Kellogg’s Say Their New Cereal Never Gets Soggy, So I Tested It At 5, 10, 20, And 30 Minutes

Posted on 18/02/2025 by Boris Clair

Recently, Kellogg’s released an all-new brand of cereal ― Oaties, available in plain and chocolate flavours ― which carried a Willy Wonka-unmeltable-ice-cream-level claim.

“Each bowl,” the company asserted, “is filled with crispy, crunchy
pillows of wholegrain oats that have been lovingly crafted to stay crunchy in milk.”

Apparently, food scientists spent months achieving the miraculous bite. The product’s tagline ― “it’s crunch time!” ― doubles down on the sog-free promise.

This, I told myself, was a case for the emptiest journalistic minds of our generation (mine). So, I thought I’d get my hands on a box, cover its contents in milk, and try it at five, 10, 15, 20, and 30-minute intervals.

And, because I take my duty seriously, let me start off with proof I really, really dunked those bad boys:

The writer dunking all the cereal which had floated to the top of the bowl under the milk with a spoon

You’re welcome.

1) After five minutes

A bowl of the Oaties cereal after 5 minutes

I left the bowl of submerged cereal on the side for five minutes.

I’ll be honest ― approaching the abandoned bowl made me arrogant. “Aha!” I thought. “Those are definitely some softer outsides.”

That was true ― the first half-millimetre of the cereal had expanded and softened after a five-minute lactose jacuzzi.

But that was all. A bite revealed that the real crunchiness of this cereal lies in its centre ― there was almost no give in the rest of the pillows.

I was confused but intrigued.

2) After 10 minutes

I was pretty surprised to note that the topmost cereals, despite my previous dunking, had remained mostly dry at this stage.

Not much to report at the ten-minute mark; a note I took in my phone read: “exactly the same as five minutes.”

Anticlimactic, but consistent.

3) After 20 minutes

The same bowl of cereal after 20 minutes

At this point, I did start to notice (and taste) a difference in texture.

About a fifth of the outside layer of the cereal was soft now, and they looked fuzzier and lumpier in the milk.

But lo and behold ― the middle part was still strong and crunchy (more on that later).

I started to wonder how these shells became so impermeable. An incredulous peek at the ingredients list returned nothing suspicious ― just oat, corn, and wheat flour with sugars and fortifiers.

4) After 30 minutes

The same bowl of cereal after half an hour

The most-dunked pillows in the bowl had definitely become softer on their outsides, even including their corners (which had more or less all stayed stiff ’til now).

But if you look at the bowl, you’ll see the outermost layer still remained unsoaked. And even a bite of the “soggiest” centre pices revealed a bone-dry, still-crunchy inside.

The cross-section of an Oatie cereal that had soaked for 30 minutes in milk reveals that while its outer layer is soft, the inside is hard and crunchy

I do not know how it’s done (though I’m on the case).

Nor do I (plot twist) particularly like crunchy cereals ― I love soggy ones.

But if you’re in the firm camp, we were pretty surprised by how well these (literally and figuratively) held up.

Mary Berry’s Unusual Secret To The Most Luxurious Fish Pie

Posted on 16/02/2025 by Boris Clair

Mary Berry isn’t afraid to switch up a classic recipe.

She uses tortillas in place of pasta sheets in her speedy “Mexican lasagne” recipe, for instance ― wraps form the base of her no-fuss midweek quiche too.

And her posh version of cottage pie is topped not with mash, but with creamy, cheesy dauphinoise.

So perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the former Great British Bake-Off host’s fish pie recipe has a similarly decadent topping.

In her elevated version of the dish, Mary’s “fish pie with a twist” boasts a topping most chefs would be proud to present.

What’s her topping?

Mary adds a “fancy soufflé style topping” to the usually humble meal.

After cooking off her leeks and forming a roux, she seasons the sauce and adds fish to it.

Then, she spoons the pie base into a casserole dish with some hard-boiled eggs and places it on the counter ’til cold, then in the fridge until hardened.

