Why was this ingredient subsitution question closed?

Question

This is a meta discussion about the closure of this question.

It was closed as "primarily opinion-based," but I think this is the question to be asked and answered in order to make an informed opinion. The follow-on question, "should I used Meyer lemons as a direct substitute for regular lemons," might be opinion based because each person can weigh the pros and cons differently. However, in order to even make an informed opinion, one needs to know the pros and cons, and that's what the question was asking for.

Existing answers were a good fit for the question and not "oh, it's just personal preference" but instead identified objective facts about differences between the fruits. Why do we not want to allow more answers like that to be posted?

Answer 1

Personally, what one person considers a "pro" or a "con" is an opinion.

Let's use apples as an example...

Person A really likes Red Delicious.

Person B really likes Granny Smith.

For Person A the "pro list" for an apple might look like:

• soft flesh
• predominantly sweet flavor

And the "con list" might look like:

• firm flesh
• sour or tart flavor

As you might guess, someone who prefers Granny Smith would have the exact opposite list.

There's no objective way to say which of these is "correct" or which is a "pro" or "con"... because taste is subjective.

If the question, instead, asked something like this

How would I need to adjust a recipe if using Meyer Lemons instead of the standard lemon called for in the recipe?"
"I can't find Meyer Lemons. What do I need to do to substitute regular lemons instead?"

... these are more objective questions.

Answer 2

I could go either way on this one. What I'd really prefer is to see the question edited a bit and reopened. (And I've now done this, since the OP seems to in principle be okay with it.)

You really were asking an opinion-based question: when you ask for pros and cons, you're unfortunately asking for people's opinions about what's good and bad. Different flavor pairings (within reason) are just different, they're not objectively good or bad. The main reason there are decent answers is that your question was overlooking how big the acidity difference is, i.e. it's not just a subtle flavor difference.

You might notice there's something in common between the two answers besides yours: they describe the differences in flavor, and mention a bit about what that means you might use each in. They're not really directly answering the opinion-based question you posed.

I did very early on suggest refocusing your question on the actual differences, and thus avoiding asking so much about good and bad. I really do think that'd have been a big improvement. The existing answers would still make perfect sense on that revised question, and you wouldn't be leaving it open to opinionated answers like "the flavor of meyer lemon pie just works better".

So as for whether it should've been closed, I dunno, maybe, maybe not - I'm content to let the community vote, no need for a mod to lay down the law there. But you could easily turn it into a much more objective question and still get what you're looking for.

Answer 3

I almost closed it myself, and while I decided to see what course it will take, I stil, think this is the best thing.

The first problem is that it can really be mistaken for a flavor question. That is, it invites answers like

You cannot make a Meyer lemon meringue, as the taste really doesn't pair well. Meyer lemon lemonade is great though, the sweetness fits better than regular lemon.

And that is the kind of answer we don't want. Indeed, if the question had asked for flavor pairings specifically ("Lemons go well with honey, but do Meyer lemons go well with honey") it would have been a clear cut case for closure.

I asked you for clarification, and you noted that you would like to learn something about the interaction with ingredients. That part doesn't have a "subjective" problem, but it does have a "too broad" problem. There are thousands of ingredients out there, and thousands of recipes. Enumerating all possible interactions will fill books.

I know that you tried to preempt that problem by saying that you want to know what it depends on, but it depends on thousands of things. In the end, it doesn't even make sense to try to write answers, as you will only know if you can make the substitution after you've tried it and liked the result or not. If it were a single recipe, then a few pointers might have been possible, but that still wouldn't have been sufficient for predictions. But for all possible recipes in the world? Not really doable.