I don't think it is unreasonable to think of mistaken assumptions about cooking at higher altitudes as widespread; I know I've seen special instructions for high altitude cooking on recipes for things like...cookies, even when the special instructions amount to "no change."
On the other hand, and with some apology because this might be the weirdest thing to worry about reassuring you on ever, I was very very stupid about cooking when I first moved away from home, and then got pretty good at it mainly because of the geeky appeal of the things I was learning. I don't think people want to rely on magical thinking--I think it almost amounts to being like having a horrible, horrible science teacher when you're twelve, and that it's something people recover from given the chance, or an environment where that bored vague information isn't echoed by everything around them?
PS. The awesome wonderful thing about high altitudes is that it is really, really hard to brew green tea very badly. I think it would take an actual resolve to make an undrinkable cup of all but the most delicate types of it. HOWEVER, the sad thing is that all my exquisite practiced tea skills desert me in a blink when I am at a lower elevation, because I almost always sleepily think that water which sounds like *that* in a kettle is 92 ° C and then it's not.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-04-01 12:40 am (UTC)On the other hand, and with some apology because this might be the weirdest thing to worry about reassuring you on ever, I was very very stupid about cooking when I first moved away from home, and then got pretty good at it mainly because of the geeky appeal of the things I was learning. I don't think people want to rely on magical thinking--I think it almost amounts to being like having a horrible, horrible science teacher when you're twelve, and that it's something people recover from given the chance, or an environment where that bored vague information isn't echoed by everything around them?
PS. The awesome wonderful thing about high altitudes is that it is really, really hard to brew green tea very badly. I think it would take an actual resolve to make an undrinkable cup of all but the most delicate types of it. HOWEVER, the sad thing is that all my exquisite practiced tea skills desert me in a blink when I am at a lower elevation, because I almost always sleepily think that water which sounds like *that* in a kettle is 92 ° C and then it's not.