4 ms·

What would be interesting is if stove burners would be required to have their watt-equivaleng heat output as markers, instead of 1-2-3-4-5. That way would know

by jorvi 5y ago

What would be interesting is if stove burners would be required to have their watt-equivaleng heat output as markers, instead of 1-2-3-4-5. That way would know that 3 on the middle burner is equal to 5 on the small burner, and recipe books can now mention you need ~800 watts of heat output, which is neatly usuable for induction and coil cooking as well.

ryandrake 5y ago
Thank you! It's one of the things mildly infuriating about learning to cook, especially from recipes. They don't quantify everything. What's "high heat" exactly? What is a "pinch" of salt, and how does it differ from a "dash" of it? Are these volume measurements or weights? When it says "sprinkle some X" how much should you sprinkle? What's a spoonful? Are they referring to a US teaspoon (approx. 5mL), or somebody else's spoon? How much oil is in a "drizzle"? What about a "drop"? Are we talking about the metric drop (0.05mL)? How many grams is a "medium potato"? Or an onion? I can get onions in sizes that vary by 3X, but the recipe just says chop up an onion. Maddening!
- ThrustVectoring 5y ago
  The answer is that a recipe is a seed idea for a creative process, not a fixed set of steps that you have to follow exactly or ruin the magic. > What's "high heat" exactly? A suggestion that you want caramelization and/or browning > What is a "pinch" of salt, and how does it differ from a "dash" of it? Doesn't matter, you should salt to taste anyhow, this is merely a reminder to do so > When it says "sprinkle some X" how much should you sprinkle? Smell it or taste a little and guess > How much oil is in a "drizzle"? Enough to tell that it's there, not enough to soak it through > How many grams is a "medium potato"? Or an onion? Doesn't matter, you'll wind up with a range of vegetable quantities and they all roughly work, just end up in slightly different places.
  - a1369209993 5y ago
    > a recipe is a seed idea for a creative process, not a fixed set of steps that you have to follow exactly or ruin the magic. No! It is not a creative[0] process! I am attempting to make food, to eat, not a bloody painting, and pretentions of artistry are, as ryandrake just said, infuriating[1]. 0: I assume you mean "involving creativity", not "that has the effect of creating something", since the latter applies equally well to, for example, working in a assembly line. Edit: 1: case in point, apparently.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
      I think you're right to be infuriated and the OP should not have complicated things that much. If you are simply attempting to make food to eat, then you can very easily do so. If what you want to eat can be eaten raw, eat it raw. If not, boil it. Boiling may need a bit of experimentation to get right for some foods, but in general you need to have a pot big enough to take the full amnount of food, a sufficient quantity of clean, potable water to fill the pot until it's two cm over the food once the food is in the pot, and a sufficiently powerful source of heat to bring the water and the food to a temperarture of 100 degrees Celsius within a period of time of no more than 10 minutes. Once you have those things, the pot, the water, and the source of heat, put the food in the pot, add water to fill the pot to two cm over the food, put the pot on the heat source and turn the heat source on. At this point it would probably be useful to have a thermometer so you can directly measure the temperature of the water, but you can usually observe that the water in the pot is vaporising and confirm that it is at boiling point. Leave the food to cook until all the water in the pot has evaporated, but not more than that or the food will burn. Then eat the food. Remember to turn the heat source off before eating! You may also want to consult a set of instructions concerning how to clean the pot once it's used. There may be variations of the procedure, for example if you have a very big amount of food you may want to adjust the levels of water, but that is something you can experiment with. In any case, if you can master this technique (but don't be discouraged if you can't) then you will always have a way to make food to eat that is, indeed, not a bloody painting.
    - 5y ago
- akiselev 5y ago
  Quantifying any of those values would be completely pointless. If you really want to know, "officially" a pinch of salt is ~0.35g and a dash is ~0.7g. Accurately measuring quantities that small is a trained skill using specialized equipment. Anything you can buy on Amazon for under $1,000 would get you +-100mg when used correctly at best - used in a kitchen with a 50g measuring spoon for 0.5g of salt you'd be lucky to get +- 1000 mg.
  - utucuro 5y ago
    A cheap precision scale will accurately measure up to 0.01g precision, with the caveat that most will only measure things weighing less than 100g or 200g. I currently use one like that (0.01g precision, 200g limit) for coffee beans, I was originally looking for a 0.1g precision scale, but there was no price difference. Although, I fully agree that it is overkill for the kitchen - I have never used it for cooking.
- jjgreen 5y ago
  Under no circumstances should you buy anything by Elisabeth David (which is a pity, they're great).

