10 common food myths

[TongoRad]

Not having read the first link, I can only suppose it may have debunked my first SIL's absolute truth:  Chewing celery and carrots burns more calories than contained within.   

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Here's a bit of info on the celery thing: Snopes on celery.

Turns out it is true, to a certain extent:

Yet as enticing as all this sounds, the dietary bankroll built by this approach would be very small, probably amounting to no more than a few dozen calories a day. In a world where it takes 3,500 calories to work off a single pound of fat, feasting on celery would make only the merest difference.

There have been those who have taken this tiny sliver of truth and used it to form the basis of what they tout as "negative calorie diets," proving once again that anything can form the core of a diet plan someone wants to sell to others, provided it contains a notion that so much as vaguely sounds like it might work and weds it to the promise of easy, quick, effortless, and pain-free weight loss.

FWIW...

[Shalmanese]

The link in the first post no longer works - here are some more:

http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm

I recently heard the 'searing meat seals in juices' myth perpetuated by an executive chef that hailed from J&W.

Didn't sellers of baking soda tote its ability to absorb odors?

It looks like arrowroot is the thickening agent of choice.

I'm surprised that so much alcohol remains in food! I always thought that after the flames dies down, most had burned off.

I still like gas stoves better. Fire!

I remember one of the contestants on Hell's Kitchen US state the cold water boils faster myth (Gordon Ramsay replied 'Whaa...?').

Looks like mayo is safer than we've been led to believe (ever see that episode of Good Eats?).

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I really liked that site but I disagreed with the author on the cold oil, hot pan myth (and sent him an email to him about it). The real reason behind cold oil, hot pan is that oil can only get up to around 500F before it starts smoking while pans can go much hotter. Thus, if you want to maximise the thermal load in your pan (and, conspequently, minimise the temperature drop) before you start searing food, you should heat up a pan dry first until it is very, very hot. Shows like Americas Test Kitchen religiously promote the oil in the pan approach (wisps of smoke!) because it's relatively foolproof but for best performance, go with dry pans.

[eJulia]

I'm bumping this thread because I wonder if someone out there can confirm or deny a "kitchen best practice" rule (possibly myth) ingrained in me as a young cook by my mom...

(The same mother that instilled such a fear of mayo being unrefrigerated I still cannot pack a sandwich with mayo that is not in a cooler, or bring/eat mayo based salads at picnics!!!)

It was absolute heresy in my house to set a hot pan or pot (out of the oven OR off the stove) onto your wooden cutting board even if it was clean. You had to use a trivet, a hotpad or a folded towel (laid on the counter). A cold burner on the cooktop was also acceptable. NEVER, EVER on the board.

Yet I see TV chefs do this all the time - as well as some friends that are pretty accomplished home chefs....

Is this a myth? Was it a rule because of different conditions 30-35 years ago that no longer apply?

Any one else ever been taught this "rule"?

[slkinsey]

What was the reasoning behind not setting a hot pan on the cutting board? The only things that occur to me is that it could possibly burn a wooden cutting board, and would surely melt a plastic one.

[Kouign Aman]

celery - I'll take "a few dozen" calories a day, depending on how much celery I have to munch (I draw the line at anything more than half a bunch). Dropping 100 cals a day leads to weight loss of 1 lb/month. If "a few dozen" is three dozen, then thats 1 lb a quarter.

Thats enough to balance the slow decrease in metabolic rate caused by ageing (which memory says is ~2% per decade).

Of course, celery tastes much better with peanut butter spread on it

I wonder if that mayo thing (which I too was taught and believed) is because mayo is most commonly used in conjunction with low starch/high carb foods ?

Its next to bread in sandwiches,

potatoes in potato salad

macaroni in pasta salad

etc. providing moisture, which supports growth of bacteria using the carbohydrate matrix for food.

[eJulia]

What was the reasoning behind not setting a hot pan on the cutting board?  The only things that occur to me is that it could possibly burn a wooden cutting board, and would surely melt a plastic one.

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Thats the thing, I can't remember! Back then we only had wood - no plastic. Would heat "activate" beasties in the wood? I have no idea.

Do you use your wood board as a parking spot for hot pans?

