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Ask Our Chefs

Finding yourself faced with questions in the kitchen? Our friendly chefs are here to help. Ask one of our experienced and knowledgeable chefs for advice of any kind.

Chef Ryan and Chef James are two highly trained, award winning culinary arts experts with experience in nearly every corner of the kitchen. If you’ve got a question, they’ll be able to help. Go ahead, drop them a message.

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Questions & Answers

Dry Make-Ahead Oatmeal Muffin Mix

Geraldine Brooks asks:

I am looking for a recipe for oatmeal muffin mix whereby I can make this mix up and it will last for a good long time. Would also need the reconstitution amounts. Many thanks.

Chef James replies:

Here’s a link to a recipe I make at home: Chef James’ Dry Make-Ahead Blueberry Oatmeal Muffin Mix. All I have to do is use a portion of the mixture (no measuring each time), and follow the muffin making method using the wet ingredients provided at the bottom of the recipe to reconstitute the dry mix; then simply bake. It has served me well and I hope it will do the same for your family.

Yours in food
James

Measurements and Conversions

Lucie Tanguay asks:

One of my friends is a great cook, but her recipes are from France. I do not own a kitchen scale. How do I translate grams of flour, sugar, etc. into the North American system of cups and spoons? Thank you.

Chef Ryan replies:

Lucie,

I wish I had a simple answer for you. There is no reliable basic formula to convert grams to cups that I could find. You are trying to convert from a weight (grams or ounces) to a volume (cups and spoons), because dry ingredients such as sugar and flour etc. have different densities they will all have different weights, making it difficult to develop a formula to cover them all. After lots of searching, GourmetSleuth.com had the most extensive conversion tools and charts that I saw. A word of warning however, they are basic equivalents and not ingredient specific conversions, so I cannot guarantee the results! During my culinary training we were taught to work in both cups and spoons, as well as grams and ounces, with both measuring cups as well as a kitchen scale being essential kitchen equipment. Since you are fortunate enough to be receiving recipes from your friend in France, I would definitely recommend purchasing a digital scale for your kitchen. The newer digital scales are accurate and relatively inexpensive, definitely a worthy investment! I hope this information helps.

Chef Ryan Skelton