Once it’s chilled, the Cordon Bleu-trained chef starts on her soufflé, copping some crustless white bread into chunks.

She puts cream cheese, butter and cheese in a pan until melted, setting it aside to cool when she starts whisking egg whites in a separate, “spotlessly clean” bowl.

After the egg whites have reached stiff peaks, Mary adds salt and pepper to them before gently folding the mixture into the cheese and butter along with the bread chunks.

That goes on top of the chilled fish pie mix before hitting the oven for 20-25 minutes, or “until golden-brown and bubbling.”

Mary’s not the only chef to combine the two

Delia Smith has a similar recipe, sharing that most cuts of white fish “instantly become more special when made into a fluffy soufflé.”

Her recipe incorporates the fish into the batter, rather than sitting underneath it, though.

Chef Marcello Tully does separate his fish-infused soufflé from its spinach base and creamy sauce, but doesn’t keep the haddock away from the topping.

You can’t say Mary isn’t original…

The Simple (And Slightly Gross) Way To Check Your Gut Health Using Sweetcorn

Posted on 15/02/2025 by Boris Clair

Is it us or is everyone talking about gut health right now?

We recently learned that sourdough bread is better for our guts, that gut health is tied to Alzheimer’s disease, and there are specific times of the day that are best to eat to protect your gut health (to name a few).

However, with all this news coming at once, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and not understand where to start with your own gut health. How do you even know if yours is that healthy beyond how it feels?

Well, according to Nick Ilott, senior researcher and lead bioinformatician at The Oxford Centre for Microbiome Studies, University of Oxford, all you need is a little bit of sweetcorn.

I’m sure you know where this is going.

The sweetcorn test: how to simply test your gut health

First of all, and this may be difficult for some people, to do this test, you can’t eat sweetcorn for 7-10 days in something that is called the ‘wash-out phase’.

Once this time has passed, note down the date and time and eat some sweetcorn. You don’t need to have more than a handful of corn for this test to work but if you’ve been craving some corn on the cob, treat yourself.

Ilott explained: “Because the outer shell of the corn is indigestible, it will pass through your gastrointestinal tract with the rest of the food you’ve eaten and will eventually be visible in your stool.”

What you then need to do is keep an eye on the next few stools that you pass, and once you do spot a little kernel or two, note down the date and time.

“If you pass the corn in 12 hours or less, your gut is fast. If you don’t pass it for around 48 hours of more, then your gut is slow,” explained the expert.

“If you find your gut motility is on either end of the spectrum, there are fortunately things you can do to improve it.”

He advises that if your gut is consistently fast, you should visit your doctor for further tests.

Studies suggest that the median gut motility time is about 28 hours, and it’s considered “normal” for an individual person’s transit time to fall between 10 and 73 hours. If yours falls within this range, you don’t have to seek any further advice.

However, Ilott urges that if you feel your gut motility time is a little slow but you aren’t experiencing symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain, lack of appetite or nausea, you should eat more fruit and vegetables to increase your fibre intake, as well as drink more water and exercise.

So THAT’s Why Restaurant Mashed Potatoes Are So Much Better

Posted on 10/02/2025 by Boris Clair

If you’ve ever tried to make restaurant-level chips at home only to be disappointed by the results, chefs say you might not be cooking (then cooling, then cooking) them enough.

And if your homemade poached eggs fall a little flat, the pros recommend strainers, stirring, and vinegar.

But if mash is your Achille’s meal, some commenters on the Reddit forum r/AskCulinary ― where we non-experts can ask chefs for the secrets to professional-level food ― say it might have to do with how you cook the spuds.

Boiling may not be your best bet, they say.

How should you cook potatoes for mash?

The trick to getting creamy, fluffy mash is working with a dry, floury spud. That’s why a lot of experts recommend a variety like Maris Piper or King Edward for the job.

The drier the potato, the more of its creamy smoothness can come from decadent butter or milk ― and the better you can control its texture.

