• atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    5 days 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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days 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?

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

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

        • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 days ago

          Are you thawing the chicken or thawing the juices? If you say that’s the same thing, then would you be satisfied if I served you a bowl of boiled chicken juice and called it chicken?

          • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            4 days ago

            Are you being deliberately obtuse?

            Chicken thaws, juices/water melt. Chicken contains water/juice.

            For example, I have those chicken packs from Costco that I bought months ago. They lay frozen in my freezer. When I thaw the chicken, I have to pour out all of the accompanying liquid before using the chicken.

            Things can be more than one thing at a time.

        • blitzen@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          5 days 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
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              5 days 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.”

                • LePoisson@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  5 days ago

                  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.

            • blitzen@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              5 days 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
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                6
                ·
                5 days 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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

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

      • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        My source is the dictionary…

        And you’re telling me you’ve never heard of permafrost thawing? Or the weatherperson talking about the spring thaw?

        • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          5 days ago

          Your dictionary’s definition of thawing is still erronous, frozen to liquid is just one case of multiple.

            • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              5 days ago

              Cool, so those all-knowing guys made an error. Relatable, if you have to explain a 100’000 words.