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Persistent culinary myths

  • 27-08-2015 8:19am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭


    Today I read, in some well-meaning recipe, that I must slice up the aubergines and lay them in a colander sprinkled with salt "to get rid of the bitter juices"

    Well, let me enlighten you, friends; this is no longer true.

    The modern aubergine has had the bitterness bred out of it long since, but the myth persists.

    There, I thought I would share that and spare you all a few minutes every time you plan to cook aubergines. You may prepare them entirely unsprinkled and undrained. Unless it is a home-grown, vintage variety, you will be perfectly safe.

    What other persistent culinary myths have you come across that refuse to die, even though long out of date?


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,774 ✭✭✭Minder


    Frying meat seals in the juices. Debunked. Malliard reaction creates flavour compounds, but the juiciness of a piece of meat is only effected by the temperature it is cooked at.

    Adding salt to beans toughens the skins. Debunked. Salting the soaking and cooking liquid actually tenderises the skins.

    Adding oil to pasta water to prevent sticking. Debunked. A waste of good oil.

    Salt kills yeast. Debunked. Yeast is quite resilient to the effects of salt.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    *smiling*

    Great, thank you!

    I'd occasionally temper the yeast+salt one: too much salt discourages fermentation. [Consider how it is used as a preservative]
    - but there again, not-enough-salt is a common failing in bread (just my opinion)


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,736 ✭✭✭✭kylith


    Stephen Fry says that mussels that don't open when you cook them are fine to eat.

    I haven't been able to work up the nerve to try it out though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,057 ✭✭✭MissFlitworth


    I'm delighted to hear I can salt my bean water! (although that sounds like a weird euphemism but, onwards). Going to give that a whirl tonight.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    kylith wrote: »
    Stephen Fry says that mussels that don't open when you cook them are fine to eat.

    I haven't been able to work up the nerve to try it out though.
    The reason they don't open after cooking is usually that they're filled with grit or sand, which won't poison you but will ruin your meal


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  • Registered Users Posts: 241 ✭✭Whistlejacket


    The shiny side of the tinfoil reflects more heat, so put it facing the meat to keep the heat in.

    This is bunkum!


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,664 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Minder beat me to the "sealing" meat thing.

    I will sometimes salt aubergine to reduce the moisture content, if that's what I'm after.

    Oil stops butter from burning.! Really?

    Cornflour is a suitable thickener for a stew. Nope.

    Guinness is great in a beef stew. Almost any other beer is better.

    Pork must be cooked until it's dry and tasteless.

    Chicken breast is the "best" cut of chicken. I can't think of any application where thigh isn't better.

    OK, mostly just my pedantic opinions rather than myth busting but I like the thread idea.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    Agreed, mostly: though not about the Guinness - I think it contributes a sharpness as well as a black appearance, that plainer beers don't have. [being sweeter, usually]

    But YEAH on the chicken breast! Mind you, the modern supermarket chicken is a sad apology for a bird anyway; pale, bland, spongy....not like chickens ought to be. (And used to be, back in the days when they were an expensive luxury. Ah, nostalgia!)

    At least the thigh gets a bit of exercise, hopefully: which all helps to bring minerals and flavour into the meat, as well as "body" in the muscle.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Veering on the side of nutrition and health but one I hate is that MSG is harmful to your health, stems from one falsified report. Also that spinach is rich in iron, came from a data analysis that had a misplaced decimal point.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    WHAT!!

    You mean, Popeye the Sailorman was really only a seven-stone weakling and all those tins of Spinach did him no good at all??

    Oh, I am shocked - gutted :-(

    On the other hand, tinned spinach is one of the most revolting substances on earth. A muddy suspension of dark-green metallic splashiness, tasting of soil and rust. So some people have been given a welcome escape from Purgatory.

    Now, fresh spinach, lightly cooked and barely chopped and dressed with cream and a scrap of nutmeg - there's food for goddesses, iron or not!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 509 ✭✭✭Not G.R


    The red jucies in Raw and rare meat is blood. It isn't it's a mixture of water and myglobin. 99% of blood is lost in slaughter and aging.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,683 ✭✭✭Subcomandante Marcos


    Myth: Beef and lamb that is bright red is "fresh" and "better" than dark meat.

    No.

    Reality: Lamb and beef that is bright red has been either wet aged or only hung for a few days, as a result it's still full of water, hasn't had the proper amount of time for the enzymes to do their job during ageing and as a result hasn't developed the delicious, deep, meaty flavour that properly aged meat has.

