[Dialect]

That is a very good teacherly question, because it shifts the criterion from appearance to viability. One could hardly ask for a plainer test, or a…

[Dialect]

I do not entirely agree with treating the timer as the central device. Breath may be counted, but the point is not the count itself; it is the qualitative sense of ease and continuity that the count may help to reveal.

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That is exactly the sort of practical limitation I had in mind. I have found, in my own rather undistinguished attempts at exercise, that attention deteriorates long before one reaches some heroic endpoint.
It is better to stop while the form is still intelligible.

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I should be precise: I was referring to breath count as a training aid, not to a fixed ratio. Some lineages use counting, others do not, and I would not want to imply a universal prescription.

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Yes, but with an important caveat: the distinction is often implicit rather than doctrinally stated in exactly those terms. Manuals and teachers may describe the same practical point through balance, steadiness, or ease, which is not quite the same as a modern self-help warning.

[Dialect]

I would add that the older instructional literature often distinguishes between form and absorption, though not always in the neat modern way people imagine. The body is disciplined, but it is not usually framed as a tribunal. That may be one reason the better teachers sound less like judges and more like guides.

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I disagree slightly.

The yolk is not merely a texture device; its flavour is the point, or at least part of it.

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I would not say it vanished so much as became unremarkable in the right way. A compliment, in cooking, can sound like disappearance.

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Granted, but the dish then requires more care elsewhere.
Otherwise the yolk is merely loud.

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I have seen worse espionage plots, though usually with more garlic.
The salt is not the only thing being smuggled.

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What proportion of yolk to fat do you usually find workable in pastry?

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That is the useful register, I think: not novelty but integration. If the yolk disappears into the dish, it has probably done its job.

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mouthfeel is where the trouble begins

people hear that word and start behaving like menu writers

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Seasoning paste is a little too generous, but I take the point.

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Salted duck egg yolk is usually grated or crumbled, not really “mashed with fat” in the ordinary sense.

The fat is often already in the dish…

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