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.
#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.
Image source: Vekaras, Alina Karpenko / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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….
Image source: the6thReplicant
#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.
Image source: BradPittHasBadBO
#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.
Image source: h0tmessm0m, Ben Lei / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#5
As soon as the word “superfood” appears, I’m out.
Image source: doublestitch
#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.
Image source: ceopadilla, Conscious Design / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
When they open their recipe by saying “add garlic and onions to the pan and caramelize”…. Why do y’all like burnt garlic?
Image source: dcgirl17, Geraud pfeiffer / pexels (not the actual photo)
#8
“You can‘t cook with extra virgin olive oil.” Yes, you can, just don’t heat it past the smoke point.
Image source: Minimum_Honey_9379, Abbey Houston / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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!
Image source: NotJebediahKerman, Kelsey Todd / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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!
Image source: levelZeroWizard
#11
This is more diet than cooking but that fat is bad for you. Fat is flavor and nutrition
Image source: ryan_james504, amit Majhi / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: thrifty_geopacker
#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.
Image source: SnowCoyote3, Dmitriy Ganin / pexels (not the actual photo)
#14
MSG is bad for you
Image source: protopigeon, Ragesoss / wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#15
“It doesn’t take long to caramelize onions”
Image source: Element_Girl
#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”
Image source: DobermanCavalry, Curtis Adams / pexels (not the actual photo)
#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
Image source: DionBlaster123, Emmy Smith / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#18
When people suggest eating pudding before you’ve eaten your meat.
Image source: Adventurous-Brain-36
#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.
Image source: Ok_Watercress_7801, Fulvio Ciccolo / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: AnaDion94
#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.
Image source: ShimmyZmizz, Kelly Sikkema / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: Sorry_Cricket_6053
#23
“You can never have too much garlic..” Yes you can, especially in Italian food. Garlic is not a prominent ingredient.
Image source: Typical-Ad-6730, Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: Vekaras
#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.
Image source: GlitterLavaLamp, CA Creative / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: JeanVicquemare
#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!
Image source: hinky-as-hell
#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.
Image source: fakesaucisse
#29
Wash your meat. (For meat bought at a supermarket, etc… not talking about places where it’s actually necessary…)
Image source: whatthepfluke, Pits Riccardo / pexels (not the actual photo)
#30
That salt bae is somehow talented or unique.
Image source: gratefuldeadZappa
#31
Don’t use salt on your raw steak, it will dry out the meat.
Image source: Monstera-big, Sergey Kotenev / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#32
Don’t use a meat thermometer, it’ll make the juices leak out
Image source: CrackaAssCracka, Josh Olalde / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#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.
Image source: magobblie
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