How do I make a fluffy genoise sponge cake?

When I add melted butter to sponge cake mix, it loses all the trapped air and turns to slop. H. Knight

What you are referring to is a genoise sponge or, according to Mrs Dorothy Floate, a "Victorian sponge". Mrs Floate was the doyen of the baking-as-moral-salvation movement in post-war rural Australia. She suggested that the addition of very hot molten butter to a batter is akin to a married woman spending a night out with French sailors. She advises allowing the melted butter to cool and to dribble the butter around the edge of the bowl and gently fold it through the batter after the flour has been gently folded through the beaten eggs. This will stop the hot butter bursting all the air bubbles trapped in the beaten eggs.

What is "gammon"? M. Gilbert

Gammon is ham from the top end of the back leg of a pig that has been pickled in brine but not cooked and smoked like leg ham. Therefore, it needs cooking. Gammon comes to us from the Old North French word gambon, the modern French word being jambon. The Spanish get jamon from the same root. You can buy gammon from British butchers such as Hills Butchery in Maroubra, NSW (hillsbutchery.com.au), Pacdon Park in Moama, NSW (pacdon.com.au) and Rob's British Butchery in Dandenong, Victoria (robsukproduce.com.au). Gammon is commonly sold as a steak to grill or fry but is also sold as a larger cut and can be boiled but is delicious baked and glazed. To bake gammon, first rinse it. Place on a rack in baking tray with 2.5 centimetres of cold water. Cover with foil and bake at 180C for 45 minutes per kilogram. When done remove the skin but not the fat. Criss-cross the fat with a sharp knife and glaze with honey and mustard. Turn the oven to 220C for 20 minutes to glaze. Serve with fresh cabbage, apple and dill chopped salad. Delicious.

Where can I buy teff? M. Caruthers

Teff is the latest subsistence crop from the Third World to make it to superfood status. Teff, Eragrostis tef, is a staple in Ethiopia and comes from domesticated lovegrass, a fine grass producing small seeds that cook very quickly and are highly nutritious, prized by modern health gurus for their high fibre and high protein – about 14 per cent. Coles launched its private label teff earlier this year. Look out for ethical teff in wholefood and health food stores.

Letters

We talked about Americans soaking joints of lamb in milk prior to roasting to avoid the "lamby" smell. M. Heppell wrote that her mother in Canada said you "could avoid the smell of roasting lamb by rubbing the instant coffee powder all over it". Wow! International Roast Lamb. In response to a query a few weeks back about non-stick frypans, M. Ball sent in this one-liner: "If Teflon is non-stick, how do they stick it to frying pans." I posed this question to my eight-year-old, to which she responded, "Teflon must only be non-stick on one side." Keep 'em coming.

Send your vexing culinary conundrums to brainfood@richardcornish.com.au or tweet to @Foodcornish