From things you learn in culinary school to ‘old wive’s tales’, there are plenty of falsities about cooking that have spread around. However plenty of these ‘myths’ are either out of date or counterproductive and should no longer be followed. This list of cooking myths are some of the most popular AND incorrect ways of doing things in a kitchen – but feel free to argue it out in the comments.
*Note: I have tried to stay away from general opinion ideas in this article; The topics featured here are things that are popular but incorrect ways of doing things as considered by most culinary professionals.
Pasta Water Should Be ‘As Salty As The Sea’
One of the most popular cooking myths one hears about has to deal with the simple act of cooking pasta. Many home cooks do have a tendency to under-salt dishes, so the adage that pasta water should be as salty as the sea spread rather rapidly. This saying was actually popularized by Julia Child on her fabulous TV show, however it should not be taken literally.
The fact is, sea water is far too salty to cook pasta in, and will result in a near inedible dish. For example, the Mediterranean Sea has roughly 3.8% salinity, which would mean 38 grams of salt per liter of water used to boil pasta. That’s quite a lot, don’t you think?
You still don’t want to under-salt your pasta water, so what is the correct amount of salt to use for pasta water? A general rule of thumb used by most culinary experts is 2% salt by weight, or 20 grams per liter when boiling water for pasta. This is about a heaping tablespoon. Of course you can go higher or lower as it does not need to be exact – but I find 2% to be perfect as well, especially when making fresh pasta recipes!
Upon deciding to write this article, I actually wondered if there were any seas that had a 2% salinity. After all, places like the Dead Sea are extremely salty, so maybe there are seas that are less salty than the normal ocean (3.5%). Well as it turns out the Black Sea in Eastern Europe has a average salinity around 2% so if you really wanted to be pedantic you could tell people to boil pasta in water that is as salty as the Black Sea!
Wash Your Chicken Before Cooking
This popular cooking myth seems to be popular only in America – and strangely enough only with lower income families and minorities. No, I am not trying to be offensive; There is a very good reason that poor and minority families believe in the myth that one needs to wash chicken before cooking it.
Historically poor and minority persons (HPAMPs) were likely in the position where butchering and dressing birds were done at home. While wealthy families could buy a perfectly plucked and cleaned chicken from the butcher, or had staff in the house to do it in the kitchens, many lower income people raised their own chickens for slaughter. And when you kill and prepare a chicken from start to finish you do need to wash it. So it spread down throughout years and generations that chicken needs to be washed before cooking which makes this one of the more dangerous myths on this list.
Food safety experts and organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) advise against washing raw chicken. This is because washing can spread bacteria, such as salmonella, to other surfaces and foods through splashing water. Cooking chicken to the proper internal temperature (165°F or 74°C) is the most effective way to kill any harmful bacteria.
Back in the day people would clean and dress chickens outside as butchery was considered unclean. Doing this outside prevented the spread of bacteria inside the kitchen. If you buy a plucked and cleaned chicken from the store you should not wash it before cooking.
Recommended Chicken Recipes: Chicken Devel (Sri Lankan Devilled Chicken), Baking Powder Chicken Wings, Sweet Spicy Sesame Chicken
Fish Needs To Be Sushi Grade To Eat Raw
As someone who loves raw fish (raw lots of things actually like my fabulous Duck Tartare), it pains me when I see people saying fish needs to be sushi grade to eat raw. First off, there is no such classification as sushi grade. That’s right – any store that states a fish is sushi grade has just decided to say that. There is no legal ‘stamp of approval’ which dictates what makes a fish sushi (or sashimi) grade.
A common un- cooking myth on top of this main myth is that sushi grade refers to fish that has been previously deep frozen to kill bacteria. This is incorrect on two counts. First, you can absolutely eat fish that has not been previously frozen. Outside of tuna, most of the fish used for sushi and sashimi in Japan has actually never been frozen. And second, the deep freeze method is used to kill parasites (not bacteria) in SOME fish that have a tendency to attract worms, like wild-caught salmon.
This common myth has seemingly permeated home cooking (in America) but a more common rule of thumb is that salt water fish are safe to eat raw while fresh water fish need to be cooked. Of course there are exceptions and many popular sushi fish such as mackerel (saba) and sardine (iwashi) can contain a worm known as anisakis. So how do the Japanese eat saba and iwashi sushi? The chef simply inspects the fish and pulls the worm out.
These worms live in the stomach of fishes and do not move to the meat until after the fish is dead. So if the fish has been killed and cleaned immediately there is very little risk of getting a fish parasite. Even so, always inspect the meat – the worms are easily visible to the naked eye and can be removed with some simple fish tweezers.
Check out this guide by Sushi Modern to see if the fish you want to eat raw has a tendency towards parasites.
You Can’t Use Soap On Cast Iron
Have you ever been to someone’s house only to see the absolute grossest, most crusty looking cast iron pan in their kitchen. A popular cooking myth was that you should never wash cast iron with soap as it will destroy the ‘seasoning’.
While cast iron does need to be ‘seasoned‘ this is done by wiping with fat and heating to a very high temperature multiple times. The end result is a smooth and shiny pan that can rival the non-stick properties of Teflon. Many people believe that you should never wash a cast iron pan, or that somehow soap will ruin the seasoning. While this myth does stem from a kernel of truth, you should be washing your cast iron pans with soap and water after every use.
Traditional soap was made with lye, which did have the effect of stripping the seasoning from a cast iron pan. However common dish soap like the type you hopefully have in your kitchen now will not damage your pan in any way.
More important is to dry your pan after washing it as cast iron can rust much easier than other metals. So please wash your dishes after using them – or your smarter friends will likely avoid your dinner party invites.
The Shiny Side Of Aluminum Foil Reflects Heat
This cooking myth is one of the weirder ones, as it’s really rather innocent. Really it’s just a silly myth that seems to have been passed down as an ‘old wives tale’ but does not cause any danger in the kitchen like washing chicken.
No, the shiny side of aluminum foil does not reflect heat. Or, at least it does not reflect heat any more than the matte side. In fact, the two sides are only different due to the manufacturing process, and as far as cooking purposes go can be used the same way.
When making aluminum foil, the sheet of aluminum is passed under a highly polished roller until it reaches the desired thinness. The side that touches the roller becomes shiny, while the opposite side becomes matte. That’s really all there is to it. So the next time you need to tent a dish to pop in the oven, don’t spent time choosing the right side of the foil – it does not matter.
