falenas108 comments on How and Why to Granularize - Less Wrong

62 Post author: lukeprog 17 May 2011 03:16PM

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Comment author: falenas108 21 May 2011 12:22:39PM 0 points [-]

I'm considering making eggs today using this, but I have two questions. How do you know when the eggs are done, and how high do you put the heat?

Comment author: Alicorn 21 May 2011 05:44:47PM *  3 points [-]

The eggs are done when there are no longer goopy liquid parts. (Some ways to make eggs call for goopy liquid but not scrambling.) You can keep going after that if you want them drier and crumblier; stop when there is significant browning. The low end of medium is a good place to put the heat (4 on a dial that goes to 10).

Comment author: Morendil 21 May 2011 06:42:35PM 2 points [-]

It's useful to know that "stirring" achieves two distinct things. One is moving the more-cooked parts which are on the bottom, closest to the where the pan generates heat, so that the goopy parts get a turn close to the heat. The other is getting tactile feedback on whether to turn the heat down: if the cooked parts feel like they stick to the pan, you should turn the heat down.

Another useful thing to know is that you will need to execute the whole process at least once and probably several times, and the first time you judge the result acceptable by taste, mouthfeel and look, you should record the various sensations experienced during cooking as a "reference implementation": treat deviations from this reference experience as signs that the outcome might be different. For instance, how sticky the cooked eggs are supposed to feel before you want to turn down the heat is evaluated relative to the reference.

Step 39 is under-described, too. There are things like allowing the eggs to cool a little, for instance, which are worth mentioning.