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Don’t believe everything that you read online or hear in person. Just because something gets repeated over and over again does not make it true. This sort of misinformation isn’t just related to the news, however. You can even find it in the world of gastronomy.
The passionate members of the r/Cooking online community banded together to reveal the top cooking myths that continue to be shared. We’ve collected some of the most egregious ones to be aware of. Read on to check these myths out.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The "Detox" trend.
It makes no sense as it's your liver and kidneys that detox your body.
Just eat a balanced diet and you should be fine.
RELATED:
#2
Stop telling me a recipe takes 25 minutes to make.
It takes me that long to get the ingredients from the fridge and finding the right bowl. Then cleaning out the sink. Need to empty the dishwasher first. Make room on the kitchen bench....
EasyBreezyCataneze 10 months ago
Maybe it takes 25 minutes to cook but who will talk about the extra 50 mins to soak ingredients, cut, chop other things, make pastes/spice mixes.
#3
STEP 1: Preheat oven to 450º.
STEPs 2–15: Here's 45 minutes of work to do while your oven was hot 35 minutes longer than it needed to be.
Kirsten Kerkhof 10 months ago
This! Take a moment to learn how long your oven needs to pre-heat, and just start pre-heating then. My oven is very fast so it is not unusual for me to have almost finished the work before I turn on the oven, and more often than not my oven still beats me to it.
If, at some point in your life, you’ve believed any of these cooking myths, then you’re not alone. It’s a very natural thing. People tend to believe information that they’re exposed to on a constant basis. To put it simply, the more often we hear something, the more likely we are to think that it’s true.
This is known as the illusory truth effect, and it’s how misinformation spreads. We can fall victim to the effects of repetition even if we’re highly educated and self-aware. This is because we’re exposed to so much information in our day-to-day lives that we need to simplify the way we make decisions. The more often we come across certain claims, the more familiar we become with them, meaning we’re more inclined to see them as valid.
#4
When people say something isn't healthy because it isn't calorie free. "Pasta isn't healthy. You should use spaghetti squash." Or "rice isn't healthy. You should use cauliflower." I think there is a time and a place for those things, but carbohydrates are actually healthy for you.
Šimon Špaček 10 months ago
Carbohydrates are healthy. Salt is healthy. Fat is healthy. Water is healthy. But in moderation. Even water can cause harm if you drink too much clean water, you will demineralize your body and you will have headaches. If you don't eat enough salt, you will have muscle cramps, if you eat too much your heart will race like crazy. Moderation is the key for good life.
#5
As soon as the word "superfood" appears, I'm out.
Nerenahd Dhaneren 10 months ago
I kind of agree, but it's undeniable that some foods are more nutrient dense than others and, if possible, these should be favoured.
#6
Someone one told me they don’t use salt when they cook because “people can add salt to their own portion if they want”. Sorry no, that’s not how seasoning works.
Avoiding the illusory truth effect comes down to having the time and energy to dig a little deeper. That means doing research, even about claims that we think are completely true. It helps to have a more nuanced position.
The general rule of thumb is that if you keep hearing the same claims over and over again, you may want to be slightly skeptical about them. We’ve seen this sort of misinformation in the food industry before.
#7
When they open their recipe by saying “add garlic and onions to the pan and caramelize”…. Why do y’all like burnt garlic?
Roxy222uk 10 months ago
Our son was challenging my husband and I the other day about us teaching him not to put the garlic in to the pan until the onions are cooked. We had to admit we have no idea why so many (otherwise good) recipes state to put the garlic in at the same time. It burns and sticks. The garlic just needs heating through enough to remove the 'sting'.
#8
“You can‘t cook with extra virgin olive oil.” Yes, you can, just don’t heat it past the smoke point.
Kirsten Kerkhof 10 months ago
I think they just say this for people who didn’t grow up with olive oil. Where I live olive oil is a relatively recent addition to the local cuisine and I know of people who have tried to heat like other, much more temperature tolerant oils. It is just easier to say that you cannot cook with extra virgin olive oil, than give specific temperatures. Maybe one day in the future olive oil will be as common as in Mediterranean cultures, but for now it just wouldn’t work, I think.
#9
I may be wrong here, but I'm wiling to die on this hill - there is absolutely no such thing as air frying. What you are doing is convection baking.
-- edit: I'm not knocking the appliance here, but the marketing gimmickry annoys the hell out of me. The appliances sold as "air fryers" are more efficient and better in a lot of ways, but stop calling it what it isn't. This is why we all have trust issues!
