# Food and Related Myths or Highly Questionable Beliefs



## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

I haven't seen us do this one yet. Hopefully it can remain civil. 

How about some food and food related myths that have been debunked or even beliefs that are really doubtful?

Like...

1. Letting meat rest on the counter before cooking, evens the cooking.

2. MSG causes headaches.

3. Wooden cutting boards are unsanitary in home kitchens.

What ya got KKF?


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## M1k3 (Sep 24, 2022)

Cold water boils faster.


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## tally-ho (Sep 24, 2022)

The improper use of the word "protein(s)" for meat and fish only.
There are animal-based proteins and plant-based proteins. A broccoli is also raw protein.


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## parbaked (Sep 24, 2022)

Eating shark’s fin will give one better boners….


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

parbaked said:


> Eating shark’s fin will give one better boners….



Or bear gall bladders.


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## Ochazuke (Sep 24, 2022)

Having a good knife makes you a better cook.


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## M1k3 (Sep 24, 2022)

Ochazuke said:


> Having a good knife makes you a better cook.


Everyone knows having an expensive Japanese natural sharpening stone makes the food taste better.


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## MSicardCutlery (Sep 24, 2022)

Stirring cake batter in both directions prevents rising.


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## ian (Sep 24, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Letting meat rest on the counter before cooking, evens the cooking.



I object to the wording. Leaving meat out till it’s uniformly room temperature will indeed result in more even cooking.

I assume your point is that it takes a long time to get to room temperature, and most of us aren’t going to set our meat on the counter for hours. Also, the minimal difference isn’t worth the effort.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

ian said:


> I object to the wording. Leaving meat out till it’s uniformly room temperature will indeed result in more even cooking.
> 
> I assume your point is that it takes a long time to get to room temperature, and most of us aren’t going to set our meat on the counter for hours. Also, the minimal difference isn’t worth the effort.



Math brain.


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## ian (Sep 24, 2022)

Add oil to pasta water to prevent sticking.

Keep the avocado pit in the guac to prevent oxidation.

Don’t salt beans till after they’re cooked.

Cook octopus with a cork in the water to tenderize it.

High heat seals in juices.


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

Don't wash your mushrooms, it'll make them soggy.


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## Heckel7302 (Sep 24, 2022)

That sharp knives are safer than dull knives in the kitchen. I get the argument, but in practical experience I’ve gotten way more injuries since I started sharpening than I did cutting with dull knives. Not that I’m complaining, sharp knives are the best.


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

Adding salt and yeast to a dough at the same time will kill the yeast.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

ian said:


> Add oil to pasta water to prevent sticking.
> 
> Keep the avocado pit in the guac to prevent oxidation.



I was totally guilty of the first one for so long until one day I actually thought about and realized how dumb it was. But boy a lot of the cooking shows sure pushed that.

I recently encountered a scientist co-worker with half an avocado in his lunch with the pit still in it. I'd never seen that before and asked why the hell he didn't pull it before he came to work. He informed me that everyone knows that leaving it prevents the rest of the avocado from turning brown. He's a scientist. It took me like five minutes before he started to see the absurdity of that idea but it was so engrained in him that he struggled to let go of the thought.



Michi said:


> Don't wash your mushrooms, it'll make them soggy.



This is another I feel for for a while. The bad part about this one is, even though my own eyes had told me it wasn't true, enough "pro" cooks on the tube said that I bought in. I honestly think it was a Jaque Pepin video wherein he called it nonsense that snapped me out of that one.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

Heckel7302 said:


> That sharp knives are safer than dull knives in the kitchen. I get the argument, but in practical experience I’ve gotten way more injuries since I started sharpening than I did cutting with dull knives. Not that I’m complaining, sharp knives are the best.



I've actually railed against this idea on here before.


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

Heckel7302 said:


> That sharp knives are safer than dull knives in the kitchen. I get the argument, but in practical experience I’ve gotten way more injuries since I started sharpening than I did cutting with dull knives. Not that I’m complaining, sharp knives are the best.


I agree. Since I have really sharp knives, I nick myself a lot more often than I used to. Part of the reason is that, previously, all my knives were Wüsthof with a full bolster. What gets me on my Japanese knives is usually the heel. One careless move to pick up something near the knife is enough. That heel is forever lurking to get me.

Not to mention my poor dish towels.


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I was totally guilty of the first one for so long until one day I actually thought about and realized how dumb it was. But boy a lot of the cooking shows sure pushed that.


