Xunzi
Well-Known Member
FTFY...
Haha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.
FTFY...
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.
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 reactionsOh, 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
Heard! Will try.
It’d work on meHaha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.
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...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.
I always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?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.
Omg….So true.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.
I always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?
Sticking a spoon into a half-finished bottle of champagne keeps the bubbles.....
A bottle lasts me 5 days...I guess it never really gets to half thoughHalf finished champagne, like that's ever going to happen......
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…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.
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 always thought adding olive oil to pasta water would keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta?
-You don't need liters of water to boil pasta,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.
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.Cold water boils faster.
Veggies should be coated in oil before roasting.
i heard it was absorbing the sauce. dunno.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?
Haha, yeah, generally "I like knives, I just got a big cleaver" is not a good introduction in any new social context.
I'll show you mine if you show me yoursIt’d work on me![]()
And related: distinguished scientists with Nobel prizes should be completely trusted when speaking of things outside their field.Vitamin C eases symptoms and the duration of the common cold.
Impatiently waiting for my knife by LarsI'll show you mine if you show me yours
Adding salt and yeast to a dough at the same time will kill the yeast.
-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.
I want the sauce to stick to the pasta. That is why I do NOT add olive oil to 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?