Unpopular opinions

[Keith Sinclair]

One of my feet is 11.50" the other 11.75. So need size 12 shoe because shoe sizes don't come in 3/4 sizes. Metric is better because increments are smaller like 55-56.

 

[spaceconvoy]

People here get too worked up about unimportant stuff. The world is made up of complex interlocking systems with specific historical origins. Wanting to impose a perfect order to it all is truly deranged. It does not matter if the shoes that fit you are one number or another. Everyone else has no problem using these arbitrary systems because we recognize that finding shoes is what's important, not demanding logic from a chaotic universe

 

[Michi]

Oh, death to unsalted butter. Begone!

That one is getting ridiculous. I cannot count the number of recipes I have seen that call for unsalted butter. And, next thing, say "add two generous pinches of salt". Go figure…

 

[Keith Sinclair]

When I was in junior high school talking about changing to metric. USA is only country left with Imperial maybe couple more holdouts one southeast Asia & one little spot in Africa. Even England has gone over but still uses some Imperial. Everywhere else is metric.

Was a miler in High School our track was 440 yards back then. 880 half mile, mile 4 laps.

Now most tracks are 400 meters

 

[Jovidah]

That one is getting ridiculous. I cannot count the number of recipes I have seen that call for unsalted butter. And, next thing, say "add two generous pinches of salt". Go figure…

Though I agree it looks ridiculous and I generally use salted butter too, I can't fault recipe writers too much for this considering how much variation there is in salt content in salted butter. It's all over the place.

 

[Michi]

Though I agree it looks ridiculous and I generally use salted butter too, I can't fault recipe writers too much for this considering how much variation there is in salt content in salted butter. It's all over the place.

For the vast majority of recipes, whether I use salted or unsalted butter makes no difference whatsoever. Almost every dish ends up getting seasoned to taste, making the whole salted/unsalted butter thing a complete farce. Even if the butter is strongly salted.

I can see the point of using unsalted butter for buttercream torte and the like. But, otherwise (even for many sweet dishes), salted butter works just as well. I can just leave out the "pinch of salt" that almost every cake batter recipe calls for.

 

[Jovidah]

Yeah in general lines I agree, and with most butters it's not much of an issue... but there are some exceptions that are really quite high in salt where it's more than just a pinch. I recently had some fancy pants salted French butter that was so salty that basting my steaks in it actually left them over seasoned.
But I understand why recipe writers take the 'safe' route just for the sake of idiotproofing. It's a way to guarantee consistency.

 

[Barmoley]

I hate salted butter. Why would you want someone else to salt your butter if salted butter is your thing.....

 

[Dan-]

Well you can leave it on the counter without it going rancid for one thing.

 

[Barmoley]

Well you can leave it on the counter without it going rancid for one thing.

Let's pre-salt everything perishable so we can leave it on the counter for extended period of time. Salted milk, pre-salted raw steaks after all you will put salt on them anyway before cooking, salted eggs (that one is harder maybe feeding salt to chickens...)

 

[ian]

Let's pre-salt everything perishable so we can leave it on the counter for extended period of time. Salted milk, pre-salted raw steaks after all you will put salt on them anyway before cooking, salted eggs (that one is harder maybe feeding salt to chickens...)

Heh these are some strong feelings.

But c’mon, it’s good to have butter out of the fridge so it’s spreadable.

 

[Barmoley]

Heh these are some strong feelings.

But c’mon, it’s good to have butter out of the fridge so it’s spreadable.

Unsalted butter doesn't go rancid instantly, you can have it out for a little. I HATE salted butter.

 

[stringer]

I hate salted butter. Why would you want someone else to salt your butter if salted butter is your thing.....

I respectfully agree with your curmudgeonliness on this issue. I HATE it too. I forget it even exists because I consider it lousy to cook with and I only really think of things in terms of how they do as an ingredient. Mostly I use butter to finish pan sauces and curries and the last thing I want to add to a wine reduction or tikka mahkni is salty butter. If I want salted butter on my toast then I apply unsalted butter and sprinkle it with salt. Or I whip some butter and salt it. Unsalted butter tastes like fresh cream. Pre-salted butter tastes like canned.

 

[ian]

Heh I think it's fine. Left to my own devices I'd buy unsalted all the time, but my wife insists on salted and I'm fine with it. Always have some unsalted in the fridge for those rare times when it's necessary.

 

[jedy617]

Grew up only with unsalted butter, but past couple years have been mixing up with some kerrygold salted. Seems pretty decent to me

 

[Dan-]

Yeah we have both too. Kate’s salted is pretty good.

 

[sansho]

Recipes in grams makes life easier. Even when not baking.

preach.

all of my recipes are like that. and in spreadsheets for easy scaling:

 

[Dan-]

I think it’s funny your cooking instructions are so imprecise. To be consistent, I’d expect to also see “about the right amount of grated ginger” and “X nakiris of onion.” Is that how much sugar normally goes into gyudon ? I’ve noticed I have to cut the sugar in tamagoyaki in half.

