30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are

Whether we like it or not, cooking is something most of us have to do almost every day of our lives. Unless we really love this process, it can sometimes get quite tedious, and thus, all the little hacks that make it faster or more rewarding are always welcomed.

However, not all of this advice is actually helpful and has any proof of working, despite what many people might believe just because they heard it countless times. While it’s usually not really harmful, getting rid of it is still a positive thing, and this Reddit post asking about these terrible cooking tips is absolutely on the right track. Scroll down to read what people wrote!

More info: Reddit

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Anyone complaining that "air fryers are just glorified convection ovens" is just missing the point that a small convention oven is, in fact, f*****g glorious.

SkyKnight34 , Charlotte May Report

Final score:

103points

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Jeevesssssss 9 months ago

As an inveterate pedant who loves her 'air fryer' I f*****g salute you.

22points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are "Saute onions for 5-7 minutes until caramelized." No way they are caramelized that fast.

GingerrGina , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

98points

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kaycee14 9 months ago

Even worse is when the recipe says "saute onions AND GARLIC for 5-7 minutes..." The onions won't be cooked and the garlic will burn.

7points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Not washing mushrooms because they will "absorb" water...mushrooms are something like 90% water...wash the mushrooms, they are dirty!!

ashley21093 , Thanh Soledas Report

Final score:

97points

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Noltha 9 months ago

Wash, don't soak.

43points

Tele 9 months ago

This is why I don’t like baths

4points

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Ace 9 months ago

No, you do not need to wash mushrooms. Just wipe off with a damp kitchen towel if they're visibly dirty. Anything more, like 'germs' that you can't see, isn't going to wash off with just water anyway.

16points

Auntriarch 9 months ago

I just rub any dirt off with my finger, but supermarket mushrooms aren't very grubby to start with

8points

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Andres Tejeda 9 months ago

Yes, wash them because you don't want that dirt in your food.

8points

Libstak 9 months ago

I wipe them with a damp tissue, you are not gonna notice a minuscule amount of dirt in your food BTW.

12points

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Trillian 9 months ago

There are brushes for that

4points

Neuropotathy 9 months ago

I've seen a chef washing mushrooms with flour, it's a cool trick

3points

I’ll have a treble thanks. 9 months ago

Wipe

2points

Richman “Richman” Aust 9 months ago

just wipe

1point

JayWantsACat 9 months ago

It's fine to just wipe them down with a damp towel but if they're going into a soup/stew, it's less important that they're water logged. They're going swimming anyways. If they are water logged for a saute'd dish, then you can adjust your timing and just cook them a bit longer to cook the excess moisture out of them.

1point

Celtic Pirate Queen 9 months ago

Anything grown in a horse manure mixture is getting washed in my house.

0points

Jacob B. 9 months ago

They usually still have the dirt they were grown in, which also contains horse manure.

0points

Patsy Robins 9 months ago

I peel them, works well for me.

0points

Louise Rexford Wolfram 9 months ago

I wash mushrooms............and chicken too!!

0points

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When you really stop to think about it, it’s not only in cooking that there are many tips and tricks that many of us know, but, at some point, we learn they don’t actually work. This makes us wonder why it is such a common occurrence and why we keep falling for it.

Well, it turns out what we’re dealing with is known as the illusory truth effect or the illusion of truth. It describes how when we keep hearing the same false information over and over again, we tend to start believing it as if it were true.

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are That you should open a restaurant because you "love to cook." Sure fire way to both crash and burn financially, and end up hating to cook.

QuiGonnJilm , Elle Hughes Report

Final score:

93points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

Yup. Used to like cooking. After 12 years in a commercial kitchen i HATE it.

26points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are “Add 2 cloves of garlic.”

…

lol, just no.

*Adds 6 Cloves and later regrets not adding more.*

Educational_Ad_2619 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

91points

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arthbach 9 months ago

Add garlic to personal preference.

56points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are "Add 1/2 an onion" If i am cooking something its either a full onion or nothing. I am not about to store a half an onion.

ColonClenseByFire , Pixabay Report

Final score:

91points

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Nikki Sevven 9 months ago

"Add half an onion" isn't remotely helpful. Onion size varies wildly from tiny cipollini onions to gigantic Spanish onions. They vary wildly in flavor too. Yellow onions are strongly sulfuric, while Vidalia onions are mild and sweet.

58points

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Becoming affected by this bias does not indicate that an individual is uneducated, as we might initially be aware of the correct information and still end up believing something false because of constant exposure to it. At times, even concrete evidence proving that the advice is empty might not stop a person from following it in the case that it still might do at least something of what it promised.

And in this day and age, information can spread faster than ever before, thanks to the internet and social media. And since we make thousands of decisions every day, no one really goes to check every single fact they hear, thus enabling the cycle to continue.

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Every recipe takes longer than it says it will. Especially the first time.

Far-Sink-2204 , Ron Lach Report

Final score:

86points

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TheGoodBoi 9 months ago (edited)

"Quick great meal!" Time: 2 hours. Ingredients: Everything you cannot get, located on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific.

69points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Only use good wine for cooking. I challenge you to tell the difference between a $20 bottle of wine and 3 Buck Chuck when you add 1/2 cup to your pasta sauce.

Soobobaloula , Ksenia Chernaya Report

Final score:

85points

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Vinny DaPooh 9 months ago

Most people can't tell the difference in a glass never mind in the sauce

106points

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30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Adding the garlic to a hot pan first instead of last. Burnt garlic is NOT good eats.

ordinaryhorse , Isabella Mendes Report

Final score:

79points

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SonicAlchemy 9 months ago

There's already the same damn garlic post, just worded differently, in this article, so I really hope everyone gets the "tip" by now. Don't burn your garlic..

