Food, old wives tales and general b*ll*cks

[21TonyK]

I'll kick it off...

Mussels that are closed after cooking shouldn't be eaten or they'll make you ill / die depending on how important the person telling you wants you to think they are.

It's cr*p, Jane Grigson made it up but it was published and became a repeated "fact".

(Mrs21 often finds me shouting at chefs on the telly who repeat this and other made up stuff)

[silentbrown]

21TonyK said:

Mussels that are closed after cooking shouldn't be eaten or they'll make you ill / die depending on how important the person telling you wants you to think they are.

I didn't know that was balls! After one bad experience with mussels I now just avoid them - The risk/reward ratio doesn't work for me

[Soloman Dodd]

Salting aubergine slices to draw the bitter juices out.


Just lick one - what bitter juices?

[dickymint]

The crust on bread does not make your hair go curly

[bigandclever]

21TonyK said:

I'll kick it off...

Mussels that are closed after cooking shouldn't be eaten or they'll make you ill / die depending on how important the person telling you wants you to think they are.

It's cr*p, Jane Grigson made it up but it was published and became a repeated "fact".

(Mrs21 often finds me shouting at chefs on the telly who repeat this and other made up stuff)

It is, but it also took decades for 'science' to get around to it and test the validity. And that was driven by cost of wastage, rather than how many people were (or were not) dying from a duff mussel.

My one is MSG is bad for you.

[21TonyK]

silentbrown said:

21TonyK said:

Mussels that are closed after cooking shouldn't be eaten or they'll make you ill / die depending on how important the person telling you wants you to think they are.

I didn't know that was balls! After one bad experience with mussels I now just avoid them - The risk/reward ratio doesn't work for me

Yeah, just make sure they are closed (or close when tapped) before cooking. But a bad experience will be down to the origin/age/storage before cooking more than anything.

(I also don't eat shellfish or any filter feeder as a rule unless I know exactly where it has come from, again, one very bad experience)

[CoupeKid]

Don't get any egg yolk in your whites or you'll never get the whites whisked up.

This might have been true for Victorian cooks doing it by hand but in my experience, as a terrible egg separator, a food mixer will make short work of egg whites with a little bit of yolk in.

[dickymint]

That red liquid that so many rare steak haters cringe at? It has absolutely no blood in it - it's Myoglobin and water.

[WrekinCrew]

Sealing meat to "keep the juices in".

I highly recommend On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

[ambuletz]

putting oil in the pasta water to stop it sticking.

bringing things to a simmer/boil and then leaving it on high. it's not going to cook something any faster, just evaporate the water quicker.

[The Gauge]

For the past few years I've been bouncing salt off my elbow, turns out I don't need to.

[Super Sonic]

The spinach thing and the carrot thing.

[Cotty]

21TonyK said:

Mussels that are closed after cooking shouldn't be eaten or they'll make you ill / die depending on how important the person telling you wants you to think they are.

It's cr*p, Jane Grigson made it up but it was published and became a repeated "fact".

I was aware of that, but as I never cook or eat mussels I never looked into the reason.
Now I have looked it up it appears she wrote that unopened ones after cooking should be thrown away but gave no reason. Without giving a reason its not worth the paper its written on, but then you know that.

[number2]

WrekinCrew said:

Sealing meat to "keep the juices in".

I highly recommend On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

Yes, that one is so annoying and every chef on TV says it. It seriously makes me doubt their abilities...

(Although they're still better than me and brilliant ).

[Cotty]

Holding a spoon in your mouth when cutting onions will prevent tears.
I must be immune as I never cry when cutting onions.

[number2]

Needing a 'screaming' hot pan to sear steak.

The terminology makes me grimace, and a pan doesn't need to be as hot as it can be to caramelise meat.

[Cotty]

WrekinCrew said:

Sealing meat to "keep the juices in".

I highly recommend On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

Apparently Jamie Oliver always browns his meat to seal it but his wife Jools doesn't. He tried it her way and couldn't tell the difference.

[sean ie3]

You must only eat mussels when there is an R in the month. Not true, I've eaten mussels many times when there is no R in the month.

[Dogwatch]

sean ie3 said:

You must only eat mussels when there is an R in the month. Not true, I've eaten mussels many times when there is no R in the month.

Those are the winter months which are cooler, so without modern refrigeration eating seafood which isn’t freshly caught could be erm, problematic.

[21TonyK]

Dogwatch said:

sean ie3 said:

You must only eat mussels when there is an R in the month. Not true, I've eaten mussels many times when there is no R in the month.

Those are the winter months which are cooler, so without modern refrigeration eating seafood which isn’t freshly caught could be erm, problematic.

Winter months are also spawning season.