by jorvi 5y ago

ryandrake 5y ago

Thank you! It's one of the things mildly infuriating about learning to cook, especially from recipes. They don't quantify everything. What's "high heat" exactly? What is a "pinch" of salt, and how does it differ from a "dash" of it? Are these volume measurements or weights? When it says "sprinkle some X" how much should you sprinkle? What's a spoonful? Are they referring to a US teaspoon (approx. 5mL), or somebody else's spoon? How much oil is in a "drizzle"? What about a "drop"? Are we talking about the metric drop (0.05mL)? How many grams is a "medium potato"? Or an onion? I can get onions in sizes that vary by 3X, but the recipe just says chop up an onion. Maddening!

ThrustVectoring 5y ago
The answer is that a recipe is a seed idea for a creative process, not a fixed set of steps that you have to follow exactly or ruin the magic. > What's "high heat" exactly? A suggestion that you want caramelization and/or browning > What is a "pinch" of salt, and how does it differ from a "dash" of it? Doesn't matter, you should salt to taste anyhow, this is merely a reminder to do so > When it says "sprinkle some X" how much should you sprinkle? Smell it or taste a little and guess > How much oil is in a "drizzle"? Enough to tell that it's there, not enough to soak it through > How many grams is a "medium potato"? Or an onion? Doesn't matter, you'll wind up with a range of vegetable quantities and they all roughly work, just end up in slightly different places.
- a1369209993 5y ago
  > a recipe is a seed idea for a creative process, not a fixed set of steps that you have to follow exactly or ruin the magic. No! It is not a creative[0] process! I am attempting to make food, to eat, not a bloody painting, and pretentions of artistry are, as ryandrake just said, infuriating[1]. 0: I assume you mean "involving creativity", not "that has the effect of creating something", since the latter applies equally well to, for example, working in a assembly line. Edit: 1: case in point, apparently.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
    I think you're right to be infuriated and the OP should not have complicated things that much. If you are simply attempting to make food to eat, then you can very easily do so. If what you want to eat can be eaten raw, eat it raw. If not, boil it. Boiling may need a bit of experimentation to get right for some foods, but in general you need to have a pot big enough to take the full amnount of food, a sufficient quantity of clean, potable water to fill the pot until it's two cm over the food once the food is in the pot, and a sufficiently powerful source of heat to bring the water and the food to a temperarture of 100 degrees Celsius within a period of time of no more than 10 minutes. Once you have those things, the pot, the water, and the source of heat, put the food in the pot, add water to fill the pot to two cm over the food, put the pot on the heat source and turn the heat source on. At this point it would probably be useful to have a thermometer so you can directly measure the temperature of the water, but you can usually observe that the water in the pot is vaporising and confirm that it is at boiling point. Leave the food to cook until all the water in the pot has evaporated, but not more than that or the food will burn. Then eat the food. Remember to turn the heat source off before eating! You may also want to consult a set of instructions concerning how to clean the pot once it's used. There may be variations of the procedure, for example if you have a very big amount of food you may want to adjust the levels of water, but that is something you can experiment with. In any case, if you can master this technique (but don't be discouraged if you can't) then you will always have a way to make food to eat that is, indeed, not a bloody painting.
  - 5y ago
akiselev 5y ago
Quantifying any of those values would be completely pointless. If you really want to know, "officially" a pinch of salt is ~0.35g and a dash is ~0.7g. Accurately measuring quantities that small is a trained skill using specialized equipment. Anything you can buy on Amazon for under $1,000 would get you +-100mg when used correctly at best - used in a kitchen with a 50g measuring spoon for 0.5g of salt you'd be lucky to get +- 1000 mg.
- utucuro 5y ago
  A cheap precision scale will accurately measure up to 0.01g precision, with the caveat that most will only measure things weighing less than 100g or 200g. I currently use one like that (0.01g precision, 200g limit) for coffee beans, I was originally looking for a 0.1g precision scale, but there was no price difference. Although, I fully agree that it is overkill for the kitchen - I have never used it for cooking.
jjgreen 5y ago
Under no circumstances should you buy anything by Elisabeth David (which is a pity, they're great).