For example, last century, we saw lots of bad science and outright misinformation about all fats supposedly being bad for our health. As a result, many people started replacing the energy from fats with sugars. Fat-free foods are not automatically ‘healthier.’
Similarly, sugar isn’t somehow a purely evil supervillain, either. However, many people do eat too much sugar, which can lead to health problems down the line. We all need to avoid excess and embrace moderation in our diets. Too much of anything can be bad for us, whether that’s sugar, bad fats, or caffeine.
#10
"Don't clean cast iron with dish soap" is the biggest one for me. Used to be true, but modern dish soap doesn't contain the lye that was the cause of the seasoning stripping.
Note, if you keep up with your cast iron **LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO** you're hardly ever going to need to use soap. Even then, it would be to remove any lingering flavors; Don't want fish taste in your cobbler!
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
I never use soap with a cast iron pan. Vinegar is a perfect, natural and cheap solution for that fish taste OP is talking about.
#11
This is more diet than cooking but that fat is bad for you. Fat is flavor and nutrition
Nerenahd Dhaneren 10 months ago
Not all fat is made equal. Some are way healthier than others. And needless to say, fat is more caloric dense than protein or carbs. If your food choices are not on point and you eat a lot of fat, you're gonna get... Well... Fat.
#12
That drinking “alkaline” water or foods is good for you. This trend is based on an experiment in essentially a Petrie dish showing cancer cells couldn’t survive at high pH. Know what else can’t survive at high pH? YOU! Your food is digested and your blood (which is pH buffered) stays at the same pH. If it didn’t you’d be in the hospital.
#13
Never put seafood and cheese together.
Boy, do you have some discoveries to make. Just put the *right* seafood and the *right* cheese together.
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
I'm just going to say that: toasted bread, cheese and anchovies... You're welcome.
#14
MSG is bad for you
Remi (He/Him) 10 months ago
Did you know that tomatoes and salt form msg when you cook them together. As in most dishes with tomato base have it naturally. So does everything with umami.
#16
A lot of people have misunderstandings about the temperature of food and what is safe. Too many pork chops out there obliterated in the name of "safety"
#17
"Salting food is unnecessary and bad for you."
i admit, i believed this for YEARS and never salted my food. and then i met my friend's then-GF now wife. She was the one who told me why salting food is CRUCIAL. Hell, even desserts need to have salt
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
True... but salt makes the magic in some moments engraved in my soul. Pear tomatoes just gathered, still warm by the sun, and salt. I'm 50 yo and I can close my eyes and jump back to when I was 10 yo and almost can touch the scabs on my knees.
#18
When people suggest eating pudding before you’ve eaten your meat.
#19
“Don’t forget to put olive oil in your pasta water, otherwise your pasta will stick.”
If you want to prevent boil overs, use a bigger pot & don’t over fill it. This negates the need for the “spoon hack”.
An 8 quart pot is not unreasonable for a pound of dry pasta.
The “rolling boil” is for when you add the noodles to the water. It doesn’t have to bubble like a movie cauldron the whole time. Just turn it down a little. It will still visibly boil.
Regina Holt 10 months ago
Do NOT put oil in your pasta water. It will then prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta. If you don't want your pasta to stick, you just need to have enough water, and the right level of boil
#20
It's not a myth exactly, but when people do too much parroting of certain food-isms, true or otherwise, I'm less likely to consider them a worthwhile source. It feels like they don't have much experience-based knowledge, instead they're just a collection of food video factoids and reddit comments. It's all very
***well ACTUALLY***
Also, non-bakers who do the "baking is a science, not an art" bit. Because most bakers I know and love know that there is actually a good degree of wiggle room when baking and you have to make a few common sense calls.
Sonja 10 months ago
Baking IS a science. And as any science, as soon as you've learnt how it works, you can create new recipes. But that's not 'wiggle room'. You can't wing it. You have to know what you're doing and still measure within the framework and balance the ingredients with each other.
#21
"Put the avocado seed in your guacamole and it won't turn brown."
Technically true for the small patch of guac that the seed covers, but otherwise nonsense.
Remi (He/Him) 10 months ago
A little bit of lime juice will help it keep the color plus it's good for the flavor
#22
Maybe not a "myth" in the proper sense, but any time someone suggests their recipe guarantees "moist" or "not dry" chicken. Food in general, but definitely meat, is dry when it's overcooked. If your chicken is constantly dry, it's because you are doing something wrong. No two ways about it. Using a thermometer doesn't make you less of a cook.