But once you get to a professional level, simply choosing the right potato for the job might not cut it.

Nigella Lawson boils her potatoes in their skins to stop them from becoming “waterlogged”, peeling them as soon as they’re cooked.

She also suggests patient cooks go with the advice some Redditors offer: baking, instead of boiling, the potatoes will yield the “driest” results.

But the most common response was a time-saving middle ground.

“Most places will steam the potatoes, mainly because there’s less water in them that way,” site user ChefGuru wrote.

They added: “Using baked potatoes could be another option because they cook without being soaked in water.”

They’re not alone

Delia Smith and The New York Times recommend steaming, rather than boiling, the veg too.

Both recommend letting the potatoes cook for about 20-25 minutes; Delia stresses the importance of testing how “done” they are with a skewer, as undercooked potatoes will run lumpy.

Lastly, the TV chef says your regular potato masher may not cut it for pro-level results.

After adding milk and crème fraîche to the mash, she brings out an electric whisk to “whip the potatoes up to a smooth, creamy, fluffy mass”. Nice.

If 1 Slice Of Bread Is Mouldy, Is The Whole Loaf Bad?

Posted on 09/02/2025 by Boris Clair

It’s lunchtime, your stomach is growling and you’ve decided to make a sandwich. But as soon as you head to the pantry and open the bread bag, you see it: a whitish, greenish spot. Ugh — it’s mould.

Some slices look OK, though, with smaller or no mouldy bits. Are those safe to eat? Maybe they haven’t been touched by the mould yet, you think.

The idea of eating them is gross, but if you are super hungry or haven’t been to the grocery store lately, you may be low on other options.

Plus, with the expectation that food costs will rise under President Donald Trump’s administration and the desire to reduce food waste, who wants to toss a whole loaf? Some might wonder if certain slices are still fine to eat, or at least won’t cause major stomach problems. Let’s see what food experts say.

What To Do If You See Mould On Just 1 Slice Of Bread

Unfortunately, mould on one slice is essentially mould on every slice (which is also the case for produce, by the way). It doesn’t matter if one piece looks fine or isn’t touching the mouldy area — it’s all dangerous to eat.

“No matter how little the mould spot is on the bread, or how many slices are left of the loaf, it is not safe to eat mouldy bread nor just cut around it and eat the rest, because the root of the mould already has deeply penetrated into it,” said Shelley Balls, a registered dietitian nutritionist with ServSafe manager certification on food safety.

And just because you might not see mould doesn’t mean it’s not there. “You may only see visible mould growing on the surface, like leaves on a tree or the petals of a flower,” explained Leanne Blommaert, the manager of food research and development at NSF, a public health organisation. “But there is an entire network of roots called mycelia that can spread into and across all surfaces of bread.”

Besides being gross, this can make you feel sick.

The Dangers Of Eating Mould

If you’re a fan of blue cheese, you may think it’s perfectly fine to eat some mould. You’ve done it before and been OK, right?

That’s understandable and, in some cases, true. Mould isn’t always bad — but it can be.

“Eating mouldy bread can upset your digestive system or cause allergic reactions, depending on the type of mould,” said Chris Mohr, a fitness and nutrition adviser at the website Garage Gym Reviews.

Dr. Kelly Krisna Johnson-Arbor, a medical toxicologist with the MedStar Health hospital system, explained how this can happen. “Some types of mould that are found in spoiled bread, including Aspergillus and Penicillium, are also associated with allergies that can occur immediately or hours after people come into contact with them,” she said.

She added that gastrointestinal symptoms — like abdominal pain and diarrhoea — may come from mycotoxins, which are secondary compounds from mould. They can change normal intestinal functions, with unpleasant results.

Those aren’t the only issues you may face, unfortunately. Even breathing in mould can cause health problems, according to Balls. People with asthma are especially at risk, Johnson-Arbor added, as the allergens can trigger breathing difficulties.

