The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[Slartibartfast]

Piratelver1121 wrote:

"What's the point of being boyfriend and girlfriend in middle school?"

There's social value in such a thing even for the young.  It's a shorthand and widely understood way to say that they're wooing each other when "it's complicated" is still far away in terms of people around them understanding.  It's also practice for more mature relationships and there's the "cool" factor in having a steady when you're that age.

Virg

There's also a value in being "taken" - especially when your peers are still figuring out things like flirting, cheating, and what kinds of conversations are appropriate with friends.  Being "taken" means you can see your friends go through all those awkward "ask your friend to ask her friend to ask her (totally not seriously, but seriously) whether she wants to go to the dance with you" and the associated drama.  It gives you an easy way to deflect attention from would-be suitors who haven't quite figured out how to flirt and so they monopolize your time at your locker and obsessively analyze your every word.  It also means that when the hormones do start raging, you at least know what direction they're supposed to be raging in - dating a girl "proves" you're straight.  (It does nothing of the sort, of course - plenty of gay men and lesbian women had girlfriends/boyfriends, respectively - but it's a social cue and your peers will usually respect it).  And when you are interested in trying something like holding hands or kissing, you have someone to try it with whom you know won't shoot you down for asking.

Most of all, it's proof that you're date-able - having a boyfriend/girlfriend can be an important status symbol, and your social reputation usually gets tied to theirs.  Date someone popular and you get more popular, etc.

[Piratelvr1121]

Now those are definitely good points and oh does it make me wish I'd had a boyfriend the year my mother insisted I get my hair chopped off into the short styles that were really popular amongst middle aged women in the early 90's. I wish I could say it was a cute pixie cut a la Julia Roberts in "Hook" but it wasn't. At least I didn't think so. 

A lot of adults said and have said upon seeing pictures of me at the time "Oh you were so cute!" but no one my age did, at the time and I constantly got asked if I'd become a lesbian, since I didn't have a boyfriend. 

[Snooks]

I'm this >< close to giving up on baking anything containing egg whites.  eHellions please help me, I'm obviously doing something stupid when it comes to dealing with them.

Recipe 1 - custard tart required me to fold beaten egg whites into egg yolk/sugar mix - served my family lumpy custard tart for Easter
Recipe 2 - lemon macaroons required me to fold flour and ground almonds into egg whites - baked myself some stick pancakes

When a recipe calls for me to fold something in, is there any reason that I can't use my electric whisk?

[lady_disdain]

You diagnosed your problem perfectly. The electric whisk is much too heavy handed for delicate beaten egg whites. It pushes all the air out of them and the results, as you saw, are not good. Macaroons are specially sensitive, as it has to be mixed just enough after the egg whites are added (but a little over or under mixed macaroons are still delicious).

Use a mixing spoon and mix just enough to incorporate the egg whites.

[jilly]

I was taught you use a figure of eight motion to gently combine everything, and add the egg whites to everything else bot the other way round. Like this http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/techniques/folding

[Ser Lucien Liliane]

You diagnosed your problem perfectly. The electric whisk is much too heavy handed for delicate beaten egg whites. It pushes all the air out of them and the results, as you saw, are not good. Macaroons are specially sensitive, as it has to be mixed just enough after the egg whites are added (but a little over or under mixed macaroons are still delicious).

Use a mixing spoon and mix just enough to incorporate the egg whites.

Also, it probably helps to make sure your bowl is spotless and doesn't have any sort of greasy film on the inside. I know that's only strictly necessary for meringue, but I like to make sure the bowl's as clean as it can get when I work with egg white. Any grease can mess with the incorporation of air.

[Snooks]

You diagnosed your problem perfectly. The electric whisk is much too heavy handed for delicate beaten egg whites. It pushes all the air out of them and the results, as you saw, are not good. Macaroons are specially sensitive, as it has to be mixed just enough after the egg whites are added (but a little over or under mixed macaroons are still delicious).

Use a mixing spoon and mix just enough to incorporate the egg whites.

I used a spatula (as advised in the recipe) not the electric whisk, was wondering if the whisk might have been safer!

I normally do round the edge and cut through the middle.  First time I added the egg whites but they just didn't seem to combine properly.  Second one said to fold the flour and almonds into the beaten whites.

[lady_disdain]

You diagnosed your problem perfectly. The electric whisk is much too heavy handed for delicate beaten egg whites. It pushes all the air out of them and the results, as you saw, are not good. Macaroons are specially sensitive, as it has to be mixed just enough after the egg whites are added (but a little over or under mixed macaroons are still delicious).

Use a mixing spoon and mix just enough to incorporate the egg whites.

Also, it probably helps to make sure your bowl is spotless and doesn't have any sort of greasy film on the inside. I know that's only strictly necessary for meringue, but I like to make sure the bowl's as clean as it can get when I work with egg white. Any grease can mess with the incorporation of air.