Huddo's sister 10 months ago
Some people don't know that meat continues cooking 'at rest' which is where a lot of the problem stems from
#23
"You can never have too much garlic.." Yes you can, especially in Italian food. Garlic is not a prominent ingredient.
#24
The "Detox" trend.
It makes no sense as it's the normal function of your liver and kidneys that detox your body.
Just eat a balanced diet and you should be fine.
DREW JONES 10 months ago
Plus--and this won't make me any friends--the more regular heart-pumping physical activity you engage in, the more you circulate blood through the liver and kidneys, and the more capillaries you'll have for your blood to access waste products.
#25
Anything buzz words like gut health, flushes/cleanses, “unprocessed” food.
Saying MSG is fake and bad for you.
Not a cooking myth, but when someone has really bad knife skills I don’t trust their recipes or advice.
Edit: this was meant to refer to unsafe knife skills. Cutting on a slippery board. Holding the food with your fingers basically parallel/flat against it.
Regina Holt 10 months ago
and a sharper knife is safer than a dull one. Sharp knives easily cut through whatever you are cutting, causing less chance of knife slipping and cutting your fingers
#26
Cooking lore is like most knowledge- the Pareto principle applies. 80% of your good results probably come from 20% of the advice, but people aren't always sure which 20% is good, so the whole body of knowledge gets handed down. Something being ineffective (like adding oil to pasta water) isn't enough to get it removed from the body of knowledge- It's not getting removed completely unless it is clearly *counter*productive.
That's why I enjoy people who put all conventional wisdom to the test. A lot of it isn't completely right, but some of it is.
#27
The MSG haters- it is not poison. It DOES have a place in my kitchen and I would miss it and notice the difference without it in a lot of recipes!
Kerry Carolan 10 months ago
Some people genuinely can't tolerate it, and I.really hope you don't feed it to this people to PrOvE a PoInT
#28
Use butter and olive oil together for a high smoke point. Somehow separately they have a lower smoke point but when combined magic happens? No.
#29
Wash your meat. (For meat bought at a supermarket, etc... not talking about places where it's actually necessary...)
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
What? No! A big, huge no! Don't wash the fresh meat. Don't do that. You're going to cook that meat, true? That should be enough for pathogens like salmonella. Washing the meat could actually spread any pathogens around your kitchen.
#30
That salt bae is somehow talented or unique.
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
Well, if someone is able to sell a can of Sprinte for $10, there must be some kind of talent there.
#31
Don’t use salt on your raw steak, it will dry out the meat.
Another Panda 10 months ago
Depends on the cut, the method, the type/style of salt, and desired result.
#32
Don't use a meat thermometer, it'll make the juices leak out
Marcos Valencia 10 months ago
What? Please, don't follow this advice. Use a thermometer; it's an ally.
#33
I can't believe some people don't wash their mushrooms. It's so disgusting. Rare burgers being ok to eat always gets me a side eye and a double side eye when they start complaining about getting the "stomach flu" a lot.
Auntriarch 10 months ago
I'm afraid this person is badly informed. But at least I won't have to share my mushrooms with them
What do you think ?
Fred L. 10 months ago
While most entries here are doing a good job I wish in some cases in similar posts people would make it clearer if the posted text is the actual myth or the truth opposing said myth.
Mike F 10 months ago
That's OK, I certainly would never use an "article" as a guide to cooking my dinner. Some of these just add a little to help one form a finely tuned "c**p detector".
Load More Replies... Anony Mouse 10 months ago
I have 2 - that a cut potato will magically un-salt an over salted dish, and any recipe that instructs you to reduce a sauce by half and then tells you it will take 10 minutes. Bull.
Rhonda West 10 months ago
The potato thing only works if you cook the potato in the dish
Load More Replies...
Fred L. 10 months ago
While most entries here are doing a good job I wish in some cases in similar posts people would make it clearer if the posted text is the actual myth or the truth opposing said myth.
Mike F 10 months ago
That's OK, I certainly would never use an "article" as a guide to cooking my dinner. Some of these just add a little to help one form a finely tuned "c**p detector".
Load More Replies... Anony Mouse 10 months ago
I have 2 - that a cut potato will magically un-salt an over salted dish, and any recipe that instructs you to reduce a sauce by half and then tells you it will take 10 minutes. Bull.
Rhonda West 10 months ago
The potato thing only works if you cook the potato in the dish
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