Cooking Myths

What would you consider some of the myths of cooking? I will start, if anyone cares to add, have at it.

Constants:

I think one of the worst myths out there is "something has to be done this way, and this is the best (and only) way to do it". Like when you have a conversation with people about say, chili. You will hear no less than 100 must do's or must not do's to make it. To me, this is a myth.

If people stuck with the same method of cooking something, nobody would have ever stuck a pineapple on a ham, put chocolate in chili, roasted a pepper on a grill, or even considered a carrot in spaghetti sauce.

I think the only constant out there in the culinary world is that there are no constants. I mean, even the boiling point of water does not remain constant when you factor in pressure, salinity, etc..

I always get a hint on someones cooking prowess when I hear them say "This must be done this way to be a good [insert dish here]".

Only eat oysters in months that have an R.
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Don't know as I agree with you 100%, Jafo. In general, yes, you're right.

But, on the other hand, there are named dishes that do need to be made a certain way. Otherwise you are, at best, doing them in the style of XYZ. But if it's ABC and you make XYZ and call it ABC, then we stop communicating.

Example: Right now, in several chain restaurants, variations of Eggs Benedict are all the rage. Well, the fact is, eggs Benedict is a very specific arrangement of ingredients, consisting of an English muffin, topped with Canadian bacon, topped with a poached egg, topped with hollandaise.

So, if I start with an English muffin, top it with, say, grilled chicken strips, then a poached egg, then Mornay sauce and a couple of asparagus spears, I wind up with a very tasty dish. But I really should call it something else, cuz it ain't Eggs Benedict.

So, I think we need to differentiate between styles of dishes (i.e., chile, beef stew, meat loaf) and specific dishes and techniques. Returning to Eggs Benedict as an example, there are several ways of poaching eggs. The only right way is the one that works best for you. Thus, your basic argument is true when it comes to poaching eggs, but not so true when it comes to Eggs Benedict.

Oh I agree with you there. My point is, when someone says, you can only cook a steak well done for it to be a real steak, that is what I mean by a constant.

However, steak tartar is defined in part by using raw meat. Someone cooking up a hamburger patty well done and calling it tartar would be incorrect. Conversely, someone saying the only way to prepare ground beef is to eat it raw would fall into my myth category in my opinion.

I don't believe in many "constants" but one thing I do not like - as KY said - taking a popular dish and re-hashing it and trying to pawn it off as the original is a big no-no with me. I love liver and onions - but change from liver to hamburgers and add the onions - and it is not the same dish! As long as people have been cooking there have been those that feel the only way to do it is "their" way or it is not right. Not so. It's like trying to tell a person that they have to boil their water for pasta dishes in a covered stock pot. If you want to wait the extra time it takes to boil your water for pasta in an uncovered pot - fine! As far as I'm concerned - the only "constants" there are in cooking are the ones you put there.

Tell someone to heat their deep fryer to the proper temp for deep frying foods - if they don't want to do it - let them enjoy the taste of oil laden food!

It's like the old saying - you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!

Give a recipe to someone - let them do what they feel. Each one of us here can take the same recipe and do something different than what is stated in the recipe.

Would we all be making a mistake?? No. We may get some different results and we may also get a few different tastes - it's all in how we do things.

Cripe - I have a family recipe - handed down and handed down - and in the directions - it is stated - "place in red bowl and cover with a towel to let rise". Now what happens if you don't have a red bowl??? You can't make the recipe??? It is quite apparent that the "red bowl" happened to be the perfect size for the results. There may have been other bowls - maybe not many - but apparently the red one worked for the recipe.

But that is the way the recipe was handed down.

(by the way - I do have the red bowl that was handed down and handed down)


Cooking is a wonderful art! There is so much you can do with a recipe. Every recipe written - no matter what it is - can be "worked" your way - never be afraid to experiment.

PS - There are many things that should remain constant - rules for canning and preserving foods, is just one of them.

Mama Mangia said:

PS - There are many things that should remain constant - rules for canning and preserving foods, is just one of them.

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Actually, it seems those rules change all the time. In fact, if you search the government sites about canning, they tell you not to use old canning recipes.

I agree with most of what you say there.

Are there any other myths out there you guys would like to dispel?

Jafo232 said:

Actually, it seems those rules change all the time. In fact, if you search the government sites about canning, they tell you not to use old canning recipes.

I agree with most of what you say there.

Are there any other myths out there you guys would like to dispel?

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Let me explain my wording on that so that it is a bit clearer -

The canning/preserving rules DO change - but regardless - those rules should not be changed or modified.

As far as the "recipes" for canning go - the recipe doesn't matter - you can change, tweak, add or subtract the flavorings, and ingredients for personal preference.

But if you make a tomato based sauce - you still process it for the length of time specified - it can be a tomato sauce recipe from your great grandmother - just use today's standards for doing it.

Yes. Boil the jarred vegetables right. While not a canning related item, I once got food poisoning from campylobacter at a place a friend of mine recommended. Her friend started a new place that served subs and sandwiches near where I work. So I went there on a Thursday and had a chicken sub.

As a recall now, he went from preping chicken, to making my sandwich without washing hands. 2 days later, a week long episode of the worst illness of my life began. So wash you hands, wash your chicken, and cook your canning jars for long enough. And cook your chicken until it's done! Put the chicken in the grocery store in a plastic bag and wash your hands.

What is it Emeril says about the chicken police?

You better wash everything after handling chicken: Your hands, the cutting board, the counter, the inside of the car you carried the chicken home in.....

Food poisining is not a joke, of course. But the food science boys have gone a little overboard, IMO. A lot of times, regulations and protocols are written simply because our ability to measure nothing gets better every day.

When I joined the staff of Package Engineering, for instance, parts per million were the common "small" measurement. When I left two years later, parts per billion were becoming the norm. Now we blythly talk in terms of parts per trillion.

But if, say, 10 ppm of boutulism bacterium were safe back then, why is it any less safe now? Has anybody tested? Or are the protocols established only because we can measure 10 ppt?

Same with the recomendations to add lemon juice to canned tomato products. There was a reason for that recomendation when it was first established. But the reason no longer applies. So is there any need for extra acid?

Further depondent sayeth not.

No longer do we need to worry about the acidity when canning - that's for sure!

Re: food poisoning - You've all seen Sophia on the Golden Girls - well picture this - blazing hot summer - 2001 - but not in Sicily! LOL - Friday - no meat - everyone orders tuna subs from the local deli - need I say more???? Over a week of pure h.e.l.l. OMG - the only thing we were able to keep down were Lay's potato chips. The entire office was almost wiped out.

Salmonella - yep - been there done that - from cleaning chickens for the deli - the knife slipped and went through my finger - sick, sick, sick, for almost 2 weeks. From running restaurants, etc. I know all about the contamination, cross contamination, etc. Never had a problem with any of that - always scored a perfect 100 for cleanliness, food dates, preparations, etc. But chicken #36 that was being cleaned that day - got me!

I agree with most of what you say there too... good stuff!