"kodi" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well, I'm not much of a cook, and I've just bought a new cook book.
> There are a couple of terms I'm not at all familiar with.
>
> Many of the recipes call for 'scant' 1/2 cup . What does this mean? I'm
> thinking it must mean just under 1/2 cup. Is this right?

I had always understood this to mean technically one level cup minus one
tablespoon.

But it's always seemed like kind of a crutch measure used to by pass
sifting (which adds air and makes a lifted scant cup equal in weight to a
sifted level cup), i.e., = about the amount in one level cup sifted.

>
> Also, when talking about potatoes, it says to use 'mealy' potatoes. How
> on earth do I know which potatoes are mealy? And does it really matter?
>

Yes, it can. I would say the two ends of the spectrum are baked potatoes
and cold sliced potaoes in salad, with mashed another potato food whose
outcome varies with the type used.
IMHO "mealy" is a derogatory term where someone is trying to invent a
ward so as to replace the old "baker" or "baking" potato (vs "cooking" or
"boiling" potato), and maybe even slap at the middlin potaoes like yukon
gold.
Reds and whites are boiling potatoes. Russets are baking potaotes.
Yukon gold are compromise potatoes that do neither end well, nor do either
end as poorly as the "wrong" one.
I tried yukon gold and the other new variety (name escapes me) and found
them lacking as boilers (flesh not firm like red and tending to crumble as
slices) and lacking as bakers (does not entrain air in baking nor mashing
like russets, and are somewhat heavy - IME baking them, they are about as
heavy as baking a russet at 350-375 F and do not fluff well for blooming,
unlike baking a russet at 425 F . )

>
> Thanks for any help.
>