3 ms·

I think he's talking about more basic technology. For example, cooking eggs in a non-stick pan is significantly easier, and even regular pans have uniform surfa

I think he's talking about more basic technology. For example, cooking eggs in a non-stick pan is significantly easier, and even regular pans have uniform surfaces that heat evenly. Things like silicone cooking tools, food professors, even just ovens where you can set a temperature are all miracle breakthroughs compared to how cooking was done in the past.

YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
I remember both my grandmothers cooking and I don't remember either of them speaking about food processors or say pressure cookers in terms of "miracles". Both grew up and learned to cook at a time when such niceties where not available. I myself cook most of my food in simple pots and pans with simple utensils no different than what would have been available even a thousand years ago. Ovens are another matter- but even there, the variation between different modern ovens (e.g. how quickly they reach a certain temperature) means that experience with a particular oven is much more important than precision. So I think "miracle breakthroughs" is an exaggeration. Those are things that are more "nice to have" than "absolutely indispensible". If I wanted to admit to an exception- I've made mayonnaise by hand and by hand mixer. The former is a pain in the ass and takes a lot longer. Even so, having made it by hand I understand how the ingredients work together so I know what to do with the hand mixer. Which is not something you can know if you've always made it with a mixer. So you're actually losing something with too much technology in cooking, so I think anyway.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  > So you're actually losing something with too much technology in cooking, so I think anyway. Somewhat OT: You're talking about cooking, but the same is true for many other activities and systems. Our technology level permits us to ignore many details and so we fail to learn the underlying mechanisms, processes, etc. In cooking: learning details of the cooking process, why you can make it with a hand or stand mixer versus by hand and what settings are appropriate in those cases. In driving: automatic transmissions hide the details of the different gears, so people driving in mountains and certain other conditions for the first time don't understand why they'd use a lower gear, whereas someone driving a manual transmission all the time would understand more easily. Examples can be found from any field, but they all demonstrate a common theme: Sometimes you have to do things by hand to understand what's happening before you can apply the higher technology tooling effectively.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
    Agreed. My other example is animation. I studied classical animation (in another life, another career...) and then I learned how to do 3d computer animation. I was never very good at 3d animation (I preferred modelling) so I can't brag about it but it's very clear to see who hasn't learned to do it the traditional way first, e.g. when you look at character animations in games vs. animated movies.
- wiz21c 6y ago
  >>> I've made mayonnaise by hand and by hand mixer. Strongly disagree !!! :-) Although I'm a pretty good cook, I fail the mayonnaise 9 times out of 10. So my wife does it. And I can assure you she does that in a short and super quiet way, all by hand. Just softness. It's been like that for years and I'm stall amazed. Oh and when she bakes, I have a lot of pride in mixing everything by hand : Chantilly, egg yolks and sugar, anything and butter, etc. The harder the better. Dunno why I like to do that. I guess it's a kind of micro sport :-)
  - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
    Well, maybe I'm doing it wrong, who knows :)

YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago

I remember both my grandmothers cooking and I don't remember either of them speaking about food processors or say pressure cookers in terms of "miracles". Both grew up and learned to cook at a time when such niceties where not available. I myself cook most of my food in simple pots and pans with simple utensils no different than what would have been available even a thousand years ago. Ovens are another matter- but even there, the variation between different modern ovens (e.g. how quickly they reach a certain temperature) means that experience with a particular oven is much more important than precision. So I think "miracle breakthroughs" is an exaggeration. Those are things that are more "nice to have" than "absolutely indispensible". If I wanted to admit to an exception- I've made mayonnaise by hand and by hand mixer. The former is a pain in the ass and takes a lot longer. Even so, having made it by hand I understand how the ingredients work together so I know what to do with the hand mixer. Which is not something you can know if you've always made it with a mixer. So you're actually losing something with too much technology in cooking, so I think anyway.

Jtsummers 6y ago
> So you're actually losing something with too much technology in cooking, so I think anyway. Somewhat OT: You're talking about cooking, but the same is true for many other activities and systems. Our technology level permits us to ignore many details and so we fail to learn the underlying mechanisms, processes, etc. In cooking: learning details of the cooking process, why you can make it with a hand or stand mixer versus by hand and what settings are appropriate in those cases. In driving: automatic transmissions hide the details of the different gears, so people driving in mountains and certain other conditions for the first time don't understand why they'd use a lower gear, whereas someone driving a manual transmission all the time would understand more easily. Examples can be found from any field, but they all demonstrate a common theme: Sometimes you have to do things by hand to understand what's happening before you can apply the higher technology tooling effectively.
- YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
  Agreed. My other example is animation. I studied classical animation (in another life, another career...) and then I learned how to do 3d computer animation. I was never very good at 3d animation (I preferred modelling) so I can't brag about it but it's very clear to see who hasn't learned to do it the traditional way first, e.g. when you look at character animations in games vs. animated movies.
wiz21c 6y ago
>>> I've made mayonnaise by hand and by hand mixer. Strongly disagree !!! :-) Although I'm a pretty good cook, I fail the mayonnaise 9 times out of 10. So my wife does it. And I can assure you she does that in a short and super quiet way, all by hand. Just softness. It's been like that for years and I'm stall amazed. Oh and when she bakes, I have a lot of pride in mixing everything by hand : Chantilly, egg yolks and sugar, anything and butter, etc. The harder the better. Dunno why I like to do that. I guess it's a kind of micro sport :-)
- YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
  Well, maybe I'm doing it wrong, who knows :)