kodi wrote:
> 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?
>
> 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?
>
>
> Thanks for any help.

Scant means the same in cooking as it does in oiling a sewing machine.

In cooking "scant" means not to be generous. Since it's not humanly
possible to measure *precisely* and certainly not by eye (especially
volumes) and since one must in all cases interpolate, then as best you
are able err towards the low side of the mark. Where ingredients can
have a profound negative effect on the outcome (ie. salt, thickeners,
leavening, etc.) it behooves to go scantilly, as it's easy to add more
but impossible to remove any. A good cook knows innately to be less
than generous with certain ingredients, like salt, and therefore will
always measure a little less without being told, because it's ALWAYS
better to slightly undersalt rather than to oversalt, even
pickling/curing brines. In the end "scant" is strictly your call.