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Cooking is as much about breaking the "rules" as it is about following them. That's why you taste the dish you're preparing even if you're following a recipe.
Even some restaurant chefs might be deemed as anarchists for abandoning convention but still have their tables booked.
So to find out what practices people have thrown out their kitchen window, Redditor ThatSpyGuy made a post on the platform, asking other users, "What commonly repeated cooking tip is just completely wrong?"
I think it's important to highlight that intention is what matters the most around cooking pots. The ability to recognize precisely what you want on your plate and how your actions impact the end results. We can't really categorize all of the replies ThatSpyGuy has received in terms of "bad" and good". What we can do, however, is appreciate the thinking and experimenting.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Caramelized onions - 5 minutes. wtf... I see this everywhere. it's takes 20 - 45 minutes to do that
#2
Starting to saute onion and garlic at the same time. Onion takes a lot longer to cook and adding the garlic too early can burn it which can ruin the entire flavour of the dish. So many recipes tell you to do this and I just don't get it!
#3
The prep/cooking time in that recipe you're using is a bald-faced lie.
#4
"Don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink." I swear this is a rule made up by lushes planning on drinking the wine and using cooking as an excuse to buy it. What I want in a wine to drink is very different than I want in a wine to cook with.
#5
Rinsing off chicken. I know you don't want to get salmonella, but rinsing off chicken just spreads it. Cooking it solves the problem automatically.
#6
Break the spaghetti to cook it faster. All you’re doing is breaking someone’s Italian nana’s heart.
Jo Johannsen 2 years ago
I never heard the cook it faster reasoning. I break it for convenience, easier both to submerge and to eat.
#7
Not washing/cleaning after you cook because of X amount of reasons. Clean as you cook is the way.
#8
Not a cooking tip but a drinking one: Don’t put too many ice cubes in your drink because it will melt and you will end up with too much water. Wrong, the more ice cubes you put the longer the ice will stay and not melt. If you put only one or two, they will melt VERY quickly.
(Ofc exceptions has to be made for “on the rocks” spirits)
Zaza 2 years ago (edited)
Me and my re-usable ice cubes never have this problem :D ETA: double bonus because you can stick them in every nook and cranny of the freezer that is empty. Freezing empty air costs a fortune -and is bad for the environment- Putting some bottles of water in and sticking re-usable ice cubes in small empty spaces really helps
#9
Myth: high heat is like fast-forward for cooking.
Still working to get my dad to understand this one.
#10
"Add seasoning to taste" is a great tip to someone who's already a competent and experienced cook (i.e. a person who doesn't need that tip to begin with).
It is a TERRIBLE tip for an inexperienced and/or infrequent cook. Give a suggested amount of seasoning in your recipe or description.
#11
"Cook until it's ready"
IF I AM NOT PROFESSIONAL HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS READY? WTF? PLEASE GIVE ME INFORMATION HOW LONG SHOUD I COOK IT
#12
Using extra virgin olive oil to cook. EVOO has a lower smoke point than regular olive oil, so regular olive oil is better for cooking.
#13
When making pie crust, rubbing the butter into the flour or using a fork/knife/pasty blender to achieve "pea-sized" crumbles.
Pretty much every recipe will describe it this way, but the expanding water from the butter drives that beautiful flakiness. Use a cheese grater with moderately large holes. Use very cold butter, and handle the butter lightly so that it doesn't melt into your hands. Grate it and toss it into the flour about 1/3 of the butter at a time, tossing it to coat it with flour. Then make your dough. It will be light and flaky and heading in the direction of puff pastry.
Seriously, I use the same dough recipe I always used and the results are just staggeringly better because of this technique.
ETA Yep, this works for biscuits too.
#14
Cookies: "bake until golden brown"
The cookie sheet will stay hot after it leaves the oven and keep baking the cookies for a minute or so. If you want soft cookies, it's better to take them out when only the edges look golden brown and let them keep cooking outside of the oven.
Luther von Wolfen 2 years ago
This is a good general cooking rule - food continues to cook after it's removed from heat, unless it's immediately cooled.
#15
Not really a tip, but a recipe complaint.
Don’t measure flour(or other compressible powders) in volume! Use weight, a cup of sifted flour can be half of a cup of compressed flour.
#16
Leave the burger for a long time, then flip it once.
Lots of people give this advice, including web sites and even chefs.
But then the labs who actually test this stuff find that the burgers are better, and cook faster, if you flip more often.