I grew up with this as the accepted lore. _Everyone_ put oil into their pasta water.

It wasn't until my forties that I realised what a silly idea this is.


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## ian (Sep 24, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I recently encountered a scientist co-worker with half an avocado in his lunch with the pit still in it. I'd never seen that before and asked why the hell he didn't pull it before he came to work. He informed me that everyone knows that leaving it prevents the rest of the avocado from turning brown. He's a scientist. It took me like five minutes before he started to see the absurdity of that idea but it was so engrained in him that he struggled to let go of the thought.



I guess in that situation it could make a small difference, because it’s preventing the pit cavity from being exposed to air. That’s why people think it works in guac, cause they see this bright green spot under the pit, when it’s just there because the guac there wasn’t exposed.


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

Sticking a spoon into a half-finished bottle of champagne keeps the bubbles in.

What gets me about this one is how fundamentally ignorant it is. I would have thought that anyone with even the most basic physics knowledge from school would instantly realise that this cannot work. Sadly, not so.

PS: Shall we talk about masks?


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

MSicardCutlery said:


> Stirring cake batter in both directions prevents rising.


Haha 

But here is one that is actually correct: stirring a ground meat mix in only one direction creates better protein extraction and binding. It's a bit like gluten development in bread dough: the idea is to align the strands parallel to each other.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

Michi said:


> I grew up with this as the accepted lore. _Everyone_ put oil into their pasta water.
> 
> It wasn't until my forties that I realised what a silly idea this is.


 I just mentioned this to my wife (oil in the water) and she shuffled off mumbling something about I was wrong and it does work. 

These long-held beliefs can have deep roots.


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## sansho (Sep 24, 2022)

i've never heard most of these. just lucky i guess?


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> These long-held beliefs can have deep roots.


Well, if I cook pasta with oil in the water, it indeed won't stick, which helps to re-enforce the belief. What people forget is that pasta also won't stick without oil in the water.

Never mind that the sauce won't stick to the pasta as well with oil than without…


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

sansho said:


> i've never heard most of these. just lucky i guess?


Just be grateful for your blissfully innocent existence


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## myguidingmoonlight (Sep 24, 2022)

Ochazuke said:


> Having a good knife makes you a better cook.


Having good knives encourages me to cook instead of eating out lol

My fruit and veggie intake increased because I am always in a cutting mood.


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## M1k3 (Sep 24, 2022)

Sharp knives are safer. It's called conditioning.

After so many times cutting yourself, you start avoiding cutting yourself, on purpose, consciously or not.


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## MSicardCutlery (Sep 24, 2022)

Onion filled socks are not an effective cold and flu remedy....


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 24, 2022)

MSicardCutlery said:


> Onion filled socks are not an effective cold and flu remedy....



Dude. What did they do to you?


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

If you twist the cookie cutter, your biscuits won't rise.


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## M1k3 (Sep 24, 2022)

MSicardCutlery said:


> Onion filled socks are not an effective cold and flu remedy....


Yeah....but if you puree it, it makes a good substitute for mace (not the spice, the spray used for defense).


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## Michi (Sep 24, 2022)

M1k3 said:


> Yeah....but if you puree it, it makes a good substitute for mace (not the spice, the spray used for defense).


Turn them into sock bombs. Could make for quite a formidable weapon. The enemy leaves the battlefield of his own accord…


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## MSicardCutlery (Sep 24, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Dude. What did they do to you?


French Canadian mythology man. Some people get to read it, I got to live it.




The risk of food poisoning from raw cookie dough constitutes reasonable grounds to prohibit its consumption.


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## M1k3 (Sep 24, 2022)

Michi said:


> Turn them into sock bombs. Could make for quite a formidable weapon. The enemy leaves the battlefield of his own accord…



Get a clown suit and call it a day....


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## Delat (Sep 25, 2022)

Heating honey makes it poisonous. 

I just heard that one recently and was so baffled I did a little googling and turns out a lot of people believe it.


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## M1k3 (Sep 25, 2022)

Delat said:


> Heating honey makes it poisonous.
> 
> I just heard that one recently and was so baffled I did a little googling and turns out a lot of people believe it.


How do these people deal with crystalized honey? Throw it away?


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## Jovidah (Sep 25, 2022)

I think it's really important to realize that a LOT of the myths; even in this thread, do have a grain of truth in them, or at least stem from something that made sense at one point.

