Cooling To Room Temperature vs Warming To Room Temperature 

Cooling To Room Temperature vs Warming To room Temperature 

I’ve never been at ease with cooling down or more specifically removing from heat and letting cool to room temperature. Whatever you’re cooking, it doesn’t matter. If it’s on the burner it’s hot – very hot.

The term cooling to room temperature just wasn’t accurate – the cooling part. It didn’t fit.

Cool means cool – to me – even if the intent was relative to its present hot state.

As I pondered this questioned feeling a bit stoned, though I wasn’t, an alternative solution came to mind.

Since an item is already hot, cooling to me would require refrigeration, not exposure to room temperature, which is warm.

Remove the pudding from the heat and warm it down.

WARM IT DOWN. Or, remove from heat till warm – not cool. You’re not cooling it, you’re waiting till it’s less hot which means warm.

Okay?

If you warm it up, you’re putting it on heat. If you’re cooling it down you’re putting it into the refrigerator.

Bring it to room temperature when you take it from refrigerator, means let it set on the counter.

Bring it to room temperature when you take it from the stove, means let it set on a rack on the counter.

But cool to room temperature? It doesn’t fit. I use it all the time and probably still will, or not, or maybe I’ll ease slowly into the accuracy of the words, rather than the commonly accepted terminology.

This was an exercise to make you think about what you’re doing or saying really means, in the culinary world. Is it accurate?

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