If you cook at all, you know you can’t believe every kitchen tip or trick you hear or read. Well, Redditor emuwar asked, “What cooking propaganda are you NOT falling for?” Here’s what home cooks said.
1.
“Any recipe claiming that caramelizing onions takes ten minutes…”
2.
“That you shouldn’t combine cheese and fish. Bogus. Cheese is good with everything.”
3.
“You do not need to get your pan ‘ripping hot’ for everything. The Maillard reaction happens at about 350°F, so no need to burn your food on the outside before the inside is cooked. The smoke point for extra virgin olive oil is about 400°F, so you don’t have to worry about burning your oil either.”
4.
“That I need gloves when cooking food. I’m cooking food for myself and washing my hands constantly. I’m good.”
5.
“Cauliflower is NOTHING like rice or potatoes. It tastes like sadness unless roasted.”
6.
“When people start the cooking video with, ‘when I’m too lazy/don’t want to cook, I make this easy blah blah,’ and then proceed to pull out an onion and a chopping board. Already lost me. If I’m in the mood to be lazy, nothing is getting chopped. The stove is not even getting turned on.”
7.
“That mushrooms shouldn’t be washed. Yes, they SHOULD. They DON’T absorb water like a sponge.”
8.
“That you shouldn’t salt your steak too early, as it draws out the juices and makes it dry. Nah man, I salt my steaks like three days before cooking, let them air dry in the fridge, and sear. It’s the best steak by miles.”
9.
“That ‘organic’ food is better for you. Just because it says ‘organic’ on the label, doesn’t mean it’s good. Unless I can actually see the process of growing and processing of the food labeled ‘organic’, I ain’t believing you.”
10.
“‘Bone broth.’ It’s stock. Literally overpriced stock. (I do make my own stock, though. Always gelatinous and delicious).”
11.
“Cast iron care. Cast iron is one of the most durable materials out there, and as such, it doesn’t need to be babied. You can cook tomatoes/vinegar/whatever the hell acidic dish you want in it, wash it with soap, grease it up a little, and be good to go. If it rusts, it can easily be restored. You can use whatever utensils you want. You can soak it in water if you want. It’s a big hunk of metal; all this nonsense about treating it like a holy relic is mostly a waste of time. If soap or acid strips off the seasoning, you don’t have seasoning, you have oil. Use your cast iron, they can handle being used harder than any other pan in your kitchen, I promise.”
13.
“Any single recipe with ‘marry me’ in the title.”
14.
“A recipe claiming an ‘easy 10 minute prep time’ that proceeds to show five different veggies, including two that need to be sliced, one that needs to be diced, one that needs to be peeled, and one that needs to be all three of the above and then pureed in a blender.”
16.
“’Don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink.’ Most of the time, I’m adding wine to dishes for a hit of acidity and not in a large enough amount that other flavor notes are going to be all that noticeable. Plus, it’s unlikely that I’ll go through a full bottle in 1 meal, so it’s inevitably going to sit and go sour. I’m not dropping big money on a bottle for that when relatively cheap stuff will do the job.”
17.
“‘Recipes that call for one clove of garlic.’ *Proceeds to use half a head of garlic.*”
18.
“That you should use unsalted butter in a recipe. If I’m making something sweet, a little salt helps accent the sweet taste. And if it’s a savory dish, I can also reduce the amount of salt the recipe calls for.”
19.
“That an air fryer isn’t just a small convection oven.”
20.
“That garlic should go into a recipe first. I made so much of my early cooking life so much more difficult by thinking that garlic always had to go in at the start. Most of the time, I was fighting for my life, trying to keep garlic from burning.”
21.
“That MSG is bad for you. And the most hilarious thing about this is that the people who claim this have no idea that MSG is naturally occurring in some of the fresh fruits and vegetables they eat.”
22.
“These delivery services that are trying to sell so-called ‘imperfect’ foods, supposedly to fight food waste, all while charging more than the grocery store prices.”
23.
“Greek yogurt is not a substitute for sour cream. Neither is cottage cheese. It’s noticeable in food, the chunks are both visually unappealing and texturally appalling.”
Do you have something to add? What kitchen propaganda are you not falling for as a home cook? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
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