For example:
-I can totally see how 'cold water boils faster' is at least linked to the Mpemba effect - which is similarly counterintuitive.
-Letting meat rest on the counter before cooking can actually have utility in that you lose less heat when tossing it in the pan; this can lead to a better outcome, especially on crappier pans and consumer level stoves.
-Wooden cutting boards CAN be very unsanitary if improperly utilized and maintained.
-Adding salt to yeast might actually kill it, but only in higher concentrations; which might happen if you're for whatever reason keeping just the salt and yeast together in the same bowl during mise-en-place.
-Heating honey doesn't make it poisonous but at high enough temperatures will kill pasteurize it; whether that's a good or a bad thing is up for debate.
-A lot of food rules, recipes and preparations made more sense in the past when food safety wasn't as good as it is now, and certain ingredients were very different from how they are now. Sifting flour for example was far more mandatory in the past when it was a more regular occurence to find small insects in the flour.

There's also a lot of common ones where the explanation might be wrong but the advice is generally sound, for example:
-Searing meat doesn't 'seal in the juice' but it does lead to a more flavorful end-product.
-Oiling pasta MIGHT make sense if you just leave the pasta to sit in a bowl or something after draining.
-You don't need liters of water to boil pasta, but the reason it's recommended is that it often makes the process more idiot proof and easier to make timing recommendations.

And I do actually think sharper knives are safer. Because with a sharp knife I barely use any pressure... and the knive goes where I intend it to go. Whenever I cut myself the cuts are small, superficial, clean and heal fast. On the contrary with a blunt knife I put far more pressure, the knife tends to not go where I want it to and there's a far higher risk of stab injuries, cutting myself since the knife went somewhere I didn't intend it to, and there's far more pressure behind it so whenever I hit something the damage tends to be worse.


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## Jovidah (Sep 25, 2022)

Oh and I think knives actually can make you a better cook - but only when going from garbage to decent. Because it means I cut faster, cook faster, and as a result am willing to use ingredients and preparations that would otherwise be inaccessible to me. I use far more fresh produce than I otherwise would.
Having trash knives and 0 knife skills really can be limiting and implement a ceiling.


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## esoo (Sep 25, 2022)

I oil my pasta water to break up the starch and keep it from boiling over. (And I only do it when I have to). Never heard about doing it to keep the pasta from sticking.


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## stringer (Sep 25, 2022)

I gotta object to this one @ian.


ian said:


> Add oil to pasta water to prevent sticking.




Adding a few drops of oil to pasta water breaks the surface tension up a little and will help prevent the starchy water from foaming up and boiling over. Maybe not that important at home. But makes a huge difference if you are cooking 25 pounds of pasta at a time in a 40 gallon steam kettle. I used to keep a squirt bottle of olive oil right beside the kettle so that I could squirt the foam when it started forming.

Adding oil to cooked pasta immediately after it is shocked cool is the best way to prevent sticking.


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## stringer (Sep 25, 2022)

esoo said:


> I oil my pasta water to break up the starch and keep it from boiling over. (And I only do it when I have to). Never heard about doing it to keep the pasta from sticking.


Should have read all the way down. I second @esoo


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## ian (Sep 25, 2022)

Ya, that makes sense. It's the sticking explanation I was talking about. Like Jovidah mentioned, some of the myths are more incorrect explanations than bad practices.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

- Putting a potato in soup will absorb excess salt.

- Chicken has to be cooked to 165F.


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## Jovidah (Sep 25, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> - Putting a potato in soup will absorb excess salt.
> 
> - Chicken has to be cooked to 165F.


Actually the potato thing will work to some extent simply because you're adding volume. The solution to pollution is dillution!

The chicken thing also isn't entirely without merit or good reasons. For a long time - and this is probably still the case in some parts of the world - significant amounts of poultry meat were infected with stuff like salmonella, campylobacter and other nasties that you really don't want to ingest. There was a similar thing going on with pork (trichinosis).