I like to wipe the bowl with a little vinegar before starting, to degrease.

[Outdoor Girl]

When I'm folding something in, I like to use a large spatula and run it under all the ingredients, across the bottom of the bowl, bringing the stuff from the bottom and folding it over like an omelette onto the top.  Then I'll spin the bowl a bit and do it again.

The secret is not to work it too much.  It is better to leave it less than perfectly mixed than to mix it too much.

[Elisabunny]

The kosher restriction against milk with meat: how far does it go?  Can chicken or fish be served with milk or cheese, or does it apply to all living creatures?  And if it only applies to mammals, could you get around it by only drinking and eating milk products from cows, but never eating beef? 


(Why, yes, I in fact did have insomnia last night. )

[Hmmmmm]

I'm this >< close to giving up on baking anything containing egg whites.  eHellions please help me, I'm obviously doing something stupid when it comes to dealing with them.

Recipe 1 - custard tart required me to fold beaten egg whites into egg yolk/sugar mix - served my family lumpy custard tart for Easter
Recipe 2 - lemon macaroons required me to fold flour and ground almonds into egg whites - baked myself some stick pancakes

When a recipe calls for me to fold something in, is there any reason that I can't use my electric whisk?

You need to fold not whisk egg whites into batters. Start by "lightening" your batter by stirring in about a 4th of the egg whites into the batter. Then add the batter to the eggs whites and fold into the egg whites. A whisk will over work the egg whites causing them to deflate. Look for a YouTube video on folding.

[Thipu1]

The kosher restriction against milk with meat: how far does it go?  Can chicken or fish be served with milk or cheese, or does it apply to all living creatures?  And if it only applies to mammals, could you get around it by only drinking and eating milk products from cows, but never eating beef? 


(Why, yes, I in fact did have insomnia last night. )

According to certain relatives who keep kosher, turkey lasagna with cheese is perfectly fine.  According to their belief, 'fleisch' comes from mammals that 'chew the cud'.  Poultry isn't considered meat and can be eaten with dairy. 

In the Catholic tradition, things were a little bit different.  Any creature that was warm-blooded was considered meat and couldn't be eaten on Catholic fast days. 

[Slartibartfast]

The kosher restriction against milk with meat: how far does it go?  Can chicken or fish be served with milk or cheese, or does it apply to all living creatures?  And if it only applies to mammals, could you get around it by only drinking and eating milk products from cows, but never eating beef? 


(Why, yes, I in fact did have insomnia last night. )

According to certain relatives who keep kosher, turkey lasagna with cheese is perfectly fine.  According to their belief, 'fleisch' comes from mammals that 'chew the cud'.  Poultry isn't considered meat and can be eaten with dairy. 

In the Catholic tradition, things were a little bit different.  Any creature that was warm-blooded was considered meat and couldn't be eaten on Catholic fast days.

Depends greatly on the person in question, just like Christian prohibitions against dancing, alcohol, instrumental music, etc. are okay in some churches/denominations and not others.  The kosher dining facility at my university (Jewish life center) was very specific about some days being dairy-only and some days being meat-only, to avoid any issues with stricter interpretations of dietary laws.  (They also did have completely separate kitchens for the two, so that was probably an issue as well - not enough staff for both kitchens on the same night!)

[Elfmama]

The kosher restriction against milk with meat: how far does it go?  Can chicken or fish be served with milk or cheese, or does it apply to all living creatures?  And if it only applies to mammals, could you get around it by only drinking and eating milk products from cows, but never eating beef? 


(Why, yes, I in fact did have insomnia last night. )

According to certain relatives who keep kosher, turkey lasagna with cheese is perfectly fine.  According to their belief, 'fleisch' comes from mammals that 'chew the cud'.  Poultry isn't considered meat and can be eaten with dairy. 

In the Catholic tradition, things were a little bit different.  Any creature that was warm-blooded was considered meat and couldn't be eaten on Catholic fast days.

Unless it was certain parts of the Middle Ages.   Dolphins/porpoises were considered 'fish' because they swam in the water.  Most geese were meat, except for one that was called a 'barnacle goose' which was believed to develop from driftwood!

[Tea Drinker]

The kosher rules are complicated, and as noted are interpreted differently by different people, but fish doesn't count as meat for those purposes: it can be served with meat or with milk. (The category is called "pareve" and also includes fruit, vegetables, grain, and eggs.)

Now, to complicate the explanation: some fish aren't kosher at all (I think it has something to do with the scales), and the things that we call "shellfish," such as shrimp, lobster, and crabs, are neither fish nor kosher. But if a fish is kosher, the kosher rules allow it to be served with either milk or meat.

(Note: I am not remotely observant, but I've had relatives who kept kosher, and my girlfriend follows the rules to do with seafood, so I know a little about it.)