Johnson-Arbor recommended playing it safe. “Since some types of mold can cause unwanted health problems, and since it’s impossible for most people to tell whether a specific mould is harmful or not based on its appearance on food, it’s best to avoid consuming most mouldy foods,” she said.

If you want a cheat sheet on when mould may be safe to eat (or eat around), check out this webpage from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Why Some Bread Slices Get Mouldy Faster Than Others

Even when bread slices sit together, some can mould faster than others. How?

Balls said slices that mould faster may have more moisture or be warmer. She gave the example of a bread loaf with one side closer to a toaster, thus making it warmer and more likely to grow mould first.

Touching bread — with your hands or utensils — can cause mould spores to grow, too, Blommaert added. And that mould can spread.

Plus, mould can be airborne. Mohr said that slices near the seam of a bread bag, or near the end of a loaf, may mould faster. That’s because they’re closer to the air and moisture in your kitchen. Even if you don’t leave the bag open, it’s exposed to more air when you open it.

How To Prevent Mould From Growing On Your Bread

To some degree, mould growth is unavoidable with certain foods. However, there’s a way to slow its progress.

“You can safely store your bread in the fridge to extend its shelf life without any dangerous health risks,” Balls said.

The bread may become harder, she noted, but it’s safe to eat.

Whether this is the best option depends a little on the type of bread, however. Balls said to store crusty types of bread at room temperature only, but commercially made bread will have no or minimal problems with texture or flavour after sitting in the fridge. Just place it in an airtight container to prevent it from drying out.

Putting bread in the freezer can also keep it from drying out, and it could still taste about the same as when you first bought or baked it. If you have more than you can eat in a few days, your slices may best reside there.

Additionally, Blommaert suggested checking the expiration date of your bread and not consuming it past then. According to the USDA, commercially baked breads can be stored at room temperature for two to four days, refrigerated for seven to 14 days, or frozen for three months.

For anyone wanting to eat bread safely, Mohr offered this simple advice: “When in doubt, throw it out.”

I Cook This Simple Chicken Thigh Recipe Every Week And I’m Still Obsessed

Posted on 30/01/2025 by Boris Clair

I like to think of myself as a foodie, a home cook, a kitchen whizz if you will but, in the middle of the week when I’m tired and rushed off my feet, I’m more of a kitchen… wimp.

I just want to have a delicious, nutritious meal with almost 0 effort on my part and minimal cleanup, if possible. Is that really too much to ask?

Well, I thought it was until I stumbled upon this chicken thigh recipe one desperate night when I didn’t know what I wanted but I did know I needed to use up the chicken in the fridge and I’d had a hankering for honey for a while.

Listen, if nothing else, I always know I’ll be eating this through the week.

The chicken thigh recipe that saved my sanity

I came up with this myself so, for the most part, measure with your heart. Maybe measure a little with your heart health, too, let’s not go too hard on the sodium.

The ingredients I use are:

Soy sauce
Honey
Ginger
Lemon

I personally am intolerant to garlic but if you are blessed with garlic tolerance, I recommend throwing some in there, too.

First, grab yourself a bowl. Into that bowl, you should grate a nub of ginger, squeeze in some lemon juice, add a little honey and soy sauce. Mix all of these together before adding just a tiny bit of the oil of your choice.

Then, spread this mixture over your chicken thighs.

You can cook them straight away or leave them to marinade throughout the day (which is what I do).

To cook them, either use the air fryer at 190° for 20 minutes, turning halfway through or in the oven for 30 minutes or until juices run clear at 200°.

I usually serve them with basmati rice and some steamed broccoli and spinach with a little sesame oil.

Finally, if you have a little lemon juice and ginger left over, boil the kettle, add them to a mug with some honey and have a lovely, soothing drink while you wait for your culinary masterpiece to cook.

Here’s The Exact Best Time Of Day To Eat Protein If You Work Out

Posted on 28/01/2025 by Boris Clair

I’ve been going to the gym for about six months now, and four of those have been spent trying to train my social media algorithms to show me anything other than protein content.

