Persistent culinary myths

Tarzana2

Mrs Fox wrote: »

That "use only the white part of spring onions and discard the greens".
Jamie Oliver was one of many others who go by this myth.

I thought people just avoided because they find it tough? Well, that's a personal preference.

MissFlitworth

Just a gentle reminder that this thread cannot veer into an area where food safety advice is handed out. Which, I know, puts a damper on chat about Listeria, the risks thereof, and other bacterial wondrousness. Sorry, chaps.

Faith

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Just a gentle reminder that this thread cannot veer into an area where food safety advice is handed out. Which, I know, puts a damper on chat about Listeria, the risks thereof, and other bacterial wondrousness. Sorry, chaps.

To add to this, because previous warnings haven't seemed to be clear enough, this is a good example of a culinary myth:

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.

But things like

"Eating X despite Y safety warning is totally fine"

is, at best, an opinion, and at worst, food safety advice. We'll have no choice but to close this thread if this persists.

tricky D

As a once upon a time pasta chef, oil in water would get you a free P45 in no time.

The key is proper boiling water, salt and lift the pasta a few times in the first minute or two (when it's most likely to get its stickiness) with one of these which has not yet been mentioned.


If oil works for you, fine but it makes me shudder and may causes binding issues with some sauces.

BaZmO*

I've seen Jamie Oliver use the green parts of scallions loads of times. So I'm surprised at that one.

syklops

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

yep, one of the first things mini-baldy ate was a whole chicken drumstick, and he has whatever we are having almost every day, just a smaller portion.

He loves pasta, and I recently found a bag of "10 minute grain" in Tesco, you just add it to boiling water or stock and leave it for ten minutes, it's a mix of different rices, durum wheat, barley, emmer and oats. He eats that by the shovelful.

Off topic but my parents were looking after a baby belonging to their friends and were told what he will and wont eat. When they came to collect him my mother was feeding him chicken kabanossy and rice into him and he was eating away. The mother of the baby goes "I didn't know babies could eat rice", to which my father dryly responds "What did you think babies in China eat?"

Day Lewin

NO FOOD SAFETY ADVICE OR COMMENTS PLEASE!!

****************************************************
now read on....

Well, as regards the scallions, it's mainly a difference of opinion, I think.


But here's another tale of genuine misconception:

At one time, when Spaghetti, Macaroni, and their ilk, were new end exotic foodstuffs to these Celtic islands, it used to be recommended to soak them before cooking.
Terrible idea! - you don't see that one mentioned any more, (although Elizabeth David alludes to it)

But I've still got a cookery book that earnestly warns me that rice must be thoroughly washed in several waters before cooking, "to rinse away the starch"

Well -- mythology for sure.

You don't need to do this: there are pages of superstition written about the proper ways to cook rice, and maybe some, (or many) of them have a grain of substance (ha, ha)

But as for a "necessity" to wash starch out before cooking, well, just No.

syklops

tricky D wrote: »

If oil works for you, fine but it makes me shudder and may causes binding issues with some sauces.

You'd have to put an awful lot of oil into the water to affect the binding of the sauce.

miezekatze

katemarch wrote:

But as for a "necessity" to wash starch out before cooking, well, just No.

I've often seen this advice for stuff like lentils (dried ones, obviously) as well. Is that a myth as well? It often even says it on the packet and I don't have much experience cooking lentils so I always did it, but wondered if it's not a waste of time.

hdowney

So I took the booklet for my slow cooker out of the drawer it's been languishing in since I got said slow cooker. I was curious about something. Well I just picked it up and was having and general flick through there now and guess what it says:

Browning Before Cooking
Pre-Browning meat and poultry prior to cooking seals in the moisture...........

Yup. Still churning that one out!

Tarzana2

katemarch wrote: »

But I've still got a cookery book that earnestly warns me that rice must be thoroughly washed in several waters before cooking, "to rinse away the starch"

Washing rice does indeed wash away some starch and makes the rice far less gloopy and makes the grains much more separate and pleasant to eat. This isn't a myth, for me anyway. There is a HUGE difference between washed and unwashed rice. And anyone putting said gloopiness down to overcooking - nope, I don't overcook my rice. It's certainly not a necessity, but it just makes the nice way nicer, IMO.

Day Lewin

A fair point, Tarzana2.

But there is no "MUST" about it: I drain rice after boiling in plenty of water, then rinse it in a swoosh under the hot tap and drain again: gloopiness vanishes! (if there were any)

Others precook rice in a spoonful of hot oil, then add exactly double the volume of water and absorb it in: again, un-gloop.

It is the seriousness of the "This must be done!" that irritates me when it is inaccurate and sometimes even misleading. What I call the Myths.

hdowney

katemarch wrote: »

A fair point, Tarzana2.

But there is no "MUST" about it: I drain rice after boiling in plenty of water, then rinse it in a swoosh under the hot tap and drain again: gloopiness vanishes! (if there were any)

Others precook rice in a spoonful of hot oil, then add exactly double the volume of water and absorb it in: again, un-gloop.

It is the seriousness of the "This must be done!" that irritates me when it is inaccurate and sometimes even misleading. What I call the Myths.

Agree re the last comment above. Every single person does stuff differently. As long as your food turns out the way YOU like to eat it, what's the problem?

