FOOD & DINING
MYTH: Salted water boils faster.
TRUTH: Adding salt raises the boiling point of water (slightly), so it does make your water hotter, but it’s not going to boil any faster. The amount of salt added is much too low to make a noticeable difference in your cooking time. Unless you plan to add so much salt that the food will be inedible, use salted water to season your food, not speed up the clock.
MYTH: Rinse pasta to stop cooking.
TRUTH:Some foods need a cold water rinse or ice bath to halt cooking (such ashard-boiled eggs and blanched vegetables). But pasta doesn’t have much carryover cooking, so you don’t need to shock it in cold water to prevent further cooking. Plus, rinsing pasta actually removes the starchy coating that helps sauces stick. You want your sauce to adhere to your pasta, right?
MYTH:Searing meat seals in juices.
TRUTH:While searing meat does produce a delicious, caramelized crust, it also forces the meat to lose moisture, making it less juicy. In fact, that crispy texture is evidence of moisture loss. Here’s why: Searing meat makes it more porous and likely to expel moisture under pressure. And I’m not talking about the pressure of a spatula. Exposure to heat forces the muscle fibers to contract and push juices out. The best way to seal in juices is to let the meat rest for five minutes before slicing.
MYTH: Marinating tenderizes meat.
TRUTH: Yes, acidic ingredients like citrus and vinegar denature proteins (change their structure and loosen the bonds). But most marinades adhere to the meat’s surface and don’tpenetrate deeper than that. The real reason to marinate is to season your food, not tenderize it. I’m still going to marinate, but for flavor, not texture.
MYTH: The heat is in the seeds of chile peppers.
TRUTH:The seeds of a chile pepper may seem to tingle your tongue the most, but it’s their proximity to the hotter part of the pepper —the white membrane —that brings the heat. The seeds contain little to no capsaicin (what gives peppers their intensity), so when the white part is cut, the capsaicin escapes and adheres to the outside of seeds, making them seem spicy.
MYTH: Flip meat once or it won’t cook properly.
TRUTH:For even cooking, it doesn’t matter whether you flip your meat onceor 10times. As meat cooks, the muscle fibers contract and expand, and moisture is redistributed throughout (and some escapes, as explained earlier). But this happens regardless of your flipping style. That said, turning meat often promotes even cooking and helps you achieve a nice char on both sides.
MYTH: Alcohol burns off during cooking.
TRUTH: Heat does reduce alcohol’s potency, but the alcohol doesn’t completely cook off. Actually, alcohol cooks away eventually —if you heat it long enough, like up to three hours for most dishes. But by then, who is going toeat that?
MYTH: Rinsing mushrooms makes them mushy.
TRUTH:Mushrooms are porous, but that doesn’t mean you can’t expose them to water. It rains in the fields, right? Mushrooms are grown in the ground, so as luck would have it, they’re often covered with dirt and soil. You don’t need to soak them, just give them a quick rinse to remove most of the grime and then wipe them off with a paper towel (do this just before cooking or serving).
MYTH: Adding oil to pasta water prevents clumping.
TRUTH: If you’ve ever tried this, you’ve probably noticed the olive oil floats on the surface of the boiling water. It’s doing very little to keep those strands of spaghetti from sticking together when it’s up there. It’s just costly boiling water. Plus, when you strain the pasta, the oil coats the noodles, so any sauce you add will slide right off. To prevent clumping, stir the pasta often during cooking.
MYTH: Chicken is cooked through when it’s no longer pink.
TRUTH: Chicken can appear fully cooked and still make you sick. Don’t rely on your eyes.Poultry is the most common source of food-related illness, so use a meat thermometer and don’t pull that chicken from the heat until it reaches 165 degrees.
MYTH:Rinse chicken before cooking.
TRUTH: The bacteria in chicken (and allmeat, for that matter) doesn’t survive cooking, assuming you’re reaching the proper internal temperatures. Plus, rinsing meat puts you at risk for spreading bacteria all over your sink and hands. And now you’re washing lettuce?
MYTH: Hard-boiled eggs are easier to peel if you add vinegar to the water.
TRUTH: It’s not the vinegar, it’s the starting temperature of your water that makes hard-boiled eggs easier to peel. In a word: boiling. Start with boiling water and your eggs will be easier to peel. Bring a pot of water to a boil, gently lower the eggs in, return to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Reduce the temperature to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer the eggs to an ice-water bath to cool. Ready to peel!