Influencers and fitness fanatics alike seem to be obsessed with the nutrient, which helps to build and repair our cells (including our muscles). They can even help to regulate fluid control and our immune system.

It’s not that they’re wrong to enthuse about the dietary staple, which has been linked to feelings of satiety and possibly even a speedier metabolism.

It’s just that the information is so conflicting ― should we have protein immediately before or straight after a workout, and how much, and does timing really matter at all?

There is an ideal “protein window”, but it’s likely later than you think

I’ve seen a lot of videos admonishing people for not eating in the optimal “protein window” either before or after their workout, which is usually presented as lasting for about a quarter of an hour.

Well, some good news: not only does overall protein consumption throughout the day seem to matter more than timing, but according to the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), that “anabolic window” is longer than you think.

The ISSN found that a protein intake of 1.4–2g protein/kg body weight a day is enough for most exercising people, and that eating protein in a two-hour window after finishing your workout can help to build your muscle mass.

One exception might be people who do “fasted” exercise, or work out on an empty stomach. They might benefit from eating protein soon after their workout because they haven’t had any for a while, a 2003 study suggests.

Older people might want to take protein just before bed

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how muscle loss ― or sarcopenia ― is associated with ageing and can cause health issues.

That’s part of the reason why older people need to pay particular attention to their protein intake.

To prevent muscle loss, a 2016 paper suggests that taking 40g of protein before bed can be helpful, especially following exercise.

That’s because the nutrient becomes more available to our bodies as we sleep.

Another 2011 paper found that older men who consumed protein before bed retained more muscles than those who ate a placebo, regardless of activity level.

Keep Butter Out Of The Fridge? We’ve Got Grim News For You

Posted on 04/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Despite what I’ll tactfully call conflicting opinions in my household, it turns out that yes, butter is almost always safe to eat after being left out on the counter.

Not only is room-temperature butter better for spreading and creaming sugar while baking, it turns out that you can leave properly stored butter out for a surprisingly long time.

“Butter is safe to eat after being out at room temperature,” Bri Bell, a registered dietitian, and food safety expert, told Allrecipes.

“One reason it doesn’t go bad as quickly as other dairy products at room temperature is because it’s low in carbohydrates and proteins, which are mould and bacteria’s preferred food sources.“

But does safe mean tasty? Is there an upper limit to how long you can leave butter out on the side? And if so, what is it?

It’ll be safe for ages ― but delicious for as little as a couple of hours

Part of it has to do with storage. On one, more extreme end, bog butter ― butter buried under a bog to preserve it for longer ― has been found to last for literally hundreds of years without posing a health threat to anyone who eats it.

But unless you’ve got an airtight, subterranean cubby-hole of your own, your best bet is probably a butter dish or something similarly airtight that won’t absorb smells from your cooking. This should keep it safe to eat for ages, provided your kitchen isn’t too hot.

However, the question of safety is different to the question of flavour. While butter might be safe to eat after a couple of days on your countertops, its taste might be impacted by leaving the fridge.

Tonja Engen, Culinary Content Specialist for butter experts Land O’Lakes, told Allrecipes “Do not leave butter at room temperature for more than 4 hours. Always return any unused butter to the refrigerator and be aware that butter left outside refrigeration may become darker in colour and have the flavour affected.”

If you need to soften butter for baking or spreading, she says that “you can cut the butter into small chunks and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.”

Or grate frozen butter for a quick-fix for baking, she adds.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s recommendations say that “Butter and margarine are safe at room temperature. However, if butter is left out at room temperature for several days, the flavour can turn rancid so it’s best to leave out whatever you can use within a day or two.”

In other words, while your butter is safe out on the counters for a remarkably long time, its creamy flavour might degrade in a matter of hours.

Honestly, this is the most clear-cut case of “ignorance is bliss” I’ve ever seen…

The Secret To Sparkling Baking Trays Is Hiding In Your Food Cupboard

Posted on 04/01/2025 by Boris Clair

I don’t know what it is about baking trays. Maybe it’s the fact that we’ve designed them for a lifetime of inferno-like suffering in our ovens – but no matter how carefully I clean mine, they seem to get incredibly filthy in a matter of months ― almost as if they’re doing it on purpose.