6points

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In addition to that, we don’t really like to be wrong, do we? Well, that’s where confirmation bias comes in, an occurrence when we look for information supporting our existing beliefs, ignoring or outright rejecting any data that might contradict it.

This can come in a few different forms, such as biased memory, recalling things in a way that would support our beliefs, biased information searches online (where we type in the thing we want to confirm in a way that the results we get align with our beliefs), and biased interpretation (where we interpret evidence in a way that supports our beliefs, quickly accepting what fits and very critically analyzing what doesn’t).

And, of course, in the end, we once again come to the internet and social media, where the information spreads quickly and is tailored to show us what we want to see, all thanks to the almighty algorithms.

#10

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are MSG causes migraines.

This is an absolute myth dating back from a single letter published in the *New England Journal of Medicine* back in the sixties (likely as a prank) that became so prevalent that convincing someone who believes it otherwise is a waste of time.

MSG does one thing only: Makes. S**t. Good.

doctor_x , Alpha Report

Final score:

75points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

Umami! Yummy!!

20points

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#11

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are I see a lot of sauteing with EVOO. I learned that if I'm cooking with olive oil, use regular olive oil. Save the extra-virgin stuff for dressings, drizzles, and other things not cooked. I don't know, that just how I was taught.

missionbeach , Mareefe Report

Final score:

54points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

You can Sauté with EVOO but you have to use a lower temp because it has a lower smoke point.

26points

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#12

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are "Fold in the cheese."

SassyBonassy , Andra C Taylor Jr Report

Final score:

53points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

Say 'Fold it in' one more time!

43points

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It seems that completely avoiding this is not really possible. After all, these biases existed long before modern technologies, which only gives them a boost. Ultimately, it is a very human thing to believe something that most do and look for ways to confirm it rather than deny it. But keeping an open mind and spending a little extra effort checking your facts won’t hurt and, at the very least, might make your cooking attempts quite a bit more successful. So why not give it a shot?

How much of this cooking advice did you follow without knowing it wasn't helpful? Do you have any tips you'd like to add? Share your thoughts below!

#13

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are "Fresh ingredients are always better."

Not necessarily. For example, frozen ingredients are better for deep frying or blending than fresh ingredients are.

stinky_cheese33 , Mark Stebnicki Report

Final score:

50points

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arthbach 9 months ago

It totally depends on the ingredients. Frozen peas keep more of their nutrients than fresh as they are frozen within hours of harvest.

42points

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#14

Measuring flour and dry ingredients by volume is a terrible idea. Get a scale like a pro!

UnsurprisingPun Report

Final score:

43points

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Firstname Lastname 9 months ago

It also saves me from having to wash so many measuring cups!

15points

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#15

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Cooking chicken in general. Most people overcook their chicken and it gets dry and tastes bad. Use a thermometer and take it off just as it gets to temp.

IlIlIlIlIllIlIll , Claudio Schwarz Report

Final score:

37points

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Libstak 9 months ago

No, I like the meat falling off the bone, I cannot stand pink chicken breast, it's rubbery and sends me into salmonella anxiety. Just baste often and cover in foil for juicy chicken.

47points

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#16

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Every stew recipe that starts with "flour the beef cubes" -- you'll get a better sear if you only salt and pepper the beef cubes and sear those in properly-spaced batches to build up fond in the pot. If you flour the beef the flour will stick to the pot and you're going to burn the fond long before you're done searing everything.

I add flour only after I've sauteed a whole bunch of chopped onions to loosen the fond, and then once the flour is slightly toasted, the red wine goes in to make an alarming-looking purple roux that turns nicely into a glorious brown stew after a few hours of simmer time.

withbellson , Sanket Shah Report

Final score:

34points

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Lyoness 9 months ago

Am I the only one who's just found a fancy term for "the brown bits at the bottom of the pan"?

54points

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#17

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Rinsing chicken

nashbar , JK Sloan Report

Final score:

30points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

GROSS!!! Chicken does NOT need to be rinsed and you're probably spraying salmonella mist all over your sink area.

38points

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#18

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Just personal preference, but adding sugar to marinara to decrease the acidity. I like the acidity. I don’t like candied spaghetti.

Sopranohh , Nadin Sh Report

Final score:

29points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

If you add the right amount it cuts it from SOUR to acidic.

40points

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#19

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Adding oil to the water, prevents pasta from sticking.

Pretend_Hearing4253 , Klaus Nielsen Report

Final score:

27points

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Mrs.C 9 months ago

Just keeps the sauce from sticking to your pasta.

57points

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#20

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are Cold water boils faster. That drives me insane.

beachmasterbogeynut , Ariel Gez Report

Final score:

27points

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Nikki Sevven 9 months ago

You should use cold tap water. Hot tap water brings with it more minerals from inside your pipes and can change the taste of your dish.

24points

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#21

30 Cooks Share Horrendous Cooking Tips That Have No Reason Being As Widely Spread As They Are my gran damn near *insists* on rinsing pasta like no, you don’t do that, stop that. then again, if there isn’t any sauce made she’ll eat said pasta with *Italian dressing* and call it a day.

insomniacakess Report

Final score:

26points

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Like It Is 9 months ago (edited)

Rinsing (or not) depends on what you are going to do with it. If you are serving it immediately with a warm sauce - no rinse. If it is going to sit (think potluck with separate sauce) toss in oil to keep from sticking (rinse or shake off). Macaroni salad? Rinse. As far as Italian dressing My 100% Italian grand mother would make AGLIO E OLIO which is basically olive oil and garlic and pasta, she would mix it with left over garlic bread chunks. I always thought she made that up, because it sounded like 'oily oily' to my younger ears... Nope it's a real thing ;)

24points

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