You ask the questions, and I give the answers as I know them. As always, you can ask me any questions by checking out my Ask the Chef! Page.
image courtesy of Qfamily of Flickr under Creative Commons by Attribution 2.0
Wild Bill writes:
Made a batch of my Split pea soup. Soaked the peas overnight without salt. After all the work and hours of cooking. The peas never softened. Threw it all out. Wasted ham hocks bacon stock and potatoes.
What happened to the peas?
Without tasting the soup, my best guess is that the peas were too old. After about 1 year, no amount of soaking or cooking the peas will make them soft enough to eat.
Your best bet is to ask the store manager how old the split peas are.
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Winclaire0 asks:
I have attempted cheese scones 3 times now and every time they come out as flat as biscuits!
Any help would be good!
Thank you
Without seeing how you made the scones, how you mixed them, etc., the best advice I can give to you is:
1)Make sure your butter is cold. When you are cutting the butter into the flour, you need to make sure that the butter remains in pellet form. Heat makes the butter soften.
2)Do not over mix. Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. You may have some lumps in the batter, but that is okay.
image courtesy of David Davies of Flickr under Creative Commons by Attribution 2.0
DReed3 asks:
i was wondering if someone could chime in and tell me…where can i buy some oil to sharpen my knives? i borrowed 2 stones from a friend, but she didnt have any oil so i need to pick some up. i was hoping to avoid getting ripped off in a kitchen store if there is an alternative place to get some.
and what do i need to buy… mineral oil, right?
Right you are. A lot of cooks use vegetable oil when sharpening their knives. After a while the oil goes rancid, and your stone smells awful. Mineral oil will not go rancid, so it is your best bet. Make sure to clean your knife after you are finished sharpening it.
Chicken Stock - Photo by Me
Nes asks:
I have a picked-clean roaster I’m doing for stock later tonight, but I was also de-boning some breasts for tonight dinner.
What can I do with the de-boned back?
What can I do to prep them and throw them in the stock pot?
I have a post on Fathead-movie site that may answer your question. It is a guest post I did on making chicken stock. You will be able to use your carcasses in exactly the same way. 
image courtesy of GeorgeNemeth of Flickr under Creative Commons by Attribution 2.0
OliverB asks:
So, I love making pizza from scratch. I have a wooden pizza peel. And no matter how much flower and/or corn meal I put on there, the pizza will inevitably stick to the peel and not come off easily! Certainly not as easy as any single video I’ve ever seen of that being done might suggest. That results in a mess in the oven or now my Big Green Egg.
I noticed my peel is not as smooth as my wooden cutting boards, so I’m gonna sand it down and oil it with cutting board mineral oil, but are there maybe other tricks to this? Would a metal peel be better? I’ve seen those for wood pizza ovens and be happy to buy one if it makes life and pizza easier.
I do like my crust thin, so there’s not much substance to it. Should I pre-bake the crust? I guess I could just flip the peel over and drop it on the stone. But that’s one more step and should not be necessary.
I am going to give this question to a man who really knows his pizza, Albert Grande of pizzatherapy.com:
Great question.
I have both metal and wooden peels. Both work well.
You can try a metal peel. It may be easier for you.
While having a rough peel may cause some friction, I do not think that is a big issue.
I would say, make your pizza on a surface. Don’t overload it with to much stuff on the pizza.
Make sure you have plenty of corn meal and flour underneath.
Here is a trick if your pizza gets stuck: use a piece of dental floss and slide it under the pizza to free it from the surface if it gets stuck.
Here is a listing of Pizza Tools:http://www.pizzatherapy.com/tools.htm
Look at this film. This will show you how an expert uses a pizza peel. Look at how Anthony does it.
Here is the link:
http://pizzatherapy.com/naturallyrisen.htm
About your crust: if your oven is hot enough 500+ F degrees, par baking the crust should not be necessary.
Please let me know how you make out.pizza on earth,
albert
Do you have a question for the Well Done Chef? You can ask me any questions by checking out my Ask the Chef! Page.
