Can a dutch oven be used for stir frying?

I want to use enameled cast iron Kitchen Aid dutch oven for stir frying asian style; are there any issues with using it for stir frying? I am a cooking newbie, and want to find healthy cooking options for others in my family who cook ...

Is my biga supposed to be liquid?

I'm trying my hand at Ciabatta bread and have just made the biga in preparation for making the bread tomorrow.

I followed this recipe, which calls for the following proportion of ingredients for the biga:

250g/9oz Italian type '00' bread flour

190ml/7fl oz water

15g/½oz yeast

and the preparation (emphasis mine):

For the overnight preparation, mix the flour with the water in a large bowl and add the yeast. Whisk for three minutes and leave to rise overnight (or at least eight hours).

I measured out the ingredients using the metric quantities and mixed as per the instructions, but my biga turned out to be much too solid and dough-like to whisk:

I measured out the weight of flour with a scale and the water with a liquid measuring cup and used bread flour.

Looking at another recipe, I see the same proportion of dry to wet ingredients:

4 ounce (1/2 cup) water

1/2 teaspoon active-dry yeast

5 ounce (1 cup) all-purpose flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the flour and stir to form a thick, gloppy paste. Give it a good fifty or so brisk stirs to build up the gluten. Cover and let sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.

This one also has a flour:water ratio of 2:1 and indicates that the result should be a gloppy paste. Surely more water is needed in order to get this kind of consistency? Is a more solid consistency okay or did I do something wrong?

How do get the "caramelized juices" from yams

This is hard to ask, but you know how when you bake a yam for long enough it will ooze the caramelized sugars? It's like... it's leaking sap.

BUT The most delicious sap ever. So wondering, is there a way to cook the yam so that it entirely becomes the caramelized sugars, and then how would you store this?

Seriously so amazingly good.

Why don't they sell frozen tomatoes like other frozen vegetables and fruits?

Why aren't frozen tomatoes available like frozen broccoli, peas, peaches, or strawberries? Why are tomatoes only canned or fresh?

Example: http://ift.tt/1BqxBUO

Can you safely use a cast-iron grill pan as a heat diffuser?

We recently got an earthenware tagine. However, being earthenware, it can't be directly exposed to the stove flames. The manual calls for a heat diffuser, but those are apparently impossible to find (there's a store 45 minutes away in another city that might have some).

I know you can use a cast-iron skillet as a heat diffuser in a pinch, but we don't have one large enough. What we do have, however, is a large cast-iron grill pan. I initially thought that the ridges inside it would be a problem, causing uneven heating, and thus dismissed that idea -- but after some searching it looks like the overwhelming majority of heat diffusers actually have ridges, domes, holes, or other surface features that would produce uneven heating anyways!

So...can I safely use a cast-iron grill pan as a heat diffuser? If not, why not? In either case, what's the purpose of the various surface features on heat diffusers that prevent them from uniformly contacting the cookware on top of them?

Why did people start using CO2 (instead of e.g. oxygen) for carbonated drinks?

I am curious about why those who invented carbonated drinks chose to use specifically carbon dioxide in the liquid, instead of some other gas (say, oxygen).

(Obviously they wouldn't necessarily have been called "carbonated" if some other gas had been used, but that is besides the point.)

Is there some reason such as that CO2 does not dissipate from a liquid as fast as other gases, or something else?

How do I pick the best fillet mignon at the supermarket?

What should I look for when I'm at the store picking out fillet mignon? How can I tell by look which pieces are more likely to be higher quality pieces of meat?