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cooking for idiots More

cooking for idiots

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  • I think this is less about "idiots" than it is about non-native English speakers. Companies want to market their products to Chinese or Guatemalan immigrants who can reasonably be forgiven for not knowing what "dredge" means.
    • What a fucking load of shit. Then again, I guess it would be the pathetic American thing to do. You know, blaming their own illiteracy on having to cater to the immigrants...

      We have our fair share of immigrants here, yet you don't see any dumbing-down of the Norwegian language in cookbooks or otherwise to suit them. Quite the contrary. Some of our immigrants have even written some very interesting cookbooks, in proper Norwegian...
      • I'm with tuxette on this one- and i'm an american.

        Cookbooks have steadily gotten stupider.

        I think it has to do with trying to teach cooking to kids who can't boil water, and grow up to be adults who can't boil water, yet still expect that someone will hold their hand and teach them to do so rather than expecting them to take a pan, fill it with water, go stand near the stove, and FIGURE IT OUT.

        I know immigrants who read and speak and write better English than i ever will.

        And the ones who don't... aren't usu
      • What a fucking load of shit. Then again, I guess it would be the pathetic American thing to do. You know, blaming their own illiteracy on having to cater to the immigrants...

        Err, perhaps you're angrier about this than is necessary? What do you care whether a bag of flour says "dip" or "dredge"?

        (BTW, there's no "their own". The immigrants are Americans, which is why we don't express condescending amazement when they write cookbooks in English.)

        • excerpt from the forthcoming book "How to incapacitate, prepare and devour your own Otter":

          ...once the emulsification of the vitreous reaches the proper consistency and viscosity gently proceed with the application of the aforementioned substance on to the substrate of quiche flambee...

        • Which immigrants are Americans? The Chinese and Guatemalan ones that need their cookbooks dumbed-down?
        • "Err, perhaps you're angrier about this than is necessary?"

          Oooh. Major points for diplomacy. Bravo!
    • I think it's even more basic than that. Language changes. A set of instructions written 30 years ago should be re-written for use today -- regardless of the topic.

      The more involved you are in an activity, the more familiar you are with the specialized language involved in that activity. People today are less involved in cooking than they used to be (for one thing, fewer women are home all day). This is normal an unsurprising. There is no dumbing down going on here. This is completely non-news.
      • Also, the breadth of American cooking is much wider than it used to be. A 1950's housewife might have been expected to know what "parboil" or "julienne" means, but she sure wouldn't recognize "wasabi" or "paella". That specialized language was tied to a style of Continental cooking that has largely disappeared from American tables.
    • Not sure if that's the reason, but when I read the article I said to myself "Hey, I wouldn't know what 'dredge' means". Of course, I'm not a native English speaker. Might have been the reason...
  • And here I was all excited that you were going to rant about cooking for a bunch of unappreciative morons. Sheesh :-)
  • Grease the bottom of the pan, what could be more clear?! Heh. Just goes to show that nothing is foolproof, because fools are so inventive.

    In a (hopefully) not foolish innovation, I tried something new this morning: the 65 degree egg.

    I read an article [discover.com] over the weekend about a French "molecular gastronomist" who is exploring the science behind cooking. He noted that salmonela is reliably destroyed at about 63C, and the various protiens in eggs coagulate at different temperatures ranging from about 58C to abou
    • Ooooh, now that sounds really cool! I love runny liquidy eggs :-)
      • Ah. Then this is just the thing for you!

        (My finacee has a problem with "rooster juice". I was going to make a surprise of it, but after one look at the finished egg I knew she'd end up hurling if I didn't explain the theory before she saw it. She was very brave and ate it without incident, but commented "maybe a few more degrees next time.")
  • I know the dummying-down part is really sad, but the part about 'I don't have any eggs can I use a peach' brought tears to my eyes - tears of laughter.

    I would so like to know what the thought process were (if any thought processes can be detected at all): peaches and eggs are the same ... colour (?), at least partly, on the inside there ... and they're sort of squishy too, well, at least if the egg is boiled, but not hard-boiled ... and, anyway, I like peaches better than eggs ...
    • I know the dummying-down part is really sad, but the part about 'I don't have any eggs can I use a peach' brought tears to my eyes - tears of laughter.

      My first reaction was "what the fuck?" and then the tears of laughter :-)

      I do know that it is possible to substitute banana for eggs in some (baking) recipes though. People with egg allergies do this, and you can actually get some nice results...
      • Yeah, I also wonder what triggered that peach-for-egg thought. Quite odd...

        I do know that it is possible to substitute banana for eggs in some (baking) recipes though. People with egg allergies do this, and you can actually get some nice results...

        Cool! Any recipes? I need to try that one out, just for the fun of it.

  • I took one of those home economics cooking classes way back when. I even know the abbreviation for teaspoon and how many are in a tablespoon as well as what it means to cream butter and sugar, but wouldn't be able to give a good answer if I was asked how much uncooked rice makes a cup of cooked rice or what braising is. I learned enough cooking to manage on my own and feeding my family, but for a very long time avoided cooking anything more than absolutely necessary (bad experiences in being forced to coo

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