So my mother set the oven to self-clean not realizing my Lodge cast iron pan was in there....All the seasoning has been stripped off, the pan is now GREY, not black, and has a fair amount of rust on it. How do I remove the rust? Is it worth arduous reseasoning, or should I just be patient and wait for an affordable vintage piece on ebay?

So I have a newish mate gourd, I "cured" it as recommended by filling it up with mate and pouring boiling water in and letting it stand for a few hours. Been using it for a couple weeks - notice a few black mold spots. The other day, after use, let it dry (with paper towel inside to absorb moisture), and there are black spots all over! Some mate website said this is normal and not harmful, but man that freaks me out.

Is that actually normal? What can I do about this?

Pajeon is one of my favorite quick things to cook when I don't have a lot of time or ingredients in the house. No matter what I do, I can't get it crispy like the Korean restaurants I go to. It doesn't matter the ratio of flour to water, AP flour to rice flour, whether there's an egg or not, whether i mix the scallions in the batter or put them in the pan first....

Do I just need to use a ton of oil and shallow fry it? I'm sort of making mine like Western pancakes, with enough oil to coat the pan but not much more.

Here's what I have in my fridge/pantry

less than 100g ground pork
sichuan chile bean paste
1 leek
3/4 of a kabocha
carrots
napa cabbage
radishes
lemons
lebanese olives
salted black beans
dried shiitake
konbu
nori
kouya tofu
a small amount of firm silken tofu
aged cheddar
yogurt
dashi
chicken broth
umeboshi
dried facing heaven chiles
sichuan pepper
an array of indian/arabic spices
fresh thai chiles
some scallions (maybe)
sesame seeds
sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, sake, venegar, various cooking oils, butter
fresh udon
dried soba
brown japanese rice
white japanese rice
basmati rice

In about two hours I need to make dinner. I was thinking Mapo Doufu (it would conveniently use up the pork and chile bean paste, as well as the leek). Only concern: I don't have a ton of tofu, nor do I have much of the right kind of rice, and I don't like eating East Asian food with basmati rice....

Should I just go for it, or can you guys suggest something else?

So I'm in London for a little while over from the US, and I can't for the life of me find those boxes of chicken stock, the ones that last forever and once opened will last for a little while in your fridge. All I can get are stock cubes (gross!), or tubs/bags of stock which are VERY expensive. What to do??

OK, so I'm poor and am randomly laden with a bunch of vodka lying around. I'm not a vodka person, unless it's for shots before going out. Is there anything I can mix with it for a nice autumnal drink? Or am I doomed to tonic, ginger ale, and juices?

So I have a Japanese gyutou and I love how sharp it is. But since it's so thin and delicate it's not best for all applications. In the Western kitchen, 99% of work is done with a heavy chef's knife and a paring knife.

But it seems the standard in Japanese kitchens is you have multiple knives, specialised tools like the yanagi, deba, nakiri, usuba, honesuki, etc.

This is where my question sort of emerges. A gyutou is a "Western-style" Japanese knife...so what paradigm does that fit under? Is it still meant to be used with a large cast of supporting knives? Do people in Japan use them with just one or two other knives? I'm a bit confused

So I'm having several friends over for a barbecue, and I'm strongly considering making ribs. All I have is a large Weber kettle. From what I understand: put the coals on one side, put wood chips on top, put a drip pan with water next to it, then put the grate down and put the ribs over the pan and let it go for 4-5 hours.

I've also heard about foiling, a second pan on top of the grate... and then how do I maintain the temperature? Will Kingsford briquettes last 5 hours, or will I likely have to top up the coals?

Experts, please help!

Hi everyone, I'm making a bunch of infused vodkas for a party saturday. I've got kiwi, which is coming along well, chai spices, which is turning out AMAZING, citrus with mint, and rosemary.

The problem is the herbs. It's only been 24 hours for all of them, but the rosemary one smells really unpleasant, and the citrus/mint one too, but to a much lesser extent. I can't describe how the rosemary one smells, other than like old rotten herbs I guess. It's still totally intact and does not appear to be decomposing at all (it shouldn't, it's vodka!). Even weirder, it tastes ok, but the smell is repulsive.

The citrus-mint one has a faint smell of mint that's been sitting in water way too long, like if you leave the ice cubes in a drunk mojito to melt and soak the mint for an hour or two. It also carries a hint of that taste.

Needless to say this is not at all desirable! What can I do? Is this normal? I've seen recipes for mint and rosemary vodka and none of them mention any sort of problem like this.

I muddled a lot more mint and am now infusing a smaller quantity of vodka, for a shorter amount of time, in the hope of adding the strained result back to the citrus mix.

By the way, I'm using pretty good (Pinnacle) vodka, 80 proof, so it's not the alcohol.