So I have a recipe that ended with “tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes.” I never heard this phrase before, so I looked it up. There were multiple lengthy articles (for example) and it all comes down to: cover your food in aluminum foil to keep moisture from evaporating.

😡

That’s 5 minutes I will never get back.

~One article went so far as to suggest using broom handles or sticks. That one was kinda funny. 😂~

Some phrases don’t age well, that’s for sure. There’s a few cookbooks out there that specifically tackle common cooking terms in the intro section and I found more use of that than I expected over time. Cookbooks can be so much easier to use than blog recipes, too.

You just make a tent out of aluminum foil.

Sometimes the meaning is clear from the name, but just to keep you on your toes they'll then talk about creaming butter or a bain-marie for melting chocolate.

I’ve noticed that the more obvious something is, the more I don’t understand it. 🤷‍♂️

~I have a bad habit of second-guessing myself and overthinking things.~

Funny that your most recent comment is suggesting someone else doesn't cook much.

I have seen it in a few recipes over the years, though I feel like it really depends on the kind of meals you're making. To a certain extent I understand it feeling like unnecessary jargon, but now that you've seen it, it's part of your cooking vocabulary forever. I think it's fine for online recipes to use that kind of language, especially since the answer to what it means is pretty easy to find.

Its a human nature thing, I think. Like sometimes if something sounds too obvious we assume it has to be more complicated than that. The same way many people don't realize a "meltdown" is a nuclear core literally melting downward through the ground.

I definitely appreciate cookbooks way more than blogs! Mostly because it gives a consistent approach to a given topic, so you are not jumping between American blogs (way too much sugar), Asian ones (can’t get the base ingredients), European ones (ever heard about spices other than salt?). Books create a set of expectations.

You can skip that and just eat it. I promise.

Once in a blue moon my partner gets the big frozen lasanga for supper. It says to tent the foil cover over it at some point in the intructions.

I thought it a common phrase tbh

I do somewhat agree, but I can also see that if you're making mostly one kind of dish, tenting may not be used at all. I don't make a lot of Chinese food so maybe it's a bad example, but I've never seen a Chinese recipe suggest tenting for example, so I am happy to give room for a variety of cooking preferences. I have seen cooking shows where they talk about foaming things or whatnot and if I saw that in a recipe you bet I'd have to look up how to do it. Maybe someone who makes a lot of food with sauces or something would think it's weird I don't know what foaming is. Sometimes it's easy to assume our framework is the default one, regardless of the topic. Though in my experience I would have to agree that it's not uncommon.

as did I. I also see it as pretty obvious. Like I don't recall having to figure out what tent with aluminum foil meant. Im prettys sure I assumed it meant cover without touching.

I prefer to use a large stainless bowl, but obviously that doesn't work with a big rectangle.

the term usually also implies you don't want the foil to touch the food. i stick toothpicks in there for the foil to rest on if it doesn't wanna work well on its own.

no yeah, this is absolutely valid.

I have moments like OP all the time, its just, the way she goes

I'd rather look something up and realize I didn't have to, than not look it up and realize I should have.

And you don't have to read a 5000 word essay about Grandma's old farmhouse and how she would always make this dish for the kids after a long day of fishing in the creek.

Just .... Fold it in!

Are you sure about that?

You don’t?? /s

Cover the pot with a damp cloth. Simpler, less wasteful, same effect. You often do that with yeast dough for example.

Yeah, it says tent the foil, not blanket. Seems pretty obvious.