The 165F became the idiotproof gold standard in both cases because it killed enough of it fast enough that it's hard to screw it up. You can reach the same effect heating at lower temperature but this would usually require quite long cooking times and there'd be a lot of margin for error.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> Actually the potato thing will work to some extent simply because you're adding volume. The solution to pollution is dillution!
> 
> The chicken thing also isn't entirely without merit or good reasons. For a long time - and this is probably still the case in some parts of the world - significant amounts of poultry meat were infected with stuff like salmonella, campylobacter and other nasties that you really don't want to ingest. There was a similar thing going on with pork (trichinosis).
> 
> The 165F became the idiotproof gold standard in both cases because it killed enough of it fast enough that it's hard to screw it up. You can reach the same effect heating at lower temperature but this would usually require quite long cooking times and there'd be a lot of margin for error.



Unfortunately I can't find the link right now but there's a study out there that shows just how quickly all the bad stuff dies on a temp gradient chart. You don't have to maintain a 155 temp for long at all, like seconds. I don't remember exactly. 

Yes, 165 is foolproof but and people who are concerned should do what think is best but I believe it's all dead already.


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## ian (Sep 25, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> Actually the potato thing will work to some extent simply because you're adding volume. The solution to pollution is dillution!



The "potato trick" is to put the potato in the soup whole, let it sit or cook a while, and then take it out, thinking that it'll leach out all the salt. Probably does take out some small amount of salt, as well as desirable flavors, and makes the soup a bit starchier. Thumbs down.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

This isn't the exact data I was wanting but it's got the pertinent info all the same:









The Food Lab's Guide to Sous Vide Chicken Breast


Cooking chicken breast sous vide is hands down the best way to ensure it comes out tender, juicy, and full of flavor.




www.seriouseats.com


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## stringer (Sep 25, 2022)

Here are a few I encounter often:

Raw chickens should be rinsed.

Metal can never go in the microwave.

It is best to pour grease down the drain. 

Veggies should be coated in oil before roasting.

You should leave the root end of the onion on to help hold it together when you cut it.

Extra lean ground turkey is healthier than extra lean ground beef.


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## WildBoar (Sep 25, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> -Oiling pasta MIGHT make sense if you just leave the pasta to sit in a bowl or something after draining.


Works okay if you don't need a sauce to stick to/ soak into the pasta.

(I should qualify this -- the negative effect is when you have a drop-in strainer so you pull the cooked pasta out through the oil layer, and enough oil is used to cover the top of the water (yes, I have seen people do that).


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

stringer said:


> Here are a few I encounter often:
> 
> Raw chickens should be rinsed.
> 
> ...



I have a microwave at work specifically for melting metal.


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## M1k3 (Sep 25, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I have a microwave at work specifically for melting metal.


Chef Mike strikes again!


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## Xunzi (Sep 25, 2022)

Isn't the knife safety thing a case of - "less likely it will happen" but "much worse outcome when it does happen?". As a parallel - I've used a straight razor for a long time - I always found the warnings of nicks exaggerated - actually, I used to get nicks more often with cartridge razors since I'd sometimes had to push those dull blades with force - on the other hand, I once messed up and I almost cut off the tip of my finger with the straight razor...


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## Rangen (Sep 25, 2022)

WildBoar said:


> Works okay if you don't need a sauce to stick to/ soak into the pasta.


Or if your sauce is of the sort that would stick to teflon, like the spicy peanut/sesame sauce used for Dan Dan noodles.


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## Racheski (Sep 25, 2022)

Michi said:


> But here is one that is actually correct: stirring a ground meat mix in only one direction creates better protein extraction and binding. It's a bit like gluten development in bread dough: the idea is to align the strands parallel to each other.


Yeah I'm calling BS on this one until I see some science to back it up (I didn't see any studies after a quick Google search). I believe you are referring to the process of creating a forcemeat "protein mesh" which has nothing to do with aligning muscle fibers parallel to each other. The protein mesh is a matrix of salt, water, fat, and protein that is created when salt solubilizes protein in the muscle cells during mixing.


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## Rangen (Sep 25, 2022)

stringer said:


> Here are a few I encounter often:
> 
> Raw chickens should be rinsed.
> ...


Huh. I've been doing this one routinely. It seems to take off a thin layer of scunge I can both smell up close, and feel with my fingers, and gets blood out of the inside (important for the kind of clean tastes one wants in Cantonese dishes). Why should I not do it?


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## mengwong (Sep 25, 2022)

Before adding oil, it’s important to preheat the pan, so the pores open.

Before adding oil, it’s important to preheat the pan, so the pores close.









Do pan "pores" exist, what are they, and what are their effects?


There are a number of common cooking lore techniques which revolve around the idea of "pores" in the surface of a pan. Two of the ones I've heard most often: (1) When heating a pan where sticking...




cooking.stackexchange.com













Heat pan before adding oil: Why?


