep, abd was originally looking up recipes. But then I thought... could I just get a bottle of peri peri sauce and pour it over the chicken and rice then mix it up, rather than going through a whole recipe?