Forget sponges. Forget dish brushes. Once my baking trays have achieved the crusted-on hue of shame, it feels like nothing will help to clean them.

So you can imagine how intrigued I was to hear from Tasting Table that the humble spud could help to remove the rust from my trays.

All I have to do, they advise, is halve a raw spud, dip the potato in washing-up liquid and salt or baking soda, and get to scrubbing. I was sceptical too ― but having tried it, I’ll never go back.

I know! It works because potatoes are high in something called oxalic acid, which is sometimes sold in its pure form as a rust remover.

When this comes into contact with rust, it creates a substance called iron oxalate, which can easily be washed away with water and soap.

The addition of washing-up liquid will help to cut through grease, while salt and baking powder will exfoliate the surface of your trays.

Sweet potatoes are higher in rust-reducing oxalic acid than other kinds, Tasting Table points out.

Yep! I’ve tried wrapping my entire oven (baking trays included) in clingfilm overnight after applying a baking soda paste before ― this worked brilliantly.

You can also try submerging your baking trays in hot, soapy water for a minimum of half an hour before scrubbing away the grime. This works, but requires a lot of sink space.

Baking soda and boiling water can also do the trick, Oven Pride suggests (though keep your hands safe during this method).

And of course, you can’t go too far wrong with a wire scourer and good ol’ elbow grease…

I’ve Found The Secret To Fluffy Jacket Potatoes In Under 7 Minutes

Posted on 27/12/2024 by Boris Clair

Jacket potatoes are so close to being the perfect midweek winter meal. They’re filling; they’re tasty; they go with basically anything. They’re also cheap, and spuds take much longer to go off than lots of other veggies.

But there’s one problem; it feels like you can basically while away an entire evening waiting for them to cook in an oven.

I can hear the purists now – and yes, I do agree that a lot of the time, the extra wait time is worth it. It’s a great way to ensure perfect, fluffy spuds with delicate, crispy skins, and other cooking methods (like air frying) take a similar amount of time.

But hear me out ― thanks to TikTok, I’ve been converted to a 10-minute microwave jacket potato-cooking method (yes, really).

What’s the method?

TikToker @harley.salem shared a microwave-based recipe for fluffy, crispy jacket spuds – and it’s racked up almost two hundred thousand likes.

The method is pretty simple: you wash the potato, shallowly stab it with a fork a LOT, deeply stab it with a fork a few times, and then wrap the spud in wet kitchen roll.

Place the damp parcel in the microwave for six minutes, and then carefully remove the VERY HOT cooked spud from your microwave. We recommend doing this with a tool like tongs, as it’s literally steaming at this point.

Then, also using a tool like tongs, peel the kitchen roll away from the potato ― et voila, you’ve got a perfectly fluffy spud.

If your spud isn’t fully cooked by the time it’s come out of the microwave, that’s simple to fix – simply re-wrap it in more damp kitchen roll and let it microwave for a couple more minutes (the bigger the spud, the longer you’ll need).

Why does it work?

Wrapping potatoes in wet kitchen roll is “crucial” for a moist and fluffy interior, according to Tasting Table.

Potatoes are pretty watery, however microwaving them can cause all of this water to evaporate really quickly, drying out your beloved baked spud.

The thinking is that wrapping the potato in wet kitchen roll acts as an “evaporation buffer” helping the spud to retain enough moisture to stay fluffy and delicious.

“Best hack ever … sooo easy,” one commenter shared on TikTok. And having tried it myself, I completely agree – the texture is so far from the soggy, grainy mess microwaves sometimes create.

I will say that it’s not the crispiest skin I’ve ever eaten on a potato and the damp kitchen roll gets very, very hot, so you need to be careful (we weren’t joking about those tongs).

But for speed, efficiency and overall flavour, this gets a solid 9/10 from me.

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