What can I use instead of baking paper?

What can I use instead of baking paper? I ran out and tried greaseproof paper, with sticky results. D. VanRuyven

My Nana would bake scones and short biscuits on old paper bags carefully cut into a sheet with a knife. Greasy circles indicated where the previous baked good had lain. Paper doesn't ignite until it reaches 218C, so can be used at normal baking temperatures of 180C. I splurged and bought myself several fibreglass baking sheets from scullerymade.com.au and have never had a biscuit stick since. Silicone paper is expensive but good to line the tins of special cakes that you can't afford to fail. Aluminium foil works well for cakes and scones, but grease first. Greaseproof paper can be used to line the bottom of steamed pudding bowls.

Why do people refer to extracts from aromatic herbs as essential oils, as in the essential oil of rosemary? C. Bajek

Essential oils are not "essential" as in "you will wither up and die without them". They are Mother Nature's way for plants to keep bugs at bay. Essential oils are aromatic compounds that can be either actual oils, such as those found in leaves of citrus trees, or be found in compounds that are very similar to oils in their structure. To extract the essential oils the leaves are generally crushed and heated. I saw this theory put into action by a Catalan chef in the hills of Priorat, cooking paella in his shed one chilly autumn afternoon. He poured a more than generous layer of olive oil over his paella pan and added handfuls of wild thyme and rosemary that were growing in the rock walls that terraced his vegetable garden. He used a wooden spoon to crush the dark, thick leaves into the pan to release their flavours into the oil. He fished out the herbs, fried off the rabbit before cooking down the tomatoes and red pepper. With a few glasses of red from his neighbour's vineyard, his is one of the world's best paellas.

What is kohlrabi and how do I use it? L. Kernow

It looks like a turnip but is actually the swollen stem of a type of cabbage. Kohlrabi takes its name from the German word for cabbage and the Latin for a type of radish. I peel it, julienne it with apple and serve it with walnuts and aioli as a type of Waldorf. It is good cut into batons, steamed then lightly fried in hot butter and sage. Let us know your favourite kohlrabi recipes.

Letters

In regards to kale, J. Mooney sent in this extract from John Seymour's 1976 book Self Sufficiency. "Leave kale until you really need it, that is after the Brussels sprouts have rotted, the cabbages are finished, the slugs have had the rest of the celery and the ground is two-feet deep in snow and only your kale plants above it like ship-wrecked schooners."

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