Persistent culinary myths

monty_python

the beer revolu wrote: »

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.

Oil can raise the burning temperature of butter
. 3/4 butter to 1/4 oil is a nice way to pan fry fish

Cornflour is perfectly ok in stew. Lower risk of it burning and gluten free too ☺

monty_python

Minder wrote: »

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

Nope
The mistake is adding too much water
If you add just enough water to cover the pasta and a good slug of oil it stops it from sticking

Faith

I honestly don't think I've ever experienced pasta sticking . Is this a common issue? People talk about it a lot but I've never seen it happen.

Diamond Doll

Faith wrote: »

I honestly don't think I've ever experienced pasta sticking . Is this a common issue? People talk about it a lot but I've never seen it happen.

Do you use oil? That could explain it! :pac:

I use a splash of oil because my mammy always did. I also stir it a few times when it's cooking. I think it's the stirring rather than oil that prevents the sticking, to be honest!

kylith

Faith wrote: »

I honestly don't think I've ever experienced pasta sticking . Is this a common issue? People talk about it a lot but I've never seen it happen.

If you put the pasta in and don't stir it it'll stick together. I stir a bit at the start and occasionally during cooking and I don't have a problem.

fussyonion

Can't believe some people out there wash chickens before cooking them.
My mother's friend thinks she knows it all when it comes to cooking and she washes chickens before roasting them.

Cooking will kill the germs; rinsing it in water can cause splashes on your sink/counter etc which will harbour even more germs.

Dial Hard

fussyonion wrote: »

Can't believe some people out there wash chickens before cooking them.

I never even knew that was a thing until Safefood started advertising against it a few years back. I was like "Who the hell washes their chicken???" Still don't know anyone who ever did it.

Dizzyblonde

I've never had pasta stick either and I don't use oil. I read years ago that if you keep the water boiling it stops the pasta sticking - although that might be a myth now too, lol. They used to say that you need a huge pot with loads of water to cook pasta, but recently I've seen a few recipes with everything including the pasta thrown into a large pan, and it cooks by the absorption method just like rice.

BailMeOut

the beer revolu wrote: »

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

thought I was the only one who thought this as Guinness in stew is disgusting. I always use an ale, wheat beer or even a nice lager and it tastes so much better.

BailMeOut

you should never wash mushrooms as they are like sponges and will absorb the water. This is just not true.

the beer revolu

hidinginthebush wrote: »

As we are nearing stew season, just wondering if you could recommend other beers? I would usually go with guinness, I like the colour it adds, and tend to like the taste of it anyway. It's never occurred to me to try other beers (I've tried red wine for things like beef bourgogne, but find it a bit too rich tbh).
e.

If you like the taste of Guinness in the stew you don't have a problem!
I find it makes the stew taste burnt.

For a dark stew, any dark ale works (like London Pride, already mentioned).
Dunkelweiss is good too.
A Belgian bruin is lovely.

Really, any full flavoured beer works (I just tend to avoid dry stouts)

For lighter stews a nice pale ale or IPA can be really nice.

If you want the beer to just be a base flavour and not really come through, lager is great. I always use a lager or light pale ale in my Irish stew. You wouldn't know there was beer in it - it just gives a lovely depth to the stock.

duploelabs

That fresh fish is always the best, in fact black sole, eel, and skate are better after a couple of days ageing

Day Lewin

Can't agree about the Guinness - the recipe that is in the Avoca Café Cookbook makes a luscious, rich, dark casserole, not beery tasting but deep and savoury.

I have also, frequently, used cider: (dry cider for preference) - it gives, paradoxically, a kind of wine-y flavour.

Markcheese

duploelabs wrote: »

That fresh fish is always the best, in fact black sole, eel, and skate are better after a couple of days ageing

I've heard that about black sole and skate wings - always took that to be cooking myth- with fish fresh is best ( a couple of days, well stored won't be a problem - but stale fish yuck - ( and even worse slight ammonia taste from old Dover sole /

Day Lewin

Ah, but that is exactly why there are so many classic recipes for sole - and some for skate: simply because before refrigeration, those were the fish that best survived the journey to market and the wait for the table.