I happened upon this story of mine, which ran in the paper a few years back but never appeared on the blog. Most sauté recipes, as well as cooking tips included with new pans, instruct you to heat …



blog.timesunion.com


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## Racheski (Sep 25, 2022)

-Use a honing rod "re-aligns" a bend knife edge instead of sharpening it. I believe the science of sharp thoroughly debunked this one, but the myth is still ubiquitous.

-cooking meat on the bone adds flavor to the meat. Serious Eats debunked this one awhile ago.


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## mengwong (Sep 25, 2022)

Rangen said:


> Why should I not do it?


Because it sprays bacterial scunge all over one’s sink and nearby countertop, which is a problem if one is a home cook with limited sanitizing sensibilities.

Also, the alleged “scunge” adds COMPLEXITY OF FLAVOUR! (Source: am Cantonese.) ((joking))


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## mengwong (Sep 25, 2022)

If I invite an attractive lady back to my den to view my impressive knife collection, she will accept the invitation, and be impressed.


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## WildBoar (Sep 25, 2022)

mengwong said:


> If I invite an attractive lady back to my den to view my impressive knife collection, she will accept the invitation, and be impressed enough to call the cops and report me as a suspicious person.


FTFY...


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## Xunzi (Sep 25, 2022)

WildBoar said:


> FTFY...



Haha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.


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## ian (Sep 25, 2022)

stringer said:


> Here are a few I encounter often:
> 
> Raw chickens should be rinsed.
> 
> ...



Oh, those are good! Wait, why not oil vegetables before roasting? Don't you get a more leathery skin without oil? Been ages since I tried


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## stringer (Sep 25, 2022)

ian said:


> Oh, those are good! Wait, why not oil vegetables before roasting? Don't you get a more leathery skin without oil? Been ages since I tried


The best way is to roast halfway with just enough oil on the pan to prevent sticking. Get a lot of moisture out, then add oil and seasoning to finish. The result is less soggy and greasy and more brown and toasty. Oiling first traps moisture inside inhibiting Mallard reactions


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## ian (Sep 25, 2022)

stringer said:


> The best way is to roast halfway with just enough oil on the pan to prevent sticking. Get a lot of moisture out, then add oil and seasoning to finish. The result is less soggy and greasy and more brown and toasty. Oiling first traps moisture inside inhibiting Mallard reactions



Heard! Will try.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

ian said:


> Heard! Will try.



x2!


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## BillHanna (Sep 25, 2022)

Xunzi said:


> Haha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.


It’d work on me


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## ptolemy (Sep 25, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> I think it's really important to realize that a LOT of the myths; even in this thread, do have a grain of truth in them, or at least stem from something that made sense at one point.
> 
> For example:
> -I can totally see how 'cold water boils faster' is at least linked to the Mpemba effect - which is similarly counterintuitive.
> ...


I think this is one of the better and more logical explanations in this thread. The issue is though, when some people are convinced by those WITHOUT understanding the underlying reasons... It's just a maxim they grew up with, and don't care if they are wrong or not...

One about wooden cutting board is an excellent example. Someone who oils theirs regularly and takes good overall is right... but I have seen many who have gouges or warping in theirs. 

I oil pasta all the time... but not during cook, after I drain it, I add table spoon for left overs and then when I reheat it/etc, it's much easier...


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## coxhaus (Sep 25, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I just mentioned this to my wife (oil in the water) and she shuffled off mumbling something about I was wrong and it does work.
> 
> These long-held beliefs can have deep roots.


I always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?


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## Borealhiker (Sep 25, 2022)

Michi said:


> I agree. Since I have really sharp knives, I nick myself a lot more often than I used to. Part of the reason is that, previously, all my knives were Wüsthof with a full bolster. What gets me on my Japanese knives is usually the heel. One careless move to pick up something near the knife is enough. That heel is forever lurking to get me.
> 
> Not to mention my poor dish towels.


Omg….So true.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 25, 2022)

coxhaus said:


> I always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?



Yes.


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## daveb (Sep 25, 2022)

Michi said:


> Sticking a spoon into a half-finished bottle of champagne keeps the bubbles.....



Half finished champagne, like that's ever going to happen......


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## MSicardCutlery (Sep 25, 2022)

daveb said:


> Half finished champagne, like that's ever going to happen......


