PPI, means pixels per inch. A measure of digital file resolution Dpi, means dots per inch. A measurement to indicate ink jet printer output resolution. LPI, indicates lines per inch. A measure of printing screen resolution. When people use the wrong terms to identify things it makes me crazier.
As an early adopter of digital photography, It was required that I learn a lot of new information because I had to be able to communicate in this new arena. Yesterday we were just photographers. Now we were photographers, scanner operators, and pre press professionals.
When folks use the acronym DPI when they mean PPI or LPI. I imagine a big tattoo of the letter L on their forehead. I am not trying to be mean. I can only guess they heard someone else say this, don’t really know what the difference is, or they don’t care. If you are going to talk tech, please learn the definitions and say what you mean.
Now I am guilty of starting to tell people something and my brain will not let my vocal cords release the proper noun. I end up whistling and pointing or using a completely wrong word just to get a word out. This is CRS or CUS, not lack of research.
I know that that was a long moan about an unrelated subject but bear with me. I have a point.
Cooking or food preparation is very important and fun. I guess it is because I am a son of a butcher. At an early age I was introduced to cooking and food safety.
Photography is my craft and cooking is my art, and vice versa.
When people say they’re going to barbecue some steaks or burgers, when they really mean grilling, or broiling them. It makes me crazier too. When they do that, I imagine cowboy hats, lariats, a round-up, and branding an L on their forehead. Again I am not trying to be mean, it is just my way of getting through the day.
Everyone knows broiling involves high heat from above the food using a Salamander. Whereas grilling, the food is on a grill of some sort and the heat comes from the fires of hell below. Doesn’t everyone know that? These two processes are very different, but with a very similar result. The food is seared to lock in the moisture and cooked relatively quickly. Grilling and broiling are hot and fast. What we know of at home as our Broiler is really a Salamander.
When I make barbecue, I use cookers called horizontal pits. The fire-box is separate / offset from the cooking area. The fire is not in the same room as the food. Barbecue is slow and low, It is the antithesis of grilling or broiling. The cuts of meat used for each process are also different. Grilling and Broiling involves more tender, more expensive cuts, like steaks, chops, chicken with bones still attached, sausages, and vegetables. Traditionally Barbecue was a way to utilize less inexpensive tough cuts of meat that would benefit from long cooking times at low temperature, with some moisture so that humans could chew it. brisket, plate, ribs, sausages, hocks, and chicken.
In my family it was a mortal sin to over cook a steak or chops. Really, overcooking anything was a problem. When She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were first married, I grilled some pork chops for dinner. We were eating, enjoying our meal when She said: “These pork chops are really moist”. Now from my upbringing, this was interpreted as a tease and what She was really saying was that I overcooked the meat. And you know what that means in my family. Calendars would be marked, relatives would be phoned, black armbands would be issued, and you would be derided until you died, about the August 15, 1978, overcooking of the pork chop incident. Someone would even relay the sad tale in your eulogy. No joke. I have witnessed this. To say the least I was shocked. The pork chop on my plate was not over cooked. No, I overreacted. She really was complementing me! After more than a bit of apology on my part, She told me that in her home growing up, pork was cooked extremely well (my family would label it cremated) because of some “Outer Limits” TV show episode where a guy went crazy from trichinosis he contracted from undercooked pork.
Sorry back to Barbecue: To make this subject more complicated we have to explain the word barbecue or barbeque, or BBQ. It is derived from the Caribbean Taino Peoples word Barbacoa. The Tainos would dig a pit, put fire in the bottom, some sort of tropical food safe leaves on the fire, the food, then more leaves and wait. ( The word pit is worth noting ). Very similar cooking process to what we now know as BBQ. I also read somewhere that Caribbean sailors/pirates who were unaware of the process of heat treating and tempering of metal, would ruin their sword using it as a spit to put across an open fire with an animal on it. They used crossed sticks to hold it all up and slow cook. The Tainos did this too. The pirates stole this technique from the Tainos, along with other things. Can you say Rotisserie? There was also a reference of the sword going from head to tail.
Last Thanksgiving because of the lack of oven space I was allowed to prepare 3 whole bone in turkey breasts out-of-doors. They were barbecued in our LyfeTyme Pit at 185℉ for about 4 hours. Real lump charcoal, Oak logs, with a pan of water between the food and the fire. Drop dead simple. No brine, rub, or butter needed for moist turkey. Just an internal thermometer and the discipline to not open the food area of the cooker out of curiosity.
Anyone else hungry?
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