    A properly aged piece of beef or lamb will have a lovely deep purple hue to it and be almost tacky to the touch, not bright red and wet!

    Myth: Steaks shouldn't have much fat on them and should be almost completely lean.

    No.

    Reality: A good scattering of marbling adds flavour, keeps the steak moist during cooking and is a good sign that the animal was reared properly, had a good life and had a good diet.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,080 ✭✭✭kenco


    Where to start! So much nonsense prescribed around meat and fish and the healthiest way to cook them....

    My fav however is washing the bejaysus out of Mushrooms....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,683 ✭✭✭Subcomandante Marcos


    kenco wrote: »
    Where to start! So much nonsense prescribed around meat and fish and the healthiest way to cook them....

    My fav however is washing the bejaysus out of Mushrooms....

    Worst thing ever! End up with horrible soggy wet mushrooms!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,372 ✭✭✭LorMal


    The myth that Nevin Maguire is worth listening to about cooking


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,150 ✭✭✭✭Marcusm


    Minder wrote: »
    Frying meat seals in the juices. Debunked. Malliard reaction creates flavour compounds, but the juiciness of a piece of meat is only effected by the temperature it is cooked at.

    I've always thought that this one came from a moron/half deaf person who couldn't discern the auditory difference between sear and seal.

    Searing meat delivers flavour which, IMO, adds immeasurably to the final dish whether it be a roast, steak, braise or stew.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Other than if you're coeliac, reducing gluten has a health benefit


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,625 ✭✭✭✭BaZmO*


    Minder wrote: »
    Adding oil to pasta water to prevent sticking. Debunked. A waste of good oil.

    I've found that this does actually work.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,761 ✭✭✭Effects


    katemarch wrote: »
    Today I read, in some well-meaning recipe, that I must slice up the aubergines and lay them in a colander sprinkled with salt "to get rid of the bitter juices"

    Well, let me enlighten you, friends; this is no longer true.

    I often salt them to reduce the water content. I've never heard about the bitterness thing myself.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,370 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    That boiling stuff with alcohol for a few minutes magically boils or "burns" off ALL the alcohol.

    I was disgusted to see that tv chef Simon Rimmer telling open recovering alcoholic Frank Skinner that it did.

    Lots of these TV chefs are clueless about physics etc yet to save face some never simply admit they do not have a clue, or reiterate crap they never actually read up about. I get a dose of the trots just looking at the cross contamination that often goes on with tv chefs.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    BaZmO* wrote: »
    I've found that this does actually work.

    No, it doesn't. Having enough water in your pan will but oil in the water does absolutely nothing for stopping the pasta sticking together. It will stop it bubbling over if you've a lid on but you shouldn't have that on anyway


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,625 ✭✭✭✭BaZmO*


    duploelabs wrote: »
    No, it doesn't. Having enough water in your pan will but oil in the water does absolutely nothing for stopping the pasta sticking together. It will stop it bubbling over if you've a lid on but you shouldn't have that on anyway

    I'm cooking long enough to know when something does or doesn't work, and as I said, adding a bit of oil to the water when cooking pasta has stopped it sticking any time I've done it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,157 ✭✭✭Zelda247


    Have to agree about the pasta and oil, it works for me!


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 210 ✭✭Tompatrick


    Zelda247 wrote: »
    Have to agree about the pasta and oil, it works for me!

    Agree. Definitely works


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,736 ✭✭✭✭kylith


    I don't really see how it could. The pasta is under the water and the oil is on top of the water. I find that giving it a stir early on stops it from sticking together, no problem, and no need for oil.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 20,642 CMod ✭✭✭✭amdublin


    Try it without the oil and give it a stir early on and see how you get on.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,174 ✭✭✭dee_mc


    I cook my pasta without adding oil and I give it a stir at the beginning and again towards the end... and I have to add it to the sauce the second it's drained, otherwise it sticks. Never happened when I added oil. So IMO it works, but I got out of the habit of using it when someone confidently declared that it didn't work and was just a waste of oil!


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 210 ✭✭Tompatrick


    dee_mc wrote: »
    I cook my pasta without adding oil and I give it a stir at the beginning and again towards the end... and I have to add it to the sauce the second it's drained, otherwise it sticks. Never happened when I added oil. So IMO it works, but I got out of the habit of using it when someone confidently declared that it didn't work and was just a waste of oil!

    It's actually a myth it doesn't work.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,645 ✭✭✭Melendez


    This post has been deleted.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Nothing like anecdotal evidence to prove a scientific research. Oil in pasta water does not work


This discussion has been closed.
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