Contents
Cooking is perhaps the only science that each of us has to master to one degree or another. Yes, precisely the sciences: like any other science, cooking is subject to a clear and logical system of rules and cause-and-effect relationships, and, involuntarily, being the most popular of them, it has become overgrown with a huge number of myths and misconceptions.
Since, unlike the same mathematics, in cooking, two-two is not always equal to four (besides the correct answer, there are a large number of incorrect ones, but still edible), these myths regularly wander from recipe to recipe, and thousands of people thoughtlessly follow deliberately incorrect advice. without even knowing that there is another way. Each of the misconceptions outlined in this article was shared by me too – exactly until I established the truth from my own experience. Check yourself – you may still believe in some of these popular myths.
The steak should be salted at the very end
Myth: The steak must not be salted before frying, otherwise the salt will draw out all the moisture from the meat, and in the end it will be dry.
Reality: First, salt draws out of the meat not so much juice to worry about. Secondly, the salt dissolves in the moisture that has appeared on the surface, and this brine, under the influence of the osmosis process, is absorbed back into the meat, ultimately making it more juicy.
Eggplant needs to be salted to remove bitterness.
Myth: Before cooking, eggplants must be salted, otherwise they will taste bitter in the finished dish.
Reality: No, they will not do. Most likely, the fact is that relatively recently, eggplants really tasted bitter, and they were salted in order to remove the bitterness. The current eggplants have ceased to taste bitter, but the recipes have remained the same. However, in some cases, salting the eggplant is still worth it: after that, they will absorb less oil during frying.
Fast roasting of meat seals the juices inside
Myth: If at the very beginning of cooking a piece of meat is fried in a hot frying pan, the resulting crust will “seal” all the juices inside.
Reality: On contact with the bottom of a hot frying pan, proteins coagulate on the surface of the meat, and it shrinks, squeezing out the moisture contained inside. Thus, “sealing”, on the contrary, leads to the fact that there is less juice in the meat than if it was first baked, and only at the very end was it fried to a crust – and this is a proven fact. At the same time, frying triggers the Maillard reaction – a complex reaction of amino acids and sugars found in meat, which leads to the formation of many different compounds that give the meat a more intense and deeper taste.
Blood remains inside undercooked meat
Myth: If you cut open the undercooked meat, blood will flow out of it.
Reality: All the blood flows out even during the slaughter of the animal, and if it was carried out illiterately, you will immediately notice the remnants of blood in the meat in the form of unappetizing clots. Juice flows out of meat, which can be red due to the protein myoglobin, which is found in the muscle tissue of all mammals. In the case of prolonged heating at a temperature of 60-70 degrees, myoglobin is destroyed, as a result of which the juice flowing from well-fried meat will be transparent. At the same time, there is no direct connection between the color of the juice flowing from the meat and its culinary readiness.
You cannot heat honey
Myth: Heat-treated honey loses its beneficial properties and becomes dangerous to the body.
Reality: In folk medicine around the world, honey was often heated and even boiled, and it was in this form that honey earned the fame of a healing product. As for a substance called oxymethylfurfural, which is formed in honey when heated, in other products (in particular, in coffee, jam or coca-cola) its content is ten times higher than in honey. At the same time, a person can safely take 2 mg of oxymethylfurfural per 1 kg of body weight per day, that is, eat a kilo of overheated honey in one sitting. In short, the use of a reasonable amount of honey for culinary purposes – for making sauces, baking, coating meat, etc. – not at all dangerous.
If you eat fat, you can get better
Myth: People who eat fatty foods get fat quickly.
Reality: In Spain, in order to raise fatty pigs for the production of jamon, they are fed with acorns, bulls are kept on a grain diet for obtaining marbled meat with fat veins. For animals to gain weight quickly, they are fed carbohydrates, not fats, and this is also true for humans. The first and main enemy of the figure is fast carbohydrates, that is, first of all, sweet and starchy foods, while high-quality fats, if not abused, are necessary and useful for the body.
Dispose of expired products
Myth: After the expiration date, food deteriorates and must be thrown away.
Рreality: Not all expired foods are spoiled, and not all spoiled foods are expired (alas!). The food industry is regulated, and manufacturers often reinsure themselves, indicating a deliberately shorter shelf life, so most of the products with a slightly expired shelf life can be safely eaten. In addition, there are a number of products that, in principle, do not have a shelf life – like honey, wine or British fruitcakes – but manufacturers are still required to indicate their expiration date.