 

[sansho]

haha. well, the recipes are optimized for me. minimum words for fast reading while not being obnoxious. i guess it would not be as clear/precise for someone else reading it. for example, someone reading '[cook] onions for a bit in sauce' would wonder what the hell 'sauce' is (it's all the liquid ingredients + sugar + hon dashi).

i think that's about how sweet it usually is? i'm used to it being a pretty sweet and savory dish. idk. i think a lot of those dishes would still taste good with less sugar like you're saying. i like the sugar tho.

i love gravimetric recipes though. especially ones i write myself that are optimized for my workflow. takes the stress out of cooking, and my mind just goes on autopilot. i love putting a pot or pan on a scale and just pouring ingredients in. i only get measuring cups/spoons out when i'm following someone else's recipe and re-writing it as my own.

 

[tally-ho]

but there are some exceptions that are really quite high in salt where it's more than just a pinch.

The one that is high in salt is probably what we know here in France as "beurre salé". A true breton has his morning toasts with salted butter and jam, once you get used to it you won't go back to unsalted butter.

In France, you have the choice between “beurre doux” (unsalted butter), “beurre demi-sel” (slightly salted butter) and “beurre salé” (salted butter, with sea salt flakes – also about 3 to 5% more salty than the “beurre demi-sel”/slightly salted butter).
...
Beware – you can now commonly find “demi-sel” French butters in the US/Canada at some grocery stores (such as Echire’s) or even some European-style butter, cultured or not cultured (such as Land O Lakes’). I’d say these are definitly good-quality butters (and I’d strongly suggest using them for other baking projects), but they are not “beurre salé” (salted butter, with coarse sea salt).
(Source)

 

[Chef Doom]

In engineering school, I was enamored with the simplicity of unit conversions of the metric system. In an engineering job, you can take my thou, inches and feet from my cold, dead fingers.

The jump between cm and m is too large to be practical for a lot of things. There needs to be something between the two. Even the decimeter is too small to be really useful. Something that’s like a a half, or even a third of a meter. Almost like a foot.

And kilometer/hour for speed? It’s as bad as the celcius system is for daily temperatures. I don’t need to know the temperature of boiling water when I go outside, I need to know if it’s shorts weather. I don’t need to be going into triple digits for speed, when fewer digits convey the information more quickly.

Would you make the exception for weighing cooking ingredients in grams?

 

[Chef Doom]

I think that everyone should speak the same language around the world, do you know how much easier that would be? Also add the same currency for everyone!!

This isn't even an opinion. This "if I were king" fantasy

 

[Dan-]

Would you make the exception for weighing cooking ingredients in grams?

No, you must mentally divide all your metric or baking recipes by 28.35 or 29.57 while cooking.

 

[Chef Doom]

People here get too worked up about unimportant stuff. The world is made up of complex interlocking systems with specific historical origins. Wanting to impose a perfect order to it all is truly deranged. It does not matter if the shoes that fit you are one number or another. Everyone else has no problem using these arbitrary systems because we recognize that finding shoes is what's important, not demanding logic from a chaotic universe

Every ounce of meaning in your life revolves around the unimportant stuff.

 

[Jovidah]

I think it’s funny your cooking instructions are so imprecise. To be consistent, I’d expect to also see “about the right amount of grated ginger” and “X nakiris of onion.” Is that how much sugar normally goes into gyudon ? I’ve noticed I have to cut the sugar in tamagoyaki in half.

If you think that's imprecise you should see my 'recipes'. Half the time I can't figure out the few cryptic blurbs myself.

The one that is high in salt is probably what we know here in France as "beurre salé". A true breton has his morning toasts with salted butter and jam, once you get used to it you won't go back to unsalted butter.

Yeah it was one of those fancier butters you're supposed to put on bread. Beurre d'Isigny I think. And for bread it probably was quite good (at least that's what my girlfriend said; I don't like butter on my bread). But the 'normal butter'was gone and due to the price increases the gap was virtually none, so I just went with the fancypants butter for cooking. Complete waste, but butter is butter I thought.

 

[Dan-]

Every 28.35g of meaning in your life revolves around the unimportant stuff.

Fixt it for you

 

[Naftoor]

Would you make the exception for weighing cooking ingredients in grams?

Only if they come in spreadsheet form.

Most of my cooking is volume or “medium onion” units. Sweet baking is done in metric, savory baking is done in metric until I get tired of getting OCD about accidentally adding +\- 3 g and convert if to oz.

 

[coxhaus]

Canola oil smells and tastes like ****

fish. I don't like it.

 

[Rangen]

Yeah it was one of those fancier butters you're supposed to put on bread. Beurre d'Isigny I think. And for bread it probably was quite good (at least that's what my girlfriend said; I don't like butter on my bread). But the 'normal butter'was gone and due to the price increases the gap was virtually none, so I just went with the fancypants butter for cooking. Complete waste, but butter is butter I thought.

I've had that one. Yeah, it seems really salty, but you put it on bread, and it's Nirvana. But so is unsalted Bordier Doux (sweet). It's the first time I ever understood the term "sweet butter."

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Butter should indeed be unsalted.