I have been in kitchens my entire life. No-one will ever say any food, pasta sauce included, will be “melted” when temping to refrigerator or room temperature. Melt, in culinary terms, is reserved for things like cheese that is solid at room temperature and liquid when heated.
Saying I’ve spent most of my life in and around kitchens, the implication is professional kitchens/restaurants. And around professional chefs.
The distinction between thaw and melt, at least in culinary terms, is actually one of food safety. In a professional kitchen, melting is always going to involve the application of heat, where as thawing (or “temping” as it’s often said) is the slow and controlled bringing it to refrigerator or room temperature at which time it can be cooked. A thawed item may or may not be safe to eat, but something melted always will be. Take any course on food safety and the range and time food can and cannot be at certain temperatures, and it’s clear why there is a difference between these two terms.
As a way to illustrate why culinary terms are sometimes different than scientific ones. Take a tomato. Scientifically a fruit, right? But you wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad or fruit juice. It’s culinarily a vegetable, even though we know it’s technically a “fruit.”
Sure, and I’m sure in any competent kitchen they’d be called out. Nothing is defined by what is said once out of one hundred times, it’s defined by what’s said 99.
I have been in kitchens my entire life. No-one will ever say any food, pasta sauce included, will be “melted” when temping to refrigerator or room temperature. Melt, in culinary terms, is reserved for things like cheese that is solid at room temperature and liquid when heated.
Most people have kitchens
Too many people taking things literally.
Saying I’ve spent most of my life in and around kitchens, the implication is professional kitchens/restaurants. And around professional chefs.
The distinction between thaw and melt, at least in culinary terms, is actually one of food safety. In a professional kitchen, melting is always going to involve the application of heat, where as thawing (or “temping” as it’s often said) is the slow and controlled bringing it to refrigerator or room temperature at which time it can be cooked. A thawed item may or may not be safe to eat, but something melted always will be. Take any course on food safety and the range and time food can and cannot be at certain temperatures, and it’s clear why there is a difference between these two terms.
As a way to illustrate why culinary terms are sometimes different than scientific ones. Take a tomato. Scientifically a fruit, right? But you wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad or fruit juice. It’s culinarily a vegetable, even though we know it’s technically a “fruit.”
This thread is very Lemmy.
Tis a silly place. I think about 95% of the comments where people are disagreeing could be summed up as:
It’s always like the most pedantic, semantic, shallow bullshit that people are writing insanely long comments about.
Just because you’ve never experienced it doesn’t mean it’s never happened.
Sure, and I’m sure in any competent kitchen they’d be called out. Nothing is defined by what is said once out of one hundred times, it’s defined by what’s said 99.
You said no one will ever say it, I’m saying I’ve heard it. Any competent kitchen would honestly not stop to correct because they’re too fucking busy.
No-one is ever too busy to bust on FNG.
If you have time to correct you have time to inspect, get back to fucking work.
No, you correct once so you don’t have to inspect every time.
And in the culinary world, melt and thaw indicates different temperature ranges and that has a signifiant effect on food safety.