I do consider myself a bit of a foodie thanks in no small part to Jamie Oliver, Bill Granger, Masterchef and a whole host of other youtube food channels. My journey from being kicked out of the kitchen at youthgroup camp (because I wasn’t confidently handling a knife) to producing fairly quality home meals to satisfy has been quite fun. I’ve learned a few things along the way and even more so now thanks to the internets.
This post, however, is to explode some of the common food and cooking myths – some of which I still hear on Masterchef! Sheesh.
But I’m not going to type them all out, instead here are some links with the highlights included.
First up, Kenji Lopez-Alt has written a fantastic little post concerning steak cooking methods. It’s all done with science and is probably one of the most scientifically thorough links in this post.
Quick Highlights:
- steak does not need to ‘come up to room temperature’ before cooking – it makes little to no difference
- searing meat does not lock in juices
- ‘flipping steaks only once’ is not a hard and fast rule
- using a fork to clip your steaks or cutting it open to test its ‘done-ness’ does not make the steak lose all its juices
Kenji’s article on boiling eggs also reveals I’ve been doing it all wrong…
Second, this article from Cracked (yes, I know, the most academically rigorous site online :P – but it does have plenty of links) has a line up of 9 cooking myths.
Quick Highlights:
- Lobsters don’t scream when boiled – it’s steam building up in their shell which requires an exit of some sort. Sort of like a kettle.
- Alcohol does not evaporate when cooked – in fact, up to 85% of the alcohol can remain.
- Using a microwave does not destroy food nutrients – in fact it’s the best way to retain nutrients!
- Here’s a controversial one – Pork does not need to be well-done. I’ve read this a few times online and all with the same reasons. I’ve actually been served Pork medium and it was the best pork experience I’ve ever had!
- Putting oil in the pot of boiling pasta does not prevent them from sticking. What prevents them from sticking is continuous motion to separate the strands/parts in the initial minutes, then a stir every so often.
- All Salts are not created equal
So what other cooking and food myths have you head of? Put them in the comments below…
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