Darren Fusellier 2 years ago
Yup, I flip every 3-4 mins for 15 minutes otherwise you end up with dry burnt exterior and undercooked middle.
#17
Adding oil to your pasta water to prevent it from clumping. Oil floats in water. Just stir it.
#18
That mayo is superior to butter for grilled cheese. It's not. Yeah, it also gets a nice crust and is easy to spread, but butter tastes way better.
#19
Putting in the garlic first. That's a good way to burn it.
Dorothy Reiser 2 years ago
Unless you put the garlic in the oil to flavor it. You must remove the garlic though.
#20
“Microwaving food will destroy nutrient molecules”
Microwaves are far too long-waved to cause any molecular changes. All they do is make molecules vibrate faster. They don’t directly break up molecules.
To actually split chemical bonds you need much shorter wavelengths. UV light at least. It is true that Microwaves can INDIRECTLY cause chemical reactions because they will increase the temperature of the food. But that is no different to any other heat source.
Likely, microwaves preserve nutrients BETTER than boiling/steaming because the heat is delivered faster and the food spends less time in a high temperature state.
#21
Great homemade salsa has to have cilantro. Half of us don’t like cilantro. You can substitute:
Celery Leaves (this is pretty good)
Parsley
Mint Leaves
Leave it out all together
#22
Myth: Using flour makes chicken the crispiest.
Truth: Using Potato Starch makes it WAYYY more crispy.
rumade 2 years ago
Yes! Karaage 😋 They also traditionally double fry it- once at a lower temperature, and then again at a higher one. Great for me too because I can't eat wheat these days
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Korrie Broos 2 years ago
The instant mashed potato powder works the best. Try it for crumbed prawns etc. Got the tip from a Vietnamese cook
Heather Talma 2 years ago
But potato starch is SO hard to find if you don't live in a gigantic city with a million fancy/foreign items in every grocery store.
iseefractalz 2 years ago
Eh....depends on the application. If you're doing fried chicken, or karaage, and using duck fat as a frying medium, absolutely. However, i've found when making chicken wings in the oven, I would dry them off, then toss them in a bowl to season them and still end up with mixed results. Tossing them in flour after seasoning, ensures an extremely crispy skin without any flavor change. Corn starch and potato starch didn't adhere quite as well, so crispiness was uneven and burning was much more common.
Tristan J 2 years ago
Sweet potato starch is the one. I've tried (regular) potato starch, cornflour, rice flour, mixes etc - it's by far the best in terms of colour, texture and crispness. Also, don't waste an egg, just put a bit of soy, sugar, shaoxing wine and sesame oil over the chicken and mix (maybe some ginger garlic paste and chilli powder too) then add the sweet potato starch until all coated thoroughly and dry looking, followed by a double fry.
Lesli Allen-Artz 2 years ago
Japanese bread crumbs are the best, along with allowing the breading underneath to completely hydrate.
ACE DAVIS 2 years ago
The Scottish invented fried chicken and brought it to America where the slaves ran with it. They used flour and made fine fried chicken. Maybe if you people would stop soaking the chicken in buttermilk and other acids, making the skin mushy from being chemically cooked, you wouldn't need starch to compensate. I'm a southern chef and make real fried chicken, but I do enjoy Asian super crispy from time to time. Btw, crispy fast food chicken (KFC, Bojangles, Popeyes, Churches, etc) is made with flour/egg/flour, not starch...
that.bitch.mae 2 years ago
I always found that a mix of flour and cornstarch (sometimes just cornstarch) worked the best for me
LaToya Mack 2 years ago
Using milk and then flour will have your chicken better than Popeyes. Don’t get cute and put some slap your mama seasoning on it. Boy stop!!!!
Sina 2 years ago
When I make chicken strips, after I have seasoned the chicken fillets, I powder them with flour, dip them in egg, and then roll them in a mix of breading and oats (I run the oats through a blender for a little bit to chop them up slightly). Wonderfully crispy, the breading stays on, and the chicken is tender on the inside without drying out :) very yummy!
Shay Tracy 2 years ago
rice flour too, but you have to keep a careful eye because it also burns a lot quicker
#23
“When cooking a hamburger patty, press down on it with your spatula to make it cook more evenly/faster.” All this does beside flatten your patty is make all the juices escape, leading to a more dried out burger with less flavour.
