What are some of the dumbest, most impractical "facts" or advice you've heard on a cooking show?

[CharlieD]

When I was binge-watching cooking shows last weekend, I stumbled upon some truly bizarre advice. It made me wonder if the hosts had ever set foot in a kitchen!
"For a healthier option, substitute butter with mayonnaise in your baking recipes."
Because apparently, mayo magically transforms into a health food when it's baked.

It's mind-boggling how some of these "tips" make it onto cooking shows, but I guess we're all entitled to our kitchen experiments, right?

Well, do not know about healthy, but in some recipes margarine makes baked good a lot softer.

 

[Texmex]

Telling people to add a couple spoonfuls of Chipotle to a recipe. Telling people to use pepper jack cheese in cooking TexMex.

 

[dragnlaw]

Texmex
I'm not familiar with the go-to ingredients for texmex cooking so would you might explaining to me why those are so wrong?

 

[caseydog]

Texmex
I'm not familiar with the go-to ingredients for texmex cooking so would you might explaining to me why those are so wrong?

I know TexMex well, and don't see anything terribly wrong with pepper jack, although I'd add Jack cheese and jalapeños as separate items.

As for chipotle, that is used often in TexMex, both as a dried powder, or canned in Adodo, which is a sauce.

CD

 

[BAPyessir6]

One I have seen written a lot and in a few amateur cook videos is to "seal" the meat by searing it. Nope, that has been debunked repeatedly.

I dislike when any recipes say "The best". I don't mind someone calling it "my best" or "my favourite" or similar. But, "The best", hmph. I might know a version that I think is better.

I know that there are other "facts" that I have seen or heard stated in cooking shows/videos/online recipes. I can't think of any others at the moment. I'm sure something will come to me.

I just remembered one. "You should never fry with olive oil." Why? Just because it's good in salad dressing? EVOO is fine to at least 350°F. I use it all the time for frying. It's not a problem. I used to be sparing with the EVOO, but it didn't get used enough and would start to smell wrong. Since I started using it for frying, that never happens.

On the "sealing" meat myth, wouldn't searing it technically do the opposite (kind of), as searing damages the meat fibers?

On frying with EVOO, do you mean shallow frying/sauteing, or deep frying? Can you deep fry with olive oil?

 

[BAPyessir6]

POTATOES SUCK UP SALT!

On this note, I found it absolutely hilarious in the film Ratatouille (which I figure is supposed to be cooking accurate) that Remi the mouse "fixed" a soup that had at least 8 oz of salt in it by simply adding a negligible amount of chicken broth, a splash of cream, and a few mouse-sized fistfuls of herbs. Movie magic!

 

[caseydog]

On the "sealing" meat myth, wouldn't searing it technically do the opposite (kind of), as searing damages the meat fibers?

On frying with EVOO, do you mean shallow frying/sauteing, or deep frying? Can you deep fry with olive oil?

The searing of meat is primarily for flavor and color, due to the Maillard reaction. It does not prevent juices from escaping, as the myth states.

EVOO would not be good for deep frying. It has too much of a pronounced flavor, and not high enough smoke point. You want an oil with a higher smoke point and neutral flavor for deep frying. My personal favorite is peanut oil.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

I know TexMex well, and don't see anything terribly wrong with pepper jack, although I'd add Jack cheese and jalapeños as separate items.

As for chipotle, that is used often in TexMex, both as a dried powder, or canned in Adodo, which is a sauce.

CD

Well, that's sort of what I thought.

 

[pictonguy]

On the "sealing" meat myth, wouldn't searing it technically do the opposite (kind of), as searing damages the meat fibers?

On frying with EVOO, do you mean shallow frying/sauteing, or deep frying? Can you deep fry with olive oil?

Yes you can deep fry with extra virgin olive oil. 300-350 is that range. In Italy there will be regional dishes that require deep frying and of course the oil of choice will be evoo. For example in Campania, Fritto Misto which is basically seafood is a traditional dish. Another is panzerotti which originated from the Apulia region that deep fried in evoo. There's also a long list of sweets that are traditionally deep fried in evoo like bombolini's from Tuscany. I've deep fried French fries, churros, and chicken for example where the evoo adds a lot of flavor and character, and so it should. Also the nutrients in evoo and antioxidants for example are not destroyed with deep frying, that's kind of a myth, but yes get any oil hot enough and it will destroy everything.