Q: Where can I buy remoulade or how can it be made? This is a very popular product in Denmark which is used over there as a condiment on many foods.

A: Remoulade may be found in specialty food stores, but this piquant classic French mayonnaise-based sauce can be made fairly easily. The basic components of chopped gherkins (tiny pickles), capers, herbs, a touch of Dijon mustard and sometimes anchovy paste and chopped hard-boiled eggs can be stirred into mayonnaise in whatever specific quantities suit your personal tastes. It is often used on European fish dishes as tartar sauce would be in the United States.

Q: What is hard durum flour? I could not find it recently when attempting to make pasta from a tempting recipe.

A: Gluten-rich, hard durum flour is made from durum wheat as a byproduct of semolina; it is the bran and germ with a portion of the kernel. It works very well for pasta because of the high starch, but must be mixed with white flour for a good texture in bread baking. Rather than trying to find a product called durum flour, look instead for semolina which can be found in stores specializing in Italian cuisine.

TIP: A baking reader tells us that for years she has successfully traded a stick of butter for 1/3 cup vegetable oil in her prize-winning "hot milk" cake.

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