#24
Every baking recipe I've seen has you add spices with the dry ingredients. It's so much more flavorful if you add them with the butter and even more so if toast or gently fry them first. You can even use the microwave for this, cook just until fragrant.
Also, all my chocolate stuff got better when I realized that cocoa is a spice. Oil-soluble flavenoids.
#25
That you can't ever have too much garlic. I’ve heard this so many times. My wife made a babaganush one time with so much garlic it burned our mouths. Too much garlic can be a thing.
#26
This one is cooking related.
Myth: never use soap on cast iron.
Reality: you absolutely can use soap and scrub a well seasoned cast iron. Just don't soak it.
Lance d'Boyle 2 years ago
No this is not accurate. If you use soap you lose the seasoning. Seasoning is oil that coats and gets in the crannies of the cast iron. Soap dissolves oil, ergo it will remove the seasoning. If for some reason you want or need to put in a drop of soap it will not harm your pan, but it will remove some seasoning. A properly seasoned and maintained cast iron pan will wipe clean under hot water (and a little elbow grease if needed). If you clean with soap you will need to reseason the pan regularly. I've seen this 'myth busting' claim many times here and it's BS. Follow it at your pans peril.
#27
People think you can just use eggs and butter at fridge temp for baking but it’s so much better if you do room temp
#28
Use aluminum foil shiny side in.
Reynold's says the shiny side is a result of the manufacturing process and not intended to speed up cooking. The impact of having the shiny side in is so minimal and negligible you will not notice a difference.
#29
This one has been disappearing lately but ...
Don't overcook mushrooms and don't rinse them.
It's nearly impossible to overcook mushrooms. Chitin is hard to break down so just keep cooking them. Rinsing may add water, but it's just more liquid to cook off and may in fact help steam them which helps them release more water. Besides, you should wash all produce before use, especially mushrooms. Doubly so if they are wild.
#30
More heat cooks things faster.
Used to believe it but found out the hard way when shallow frying chicken schnitzels. The outside was burnt and the inside was raw. Now I cook them at the lowest heat and always perfectly cook them.
What do you think ?
Suzi Q 2 years ago
Always use a temperature probe or thermometer. Many recipes tell you to cook for a certain time but I take the temperature and it's undercooked. I make an air fryer meatloaf that says it's done in 20 minutes.it always takes 45 minutes till it's cooked in the middle.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
One of the best things I ever bought for cooking is a probe thermometer on a cable that attaches to a programmable timer. Thermometer in roast, cable gets closed in the oven door and attached to the timer. Set the temperature and the timer goes off when that internal temp is reached.
Load More Replies... CG 2 years ago
I'm kind of a new cook myself (single guy in an apartment), and I always try to season my food before cooking or while cooking, but I always feel the need to season afterwards. Maybe it's because I'm not using enough salt/pepper. I also don't really tend to use much olive oil when pan-frying my food. I usually lean more towards butter.
Laura Price 2 years ago
The one thing that my mom taught me that his stayed with me is that you can always add more seasoning you can't take it out. This is especially true with salt.
Load More Replies...
Power of one 2 years ago
You DON'T wash chicken as raw chicken within the water it is washed in gets splashed elsewhere which can contaminate other food. Raw chicken whether in water or not is still not something to mix with other food.
Suzi Q 2 years ago
Always use a temperature probe or thermometer. Many recipes tell you to cook for a certain time but I take the temperature and it's undercooked. I make an air fryer meatloaf that says it's done in 20 minutes.it always takes 45 minutes till it's cooked in the middle.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
One of the best things I ever bought for cooking is a probe thermometer on a cable that attaches to a programmable timer. Thermometer in roast, cable gets closed in the oven door and attached to the timer. Set the temperature and the timer goes off when that internal temp is reached.
Load More Replies... CG 2 years ago
I'm kind of a new cook myself (single guy in an apartment), and I always try to season my food before cooking or while cooking, but I always feel the need to season afterwards. Maybe it's because I'm not using enough salt/pepper. I also don't really tend to use much olive oil when pan-frying my food. I usually lean more towards butter.
Laura Price 2 years ago
The one thing that my mom taught me that his stayed with me is that you can always add more seasoning you can't take it out. This is especially true with salt.
Load More Replies... Power of one 2 years ago
You DON'T wash chicken as raw chicken within the water it is washed in gets splashed elsewhere which can contaminate other food. Raw chicken whether in water or not is still not something to mix with other food.
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