It's not that sole is necessarily very tasty - but it was available in towns and markets; and also its firm flesh and bland taste made it a good background for contriving flavoursome treatments.

syklops

the beer revolu wrote: »

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

Thats quite a statement.

Lord Riverside

kylith wrote: »

I knock off any dirt but I don't bother washing them.

How do you get rid of the smaller pieces of manure then ?

The Hill Billy

Brush it off with a pastry brush or the like. Or gently scrape it off with a butter knife.

the beer revolu

syklops wrote: »

Thats quite a statement.

Having tried many different beers in stews, that's my observation. It's the only beer that's given me unpleasant flavours in stew.

I, by no means, hate Guinness. I've drank much of it in my time and still occasionally drink a pint bottle. I just find it annoying that beef and Guinness seems to be have become a workd wide classic when, for me, it works less well with beef than most other beers.

I also suspect that many of the advocates for the concept haven't actually tried other beers in similar recipes.

Lord Riverside

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Brush it off with a pastry brush or the like. Or gently scrape it off with a butter knife.

that must be some brush.

kylith

Lord Riverside wrote: »

that must be some brush.

Well I've been doing it for 30 years and it hasn't killed me yet

Tarzana2

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.

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?

I thought you salted aubergines to get rid of excess moisture?

the beer revolu wrote: »

Oil stops butter from burning.! Really?

It doesn't stop it burning, but raises the temperature at which it will burn, depending on the smokepoint of the oil it's mixed with.

the beer revolu wrote: »

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

Well, this is more of a preference than a myth but to be honest, I rarely hear anyone refer to breast as the best cut of chicken. The consensus seems to be that it's the most flavourless part of the bird, at least in my various circles anyway.

Tarzana2

duploelabs wrote: »

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.

And don't tell vegetarians, but the iron contained within animal products is much more bioavailable to humans than the iron contained in plant matter!

Tarzana2

Marcusm wrote: »

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

I was always a disciple of browning meat when making stew. A while back I made beef stew without browning, and found it to be just as flavoursome. And the meat was more tender than if I had browned it. Colour me surprised!

Tarzana2

Swanner wrote: »

I'm not coeliac but have immediate and significant health improvements when I reduce Gluten.

I'm intrigued that this would be considered a myth.

I've googled and read plenty on this but would be interested to know how you came to a definitive answer

Yeah, I'd be interested in learning more about this. It's fashionable to denigrate people who have noticed a reduction in gluten has helped with digestive problems, if they're not coeliac, but I think there is definitely something to it. As of now, I'm a bit under-educated on it though, so shan't be saying much more other than that I think there's something to it.

Shenshen

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Yeah, I'd be interested in learning more about this. It's fashionable to denigrate people who have noticed a reduction in gluten has helped with digestive problems, if they're not coeliac, but I think there is definitely something to it. As of now, I'm a bit under-educated on it though, so shan't be saying much more other than that I think there's something to it.

I'm no expert by far on the matter, but I can't help thinking that if people cut out bread to avoid gluten, they almost inevitably cut out a lot of yeast from their diet. And yeast has been know to trigger digestive discomfort in a number of people, too.
They used to (some 100 years ago) market baking soda in central Europe as being a panacea for digestive problems associated with yeast from baking.

Unless you eat handfuls of wheat, gluten tends to come packed into lots and lots of other substances. So I find the fixation on gluten out of everything in the mix a little ill-considered.

Melendez

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keane2097

Agree with the above poster.

It seems fairly likely now however that 'gluten sensitivity' isn't a real thing.

Google will get a lot of results, e.g. http://www.alternet.org/food/new-study-claims-gluten-intolerance-may-not-exist-separate-celiac-disease

Shenshen

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Well, generally speaking you should never be a glutton.

Melendez

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