[slkinsey]

I put hot pans on my wood cutting boards all the time with no ill effect. Then again, back when I was growing up, we were a lot less careful about that kind of thing. My mother would cut up a chicken or some pork chops on the cutting board, give it a swipe with a damp sponge and then proceed to cut up some raw vegetables for salad. And here's the thing: none of us ever got sick from it. Not once.

[phaelon56]

So now I am really confused. I have a jar of Best Food Mayo---it clearly says "refrigerate after opening" AND I have a squeezable "Restaurant Package" of the same stuff (also Best Foods) that says "no refrigeration needed" !!

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That one's easy. Both can be stored at room temp prior to opening. But the little squeeze package is a single use serving. It's designed to be opened, used and th opakcgae or the remainder discarded. The jar is intended for multiple uses and thus needs to be refrigerated after opening.

[dockhl]

So now I am really confused. I have a jar of Best Food Mayo---it clearly says "refrigerate after opening" AND I have a squeezable "Restaurant Package" of the same stuff (also Best Foods) that says "no refrigeration needed" !!

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That one's easy. Both can be stored at room temp prior to opening. But the little squeeze package is a single use serving. It's designed to be opened, used and th opakcgae or the remainder discarded. The jar is intended for multiple uses and thus needs to be refrigerated after opening.

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No, actually it is a squeeze BOTTLE, 18 OZ..............

[barolo]

I wonder if that mayo thing (which I too was taught and believed) is because mayo is most commonly used in conjunction with low starch/high carb foods ?

Its next to bread in sandwiches,

potatoes in potato salad

macaroni in pasta salad

etc.  providing moisture, which supports growth of bacteria using the carbohydrate matrix for food.

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This is what I have been told.

[Gifted Gourmet]

back when I was growing up, we were a lot less careful about that kind of thing.  My mother would cut up a chicken or some pork chops on the cutting board, give it a swipe with a damp sponge and then proceed to cut up some raw vegetables for salad.  And here's the thing: none of us ever got sick from it.  Not once.

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That is something I have thought about more than once myself ... nothing about raw chickens has changed ... or has it?

Is it possibly that the food processing is done less cautiously today?

[C. sapidus]

It was absolute heresy in my house to set a hot pan or pot (out of the oven OR off the stove) onto your wooden cutting board even if it was clean.  You had to use a trivet, a hotpad or a folded towel (laid on the counter).  A cold burner on the cooktop was also acceptable. NEVER, EVER on the board.

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I will not vouch for its veracity, but I have heard an explanation for this advice. Allegedly, setting a hot pot on an onion-and-vegetable-saturated cutting board will impart a sour, cooked-vegetable smell to the board. The injunction is thus based upon esthetics rather than food safety.

I have never attempted to test this explanation. If Sam has been putting hot pots on wood cutting boards for years without noticing an offending odor, one would have to question the theory's validity. Has anyone sniffed their cutting boards lately?

[Grub]

back when I was growing up, we were a lot less careful about that kind of thing.  My mother would cut up a chicken or some pork chops on the cutting board, give it a swipe with a damp sponge and then proceed to cut up some raw vegetables for salad.  And here's the thing: none of us ever got sick from it.  Not once.

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That is something I have thought about more than once myself ... nothing about raw chickens has changed ... or has it?

Is it possibly that the food processing is done less cautiously today?

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I believe something HAS changed about the chickens we eat today. The way they are bred and slaughtered may produce a less sanitary product, than in earlier generations. This was mentioned in another thread, where I asked about this specifically, after reading about an indicent in Afghanistan where American special forces solders were living amongst the locals, and had adopted their customs and habits -- but someone committed a grave social faux pas when he was served a chicken that wasn't cooked all the way through, and sent it back, asking for it to be cooked further...

It's a sad thing to consider that althoug we enjoy a far higher living standard, an Afghani chicken is a superior product to our mass-produced things...

[Sugarella]

What was the reasoning behind not setting a hot pan on the cutting board?  The only things that occur to me is that it could possibly burn a wooden cutting board, and would surely melt a plastic one.

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Thats the thing, I can't remember! Back then we only had wood - no plastic. Would heat "activate" beasties in the wood? I have no idea.

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Setting a scalding hot pan on wood would likely cause the wood grain to raise and seperate, and perhaps cause the board to warp over time?

Edited to add: Ooh I know..... it'll also melt/soften wood glue and cause the planks in manufactured boards to pull apart.

..... I think.....