A bottle lasts me 5 days...I guess it never really gets to half though


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## MSicardCutlery (Sep 25, 2022)

Turning condiments and fast foods, and fried foods into ice-cream flavors is a great way to kick off summer.


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## Michi (Sep 26, 2022)

Racheski said:


> Yeah I'm calling BS on this one until I see some science to back it up (I didn't see any studies after a quick Google search). I believe you are referring to the process of creating a forcemeat "protein mesh" which has nothing to do with aligning muscle fibers parallel to each other. The protein mesh is a matrix of salt, water, fat, and protein that is created when salt solubilizes protein in the muscle cells during mixing.


Hmmm… Now that I think about it, maybe that really is BS. I've heard this preached so many times (and from experts), that I just took it as gospel. But then, I also heard it preached for decades that you have to put oil in your pasta water…

I'm not sure I'm up to conducting an experiment to see who is right. But I think I will stop spreading that particular piece of wisdom from now on, seeing that you have so convincingly planted nagging doubts in my mind


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## boomchakabowwow (Sep 26, 2022)

Chicken soup is a cold/flu remedy. sure it is.


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## boomchakabowwow (Sep 26, 2022)

Birds Nest soup is not for Dong-Health or performance. it helps provide success and good fortune. that's why they serve it at wedding banquets..

wait,,...maybe it does help boners. i think the hot new wife does that. they should serve it at the 7 year wedding anniversary. . with a big plate of oysters.


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## boomchakabowwow (Sep 26, 2022)

Beans make you fart. 

not chewing them up completely makes you fart. i think.


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## simona (Sep 26, 2022)

coxhaus said:


> I always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?


Why would you want the sauce not to stick to the pasta? Surely you would end with a pile of pasta sitting on a puddle of sauce?


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## simona (Sep 26, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> I think it's really important to realize that a LOT of the myths; even in this thread, do have a grain of truth in them, or at least stem from something that made sense at one point.
> 
> For example:
> -I can totally see how 'cold water boils faster' is at least linked to the Mpemba effect - which is similarly counterintuitive.
> ...


-You don't need liters of water to boil pasta,
Depends on how much pasta you are cooking. More pasta + less water = starch soup + sticky pasta.


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## rmwall02 (Sep 26, 2022)

M1k3 said:


> Cold water boils faster.


That might be like the RAF claiming carrots made for better night vision. Better results through a white lie. Really hard water from a hot water tank will make food taste bad. Cold hard water less so.


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## Delat (Sep 26, 2022)

stringer said:


> Veggies should be coated in oil before roasting.



Is oil not necessary when roasting veggies? I always brush mine with oil - I thought it helped heat them more evenly and brown more quickly?

edit: nvm, just saw @stringer explanation above. Looking forward to trying it out!


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## boomchakabowwow (Sep 26, 2022)

simona said:


> Why would you want the sauce not to stick to the pasta? Surely you would end with a pile of pasta sitting on a puddle of sauce?


i heard it was absorbing the sauce. dunno.


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## tostadas (Sep 26, 2022)

Xunzi said:


> Haha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.





BillHanna said:


> It’d work on me


I'll show you mine if you show me yours


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## HumbleHomeCook (Sep 26, 2022)

Vitamin C eases symptoms and the duration of the common cold.


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## Rangen (Sep 26, 2022)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Vitamin C eases symptoms and the duration of the common cold.


And related: distinguished scientists with Nobel prizes should be completely trusted when speaking of things outside their field.


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## BillHanna (Sep 26, 2022)

tostadas said:


> I'll show you mine if you show me yours


Impatiently waiting for my knife by Lars


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## rmrf (Sep 26, 2022)

Michi said:


> Adding salt and yeast to a dough at the same time will kill the yeast.





Jovidah said:


> -Adding salt to yeast might actually kill it, but only in higher concentrations; which might happen if you're for whatever reason keeping just the salt and yeast together in the same bowl during mise-en-place.



Salt will retard yeast / sourdough starter activity, even in the concentration necessary for bread. It won't inhibit growth. The latter is self-evident as you can add salt to bread. The former you can test by doing 12 hour autolyze. If you use non chlorinated water and do not use salt, you have a good chance of getting your autolyze to proof if the conditions are warm enough (>70F). If you use chlorinated water and no salt, you get less activity, but still some. I know this because I've made weak bread because I used water I left out for a few days for a 12 hr autolyze and weird/smelly bread when I didn't use salt in the autolyze... 

