The state or quality of being done, especially the degree to which food is cooked.
From 'done' (past participle of 'do') + suffix '-ness' (creating abstract nouns). The word emerged in modern English to describe the cooking condition of food.
Doneness is one of those useful nouns English creates by just adding '-ness' to adjectives—like happiness, sadness, or redness—and it's essential cooking vocabulary because 'doneness' is way faster than saying 'the state of being done.'
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