Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions.  We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

Please note, we are only able to answer questions selected for publication and aren't able to enter into personal correspondence.

• Roast chicken - redness in leg joint

  I've roasted several chickens over the years and so far haven't poisoned anyone with them? However, even when the juice runs clear when I cut into the space between the leg and breast - the leg joints are often bloody near the bone when I take them off the body - this makes me nervous and I usually put it in for a few minutes more - just to be sure. I never had this problem when I roasted a chicken in Ireland (where I come from) and this has only happened since I moved to the US! What am I doing wrong? I don't want to poison anyone and my chicken is usually very moist (I do the brandied chicken from Nigella Express) and delicious, but just want to see what I'm doing wrong. Many thanks.

  Posted by mburton. Answered on 23rd Feb 2011 at 12.00

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• Meringues - bubbles of sugar and soft mixture

  why do my meringues ooze caramel? Have i not combined the sugar and egg whites enough? or is it something else? Rosequartz

  I have been making the Christmas Pavlova recipe in Nigellas Domestic Goddess book for years and the majority of the time it turns out fantastically. However, there are occasions where the uncooked mix is much looser than usual and I end up with a much flatter meringue. Any ideas why this happens? Jive-Monster

  Posted by Rosequartz. Answered on 22nd Feb 2011 at 12.00

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• Ratatouille

  Ever so often my husband surprises me with a ratatouille. I have begged him to stop because it tastes as if the vegetables have bled to death, but he wont'. So...how do we keep the flavours in?

  Posted by WildCherry. Answered on 21st Feb 2011 at 12.00

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