Cooking Myths

[Peter the eater]

"Don't drink cold water right after eating a spoonful of soup; it will crack the enamel on your teeth."

I'm no dentist, but . . . maybe your enamel could crack if you tried to eat the spoon itself.

I have heard of "old country" soup makers who would drop some ice in to the hot stockpot in order to break the bones and release marrow. I suppose its possible, but I 'd need to see or do it for myself.

[jumanggy]

No man was allowed in the kitchen while cakes were baking.

Oh, f---!

I'm sure there are a lot here in the Philippines, but only one sticks in my mind-- you're not supposed to sing while cooking, or you'll marry someone ugly. Hey, at least you get married, geez.

Peter, maybe we need to get the Mythbusters on that. I'd feel a little witchy trying to crack animal teeth in a pot!

Avumede, that's right about the oxygen. Maybe it has more to do with the hot water pipes or something.

[andiesenji]

I have heard everyone claim that one should make tea starting with cold water. Most of the time they claim it is because of the oxygen content of the water. However, once you heat up the water, you'll lose the oxygen anyway.

←

The idea is that fresh cold water has not yet boiled. Using water that has boiled and left in the tea kettle for awhile will taste flat, mostly because the calcium chloride has precipitated out of it - which also releases some oxygen.

To extract the most flavor from tea, one does need just enough, but not too much of these chemical compounds.

Distilled water tastes flat because these compounds have been removed. Tea made with distilled water lacks the "liveliness" that one gets with fresh water that has just come to the boil. Note that many teas should be brewed with water that has not quite come to a boil, to get the best flavor.

It is easy to test this yourself. Simply boil some water - you can even do it in the microwave, a cup at a time - and leave one cup to set for an hour or so - re-boil it and also boil a fresh cup. Make tea with both and taste them.

Or, just taste the difference between the previously boiled water and fresh water.

[GreekCook]

When I make a cappuccino I always pour the espresso into the cup before the steamed milk. I swear it tastes different if I pour the milk first into the cup and then the espresso. I'm not crazy...honestly.

Nope you're not crazy, I do the same thing and there is definitely a different taste

[Dave the Cook]

To bring this back to the subject of cooking myths, or what I personally call "stupid things food authorities recommend," I'll add "salt your pasta water so it tastes like the sea." When I read something like that, I remember the last time I swam in the ocean, and I want to ask, "Have you ever actually tasted seawater? Because it's unfuckingbelievable how salty it is."

[AlaMoi]

yup.  sea water has ~about 35 grams of salt(s) per liter

 

so . . . cooking pasta in a 3 quart pot, that'll require ~99 grams of salt 

the glitchy part comes in at . . . what kinda' salt cho talking 'bout, Lewis?

 

1 tablespoon of "kosher" salt does not weigh the sames as 1 tablespoon of Morton's table salt . . .

I use kosher type salt, so that would require almost 7 tablespoons of kosher salt in a 3 quart pot.

or . . . 5.6 tablespoons of the table salt grind size.....

nevertheless&all that - not too many cooks use that much salt to boil pasta . . .

 

[blue_dolphin]

23 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

To bring this back to the subject of cooking myths, or what I personally call "stupid things food authorities recommend," I'll add "salt your pasta water so it tastes like the sea." When I read something like that, I remember the last time I swam in the ocean, and I want to ask, "Have you ever actually tasted seawater? Because it's unfuckingbelievable how salty it is."

Much better to have people salt the water so it tastes like soup or broth. Plenty of people have never even tasted sea water but everyone’s had soup and knows how they like it.  And yet, that “tastes like the sea” business continues to be flogged!

 

If that “seawater” were only used for cooking the pasta, it might not be awful but most recipes use the pasta water to emulsify or finish a sauce….or salt bomb!

I was pleased to see Josh McFadden recognize this in his recent book, Six  Seasons of Pasta.  He recommends 1 T Diamond Crystal salt/ quart of water. That’s a little more than I like but much closer than seawater!

[Dave the Cook]

43 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

He recommends 1 T Diamond Crystal salt/ quart of water. That’s a little more than I like but much closer than seawater!

 

That's about what we use (though I admit to being lackadaisical regarding exact measurement).

[MaryIsobel]

44 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Much better to have people salt the water so it tastes like soup or broth. Plenty of people have never even tasted sea water but everyone’s had soup and knows how they like it.  And yet, that “tastes like the sea” business continues to be flogged!

 

If that “seawater” were only used for cooking the pasta, it might not be awful but most recipes use the pasta water to emulsify or finish a sauce….or salt bomb!

I was pleased to see Josh McFadden recognize this in his recent book, Six  Seasons of Pasta.  He recommends 1 T Diamond Crystal salt/ quart of water. That’s a little more than I like but much closer than seawater!

I agree. many of the things that I like to have with pasta (parmesean, pesto, olives...) are already salty

[JAZ]

It's interesting that no one ever suggests salting the cooking water for other starches that way. For instance, you'd never hear a chef say that the water you use to cook potatoes or rice should be seawater.