# Lime vs Lemon



## takingstock (Sep 26, 2012)

I recently joined and it seems there is an awful lot of talent.  I have been cooking at home (sort of in the blind) for years...all self taught and over time I have harbored lots of kinda basic questions that maybe I might get some answers to.

When cooking fish lemon is most always a great additive.   Can Lime be substituted?  Why/why not... comments?

If cooking beans in water what are the pros/cons of adding a little salt?

Hows does one crack an egg into a bowl without lots of effort/ not breaking the yolk/ keeping shell pieces out...?

When cooking a quality steak does it matter if the sear is put on before the cooking/grilling?

I have a Big Green Egg.  Once I followed a rib recipe exactly (spritsing every 15 minutes and after about 8 hours it seemed like they were getting tough and dried out not fall off the bone...still very good but...?

I believe purist Italian cooking does not add butter or a lot of oil to the pasta after it is cooked so how do they get it to not stick together especially Angel Hair?

I have a big list!

THanks


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

There are many fish dishes with lime and it's good. I think of lime with fish as more Asian or Latin than European or Continental in style. Lime and cilantro work very well together on fish I think. So it's good, but to me, not the same and I wouldn't substitute one for the other on fish.

Salt tends to make the bean skins tougher, but flavors the center of the bean better. Some feel that salt makes the beans take longer to cook. I think this is tied to the tougher skin. 

It's best to crack the egg against the flat of the of the counter. If you use the corner or edge of something, you tend to force shells into the white more. As to not breaking the yolk, that comes with practice, mostly learning to pull the egg apart rather than crushing with the thumbs. My kids crush 'em every time still. If you have problems with this, crack the eggs into a separate bowl so you can fish out shells or discard if you break the yolk if that's an issue for you. You'll get better at it.

The sear issue with steak works well early or late, though your question makes me wonder what you're trying to achieve. It's not uncommon in restaurants to mark the steak on the grill, then refrigerate and finish later to shorten overall cooking time. Doing the sear at the end is known as reverse sear. Lots of discussions here in the past on steak and you'd probably enjoy reading those threads. Try the search feature.

In barbecue, the goal is generally not fall-off the bone tender. It should have a toothy tug and a meaty chew. Nothing wrong with fall of the bone if that's what you like, but the recipe probably wasn't geared for that result. 4 hours is more likely cooking time than 8 so it would be good to see the original recipe so we can comment on it with better insight.

Different parts of italy are more prone to do things differently so you'll find parts that use more butter than oil and vice versa. Pasta shouldn't be oiled if you're going to dress it as the sticky surface starch helps hold the sauce. Generally, the pasta would finish cooking in the sauce itself to help infuse the pasta with the flavor of the sauce. It's not common to hold unsauced pasta separate from the sauce. But a dip in boiling water will usually untangle pasta that's stuck together.  So without further info about what you're trying to do with the unsauced pasta, it's hard to be more specific or helpful.


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## takingstock (Sep 26, 2012)

phatch said:


> There are many fish dishes with lime and it's good. I think of lime with fish as more Asian or Latin than European or Continental in style. Lime and cilantro work very well together on fish I think. So it's good, but to me, not the same and I wouldn't substitute one for the other on fish.
> 
> Specifically, if one has forgotten the lemon but does have lime will the flavor be "acceptable".
> 
> ...


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