Edited June 9, 2006 by Sugarella (log)

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I wonder if that mayo thing (which I too was taught and believed) is because mayo is most commonly used in conjunction with low starch/high carb foods ?

Its next to bread in sandwiches,

potatoes in potato salad

macaroni in pasta salad

etc.  providing moisture, which supports growth of bacteria using the carbohydrate matrix for food.

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Exactly! This is what I was nattering about earlier, except that the mayonnaise isn't causing the problem. Low acid/high moisture are perfect environments for nasty stuff to grow (spuds, pasta, rice). Mayonnaise is low moisture and, depending on who you talk to, high or low acid.

Not to say that it can't look nasty and kind of, well, rancid, if it's not kept cold. But will it make you sick? Naw.

[eJulia]

Thanks for all your thoughts on my hot pot/wood cutting board conundrum.. I think it was probably a handed-down "rule" from a time when things were different...

Like my dear-departed mother's advice on unrefrigerated mayonnaise, I think this is one I'll continue to honor - whether grounded in science or not - but I'll cut some slack when it comes to others who didn't grow up with this particular "wives tale"

On another front... how many CUT their lettuce with knives as opposed to tearing by hand?

[johnsmith45678]

On another front... how many CUT their lettuce with knives as opposed to tearing by hand?

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For salads, I tear; for "shredded" lettuce for topping burritos, etc., I cut.

As for the wood cutting boards and hot pans, I bet Bobby Flay would do it, and Morimoto most certainly would not. ;P

[beany]

It's a sad thing to consider that althoug we enjoy a far higher living standard, an Afghani chicken is a superior product to our mass-produced things... 

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Actually one of the things I looked forward to the most when I visited Tanzania was the food. Although it is a third world country, everything is organic, nothing is GM, and everything is fresh.

Looking at the size of chickens available there, they were almost a third of the average size of a chicken here. They take much longer to cook, and have a sweeter taste.

It makes sense that a country without all of the "technologies" of north america would have better food...they haven't messed with it yet!

[tim]

I wonder if that mayo thing (which I too was taught and believed) is because mayo is most commonly used in conjunction with low starch/high carb foods ?

Its next to bread in sandwiches,

potatoes in potato salad

macaroni in pasta salad

etc.  providing moisture, which supports growth of bacteria using the carbohydrate matrix for food.

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This is what I have been told.

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Melissa,

Yes, something has changed. Through the process of deregulation, the FDA turned over poultry processing inspections to the owners of the poultry factories. The industry followed this transfer by improving the "efficiency" of the poultry processing.

Today's factory chicken is machine gutted with large hooks doing the deed. Unfortunately, a high percentage of the intestional tracts are broken, spilling all those wonderful pathogens on our food during processing. Our processors wash our chickens in chlorinated water to clean them. Sounds lovely.

(As you know, salmonella and camphlyobacter live in the intestinal tract of our poultry.)

The expensive European chicken is gutted by hand with far less damage to the intestines and a salt bath to finish.

If I am all wrong about this process, somebody set me straight.

Tim

[eSkillet.com]

Is it possibly that the food processing is done less cautiously today?

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If anything conditions are more sanitary today than ever before.

Therein lies the problem. We live in a sterile world.

Any little anomoly in our food chain and we get sick because everything is so sanitized.

I have eaten chickens from Guatemala markets that have sat unrefrigerated in the hot sun for hours and I have eaten pork purchased on Cuban street corners cut up on wood blocks which have not been sanitized for days.

Never a problem. But if you take the average person out of their sterile world and make them eat similar products they will become sick.

Edited July 8, 2006 by eSkillet.com (log)

[johnsmith45678]

I have eaten chickens from Guatemala markets that have sat unrefrigerated in the hot sun for hours and I have eaten pork purchased on Cuban street corners cut up on wood blocks which have not been sanitized for days.

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Ugh, that's just asking for trouble...

[ghostrider]

You can't make a good cup of tea in the microwave 

Some people claim that you cannot make really good tea by boiling your cup of water in the microwave and then putting in the tea bag.

I think the fellow should edit this one. You cannot make really good tea with a teabag in a cup no matter how you boil the water.

[BarbaraY]

There is no way anyone could make a cup of tea with my water in the microwave. When heated in the microwave it gets a nasty looking scum on it due to the amount of lime. I heat water in a teakettle but it does have to be decalcified frequently.