• atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    thaw /thô/ intransitive verb

    1. To change from a frozen solid to a liquid by gradual warming

    melt /mĕlt/ intransitive verb

    1. To be changed from a solid to a liquid state especially by the application of heat.

    ???

    • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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      19 hours ago

      Sure, that distinction has no difference if we’re talking about water.

      But if you put a frozen chicken breast in the refrigerator, it will not be in liquid form the next day. It will simply be “not frozen” any longer.

      1. to become free of the effect (such as stiffness, numbness, or hardness) of cold as a result of exposure to warmth

      Or another example. You have a block of frozen cheese. You put it out on the counter for 24 hours. Would you say that cheese is now “melted” and ready to be put on nachos?

      • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        But if you put your cheese on the counter, it’s still yours.

        You need someone else’s cheese for nacho cheese.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Eh. Considering that chicken contains water and other juices that freeze when frozen… it’s both. 🤷‍♂️

        • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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          19 hours ago

          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.

            • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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              19 hours ago

              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.”

            • blitzen@lemmy.ca
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              19 hours ago

              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.

              • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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                19 hours ago

                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.

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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      19 hours ago

      Thawing doesn’t imply changing from a solid to a liquid. It means changing from a frozen solid to a room temperature solid.