Quote Originally Posted by doninphxaz
Quote Originally Posted by lae
Quote Originally Posted by doninphxaz
The translation of «на умеренном огне» bugs me a bit. Does it mean “at a moderate temperature”?
Maybe, "bake with a moderate fire"? It's a common translation of "выпекать на умеренном огне"? I don't know, what does "a moderate temperature" mean and is it the same as "a moderate fire"?
«A moderate fire» doesn't make any sense to me in terms of oven cooking, although I think I recall reading it in older recipes. In most recipes we state a specific temperature, so the phrase gives me no idea how hot the oven should be. Hm. I wonder if any of my cookbooks would tell me? I'll have to look.
For me, moderate fire is very descriptive! it means you have a chance to pull cookies out that are not burnt, even if cooked longer time.

Actually , moderate is very useful, because you have more latitude for your cooking time. e.g. Extra time when cooking bread means thicker crust, not burnt crust. Usual bread cooking temps can blacken bread instead of giving thicker tasty crust. A hot oven means you have to be very precise with your time. No chance for mistakes. Slow (cooler) or moderate oven, very forgiving. Get an oven thermometer. Typical oven is not calibrated well. You may need to do the recipe a few times at different temps to get the right feel/taste.

Actually there's more to it. Slow/mod oven to cook, so not dry out, then hot oven, or broiler to get the crispy. This is not for bread/cookies etc. It's for some of those main dishes.

And deepest sympathies to rockzmom for the loss of your Nana. I've never seen that grieving comes to an end. It just changes into deeper appreciation.