I do follow the recipes without overthinking them, because I don't have the skill required to make judgement calls. But also, I know that any time a recipe gives is highly suspect, so don't judge if something is done based on times in recipes.

So when a recipe says to "carmelize onions", that's what I do. To do anything else is to deviate from what the recipe is plainly telling me.

> Recipes have been vague and don't make sense out of context for millennia.

True. But the fact that this is true means it's essentially impossible to follow a recipe without some degree of interpretation.

I'm just irritated that there was a secret definition to "carmelize onions" that nobody clued me in to.

> I'm just irritated that there was a secret definition to "carmelize onions" that nobody clued me in to.

Many words will have definitions you don’t know — sometimes literally the opposite of their “proper” definitions!

It’s not a secret, it’s just a thing you didn’t know yet. So don’t be too mad, now you know.

Well, I'm not actually angry at all. Just mildly irritated. I wrote far more words here on this topic than it really deserved.