Milk Street Q&A

Answered by April Dodd

Great question, Elizabeth! Our go-to approach for peeling garlic is to crush cloves under the heel of the hand, or under a knife - a nakiri works particularly well here - then peel away the papery skin. However, for 300+ cloves of garlic at a go, this technique might not be speedy enough. A faster approach that you can try is to use a sharp knife to cut off the very top of entire heads of garlic. Then, break the cloves apart and place them in a large, stainless steel mixing bowl. Cover that bowl with another bowl, hold the edges firmly, and vigorously shake the whole thing for about 20 seconds. You should find that almost all the skins slip off or can very easily be picked off. Give that a try and let us know how it goes! -The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Leta - We would recommend braising the turkey breast in a low oven (325 degrees) and using a combination of low-sodium chicken broth and water (1:1 ratio to prevent it from being too salty, but still adding some flavor). Feel free to add any whole spices to the braising liquid to further season it as well. Whole cumin or coriander seeds and/or some dried chilies would be nice here. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi John - A hole or, sometimes a series of larger holes referred to as a tunnel, is usually the result of overmixing. Overmixing the batter once the flour has been added creates too much gluten resulting in a very strong structural network in which large air bubbles can get trapped. As for whether or not the wet portion is safe to eat I would say it depends on how wet it is. If it's just a little overly moist, it's probably fine to eat. If it's still liquid there would be more risk, but I'm not sure how much you would want to eat it at that point given the textural issues anyway. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Karmen - Most grains require different ratios of water to grain and cooking times, so it's tricky to cook many of them together. We think it's probably best, in most cases, to cook the grains separately and \then\ combine them in a dish. For some guidelines on water:grain ratios and cooking times, you can follow our chart for some common grains here. We also find that measuring grains by weight, rather than volume, provides much better cooking results. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Claudia - To cut the thighs crosswise, place the thigh with the longer end towards you (shorter ends on the left and right) and cut the thigh into three equal pieces. Making sure to cut them into equal pieces should prevent the strips from cooking unevenly. Hope that helps! Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chris - It's the Chili-Soy Noodles with Bok Choy and Peanuts, which can be found here - https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/chili-soy-noodles-bok-choy-peanuts. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Ronald - In general, our cooking instructions are recipe-specific since each combination of ingredients may necessitate a different method or temperature for the best results. We don’t really do basic recipes or techniques at Milk Street as our style of cooking is more about layers of flavor and ingredient contrasts. That being said, our most basic chicken recipe, our sheet pan chicken (https://www.177milkstreet.com/2018/08/roasted-chicken-three-ways) is a tried-and-true technique for roasting chicken parts. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jennifer - It’s hard to know whether the product you have will work without knowing exactly what it is. Unsweetened shredded coconut is slightly drier than sweetened coconut, but isn’t as dry as what’s referred to as desiccated coconut, which has a more finely grated texture than shredded. If your coconut is only slightly drier than the sweetened kind, that should work in this recipe. If it’s completely dried and/or more grated and “snow-like,” then that style will not work here without adjusting for the difference in moisture level, which would require more significant testing to determine. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Beth - It seems like something is off with this recipe. That is 19 tablespoons of butter for only 1/2 cup of flour - even accounting for differences in flour from country to country or the possibility that they are using self-rising flour, that ratio of fat to flour is \way\ off. I can’t imagine it would yield anything other than what you describe. Unfortunately we don’t have a recipe for this in our archives, but I would search for a simple rhubarb cake as an alternative. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hello All - I checked in with our digital team and they assure me that they are still working on reinstating the recipe comments section of the website, however, it make take several more weeks to get them back up and running. Best, Lynn C.