So, this has a kernel of truth, but people do take it way too seriously. Even bread cookbooks often say to add salt like an hour or two after you add the levain. I guess if you're a bakery and every minute counts this matters, but for a home baker it is just as easy to add salt earlier.


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## M1k3 (Sep 26, 2022)

In my experience with the pasta and oiling it debate:

Oiling the water reduces foaming/boiling over, like @stringer said earlier. Makes no difference to how good the sauce will stick to the pasta.

Oiling pasta that you've cooked halfway and will go in the water again before serving doesn't make a difference.

Oiling cooked pasta to then add to your sauce, or, (insert record scratch noise) if you are going to commit a sin and just ladle the sauce over the pasta  it does make a difference.


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## coxhaus (Sep 26, 2022)

simona said:


> Why would you want the sauce not to stick to the pasta? Surely you would end with a pile of pasta sitting on a puddle of sauce?


I want the sauce to stick to the pasta. That is why I do NOT add olive oil to pasta.

I use 4 qts water to a pound of pasta.


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## Xunzi (Sep 27, 2022)

The only time I add oil to pasta is if I cook too much and save for the next day (yes, I’m a savage). However, I do from time to time pour some oil into the water when I’m unfocused due to old habit, but it’s really a waste.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Nov 20, 2022)

It doesn't matter what side of the aluminum foil is facing out. Shiny or dull, it makes no difference.


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## daveb (Nov 20, 2022)

Tru dat. But shiny is prettier.


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## mengwong (Nov 21, 2022)

Begging your pardon, gentlemen, I believe around here we say “kasumi” vs “migaki” foil


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## HumbleHomeCook (Dec 6, 2022)

You can wash mushrooms.


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## bsfsu (Dec 6, 2022)

M1k3 said:


> Cold water boils faster.


Hot water freezes quicker.


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## ch_br (Dec 7, 2022)

Wonder is anyone said this..

Heard it twice this month:

"Lamb is gamey"


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## mengwong (Dec 7, 2022)

ch_br said:


> "Lamb is gamey"


Re alpha-gal, some news https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/us/lone-star-tick-bite-meat-allergy.html


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## Naftoor (Dec 7, 2022)

Michi said:


> Sticking a spoon into a half-finished bottle of champagne keeps the bubbles in.
> 
> What gets me about this one is how fundamentally ignorant it is. I would have thought that anyone with even the most basic physics knowledge from school would instantly realise that this cannot work. Sadly, not so.
> 
> PS: Shall we talk about masks?


Funnily enough, a spoon in champagne should actually make it go flat FASTER by adding nucleation sites. Similar to a less extreme version of mentos in coke.


stringer said:


> The best way is to roast halfway with just enough oil on the pan to prevent sticking. Get a lot of moisture out, then add oil and seasoning to finish. The result is less soggy and greasy and more brown and toasty. Oiling first traps moisture inside inhibiting Mallard reactions


Posts like this are why I love this community. Great tip and I’m looking forward to testing it!


mengwong said:


> Re alpha-gal, some news https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/us/lone-star-tick-bite-meat-allergy.html


I’ve wanted to learn how to hunt for years. An overwhelming fear of ticks and the many diseases they carry has kept me from it. Alpha gal is the scariest. I think the color would go out of my culinary life if I had to cut meat out.


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## ian (Dec 7, 2022)

rmrf said:


> Salt will retard yeast / sourdough starter activity, even in the concentration necessary for bread. It won't inhibit growth. The latter is self-evident as you can add salt to bread. The former you can test by doing 12 hour autolyze. If you use non chlorinated water and do not use salt, you have a good chance of getting your autolyze to proof if the conditions are warm enough (>70F). If you use chlorinated water and no salt, you get less activity, but still some. I know this because I've made weak bread because I used water I left out for a few days for a 12 hr autolyze and weird/smelly bread when I didn't use salt in the autolyze...
> 
> So, this has a kernel of truth, but people do take it way too seriously. Even bread cookbooks often say to add salt like an hour or two after you add the levain. I guess if you're a bakery and every minute counts this matters, but for a home baker it is just as easy to add salt earlier.



Just saw this. And yea, in home quantities adding an ingredient later on just makes it hard to incorporate evenly in the dough! For one loaf batches (which is what I always do) I always dissolve the salt in the water first to ensure even distribution.


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