Tarzana2

katemarch wrote: »

But there is no "MUST" about it: I drain rice after boiling in plenty of water, then rinse it in a swoosh under the hot tap and drain again: gloopiness vanishes! (if there were any)

Yeah, it's not a must and to say it is is daft. But whether you take the washing step at the start or the end, the result is the same, so it does have a point to it. It's neither inaccurate nor misleading. I'd personally prefer to wash it when it's uncooked, much less faffy.

unkel

I used to add oil to boiling water before adding pasta. Until I saw a laboratory experiment where they proved that pretty much 100% of the oil added to the water was left over after the cooking. For the life of me I can't find the video now

After that I've always paid attention to chefs cooking pasta and I have to say I've never seen a competent chef add oil

What I did learn is that you need to use a large pan with lots (several liters) of water at a rolling boil throughout the cooking with plenty of salt added up front. Mix the pasta with a fork a couple of times during cooking and I can guarantee you that it will not stick.

Tree

katemarch wrote: »

NO FOOD SAFETY ADVICE OR COMMENTS PLEASE!!

****************************************************
now read on....

Well, as regards the scallions, it's mainly a difference of opinion, I think.


But here's another tale of genuine misconception:

At one time, when Spaghetti, Macaroni, and their ilk, were new end exotic foodstuffs to these Celtic islands, it used to be recommended to soak them before cooking.
Terrible idea! - you don't see that one mentioned any more, (although Elizabeth David alludes to it)

But I've still got a cookery book that earnestly warns me that rice must be thoroughly washed in several waters before cooking, "to rinse away the starch"

Well -- mythology for sure.

You don't need to do this: there are pages of superstition written about the proper ways to cook rice, and maybe some, (or many) of them have a grain of substance (ha, ha)

But as for a "necessity" to wash starch out before cooking, well, just No.

i soak my pasta sheets for when I make lasagne. Soak them for at least 30mins before assembling, and it's perfect. Less awkward than boiling the sheets for assembly.

Whispered

Just to weigh in on the pasta debate; I don't use oil or salt. I used to use salt until the baby started eating but honestly I'm not finding a difference.

Huge pot. Rolling boil. Stir a few times.

The Hill Billy

The pasta & oil thing - Clearly a matter of opinion & now detracting from the topic of persistent myths.

Let's move on - OK?

tHB

Markcheese

Tree wrote: »

i soak my pasta sheets for when I make lasagne. Soak them for at least 30mins before assembling, and it's perfect. Less awkward than boiling the sheets for assembly.

I just use the ordinary sheets from the shop ( that say no need to precook on the box )

Tree

Markcheese wrote: »

I just use the ordinary sheets from the shop ( that say no need to precook on the box )

Try soaking them, you'll end up with much more tender pasta.

You can also soak pasta for the pasta equivalent of a parcook, should take much less time to cook on the hob (4 min down from 12 like)

Dial Hard

Markcheese wrote:

I just use the ordinary sheets from the shop ( that say no need to precook on the box )

You don't *need* to precook them but doing so prevents them from absorbing all the liquid in the filling, giving you a lovely, floppy lasagna.

It's a matter of personal preference - some people like their lasagna very stiff, I like mine falling all over the place.

syklops

Dial Hard wrote: »

You don't *need* to precook them but doing so prevents them from absorbing all the liquid in the filling, giving you a lovely, floppy lasagna.

It's a matter of personal preference - some people like their lasagna very stiff, I like mine falling all over the place.

I always soak them first and nearly always end up with lasagne more like something you would get in an italian restaurant. If I follow the instructions and cook them as is, I end up with something amateurish.

Dizzyblonde

I've been soaking my lasagna sheets too ever since someone mentioned it here in the forum, and it makes a huge difference.

I'd like to know if the need to add bread soda to the cooking water for cabbage is a myth? I've always added it because that's how The Mammy made it, but is it really necessary?

Diamond Doll

Never heard of the bread soda in cabbage water thing, what's it supposed to do?

Tarzana2

Tree wrote: »

Try soaking them, you'll end up with much more tender pasta.

Soaking also helps to get the flop when you cut a slice, like lasagne should, right?

kylith

Diamond Doll wrote: »

Never heard of the bread soda in cabbage water thing, what's it supposed to do?

AFAIK it's supposed to stop you farting after eating it.

On the lasagne thing I don't soak or pre-cook the lasagne sheets and I still get a sloppy lasagne because I use tons of sauce. Gotta have something to mop up with the bread!

dee_mc

kylith wrote: »

AFAIK it's supposed to stop you farting after eating it.

On the lasagne thing I don't soak or pre-cook the lasagne sheets and I still get a sloppy lasagne because I use tons of sauce. Gotta have something to mop up with the bread!

It's supposed to keep the cabbage green even during prolonged cooking, but it also destroys the vitamin content as far as I know...

Markcheese

Dial Hard wrote: »

You don't *need* to precook them but doing so prevents them from absorbing all the liquid in the filling, giving you a lovely, floppy lasagna.

It's a matter of personal preference - some people like their lasagna very stiff, I like mine falling all over the place.

Snap - love my lasagne sloppy - usually just put loads of sauces in -but will try soaking them next time-(and loads of sauces)

kylith

dee_mc wrote: »

It's supposed to keep the cabbage green even during prolonged cooking, but it also destroys the vitamin content as far as I know...

I was misinformed then, but prolonged cooking will destroy the vitamin content by itself anyway, which is why people used to drink the cabbage water.

I remember someone on Come Dine With Me putting it in with red cabbage, not knowing that it would react and turn the cabbage blue!

loyatemu

kylith wrote: »

AFAIK it's supposed to stop you farting after eating it.

where's the fun in that?