Cooking myths

[Kayelle]

Knowing what we do, it's a wonder that any of us eat chicken!!

I'll continue to wash mine however, if only because it makes me feel better.

 

[powerplantop]

Hot pan Cold oil prevents sticking.
It has to do with temperature of the oil when food is put into the pan not the temp of the pan when the oil is added. You can take a cold pan add oil heat it up and you will get the same result. If you add the food before the pan/oil is hot it might stick.

 

[powerplantop]

Never salt meat before cooking...

I salt my steaks at least one hour before cooking. Do they lose some mositure? Yes but they taste a lot better.

 

[powerplantop]

You can not fry with Olive oil due to its smoke point.

This depends upon how much the oil has been processed. EVOO is not a good choice but other OO are just fine unless you are frying at a very high temp.

pompeian

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Hot pan Cold oil prevents sticking.
It has to do with temperature of the oil when food is put into the pan not the temp of the pan when the oil is added. You can take a cold pan add oil heat it up and you will get the same result. If you add the food before the pan/oil is hot it might stick.

Please test your hypothesy. Personal experience has taught me that if I heat the oil with the pan, foods stick to my SS pans. If, however, I heat them dry, and then add just a little oil, running it all over the cooking surface, foods slide across the pan like a puck on fresh ice.

I believe that the oil polymerizes when it hits the hot pan surface, creating a very smooth and slick, oiled surface for the food to rest on.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[powerplantop]

Please test your hypothesy.

I have. Besides I think I am like most people when using cast iron before I put it up I add a thin layer of oil. So next time I use the pan it has oil in it that was added when the pan was cold.

What I think happens is people put the pan on the burner, add the oil then when it gets warm they add the food. It makes a bit of noise and sticks.

But try this put your SS pan on the burner, add enough oil to give a thin coating of oil and turn on the burner. When you start to see it shimmer start watching it close. (yes this is when we are told to add the food but its not hot enough) when you see it starting to pull away from the middle swirl the oil around in the pan and add your food.

Normally I add my oil just before adding the food but I do that to keep from burning the oil. When using my wok (that was put away with a light coating of oil) I heat it up until it just starts to smoke then add my oil swirl then add my food.

 

[Claire]

Myth - microwaves cook from the inside, out. Microwaves transmit energy by exciting the molecules they touch. The outside of foods radiated by microwave energy receive the most concentrated energy, absorbing it and heating. The microwave energy penetrates the food, but gets weaker as it goes because it is giving up energy as it penetrates. The outside gets hot first, but the inside is heated as well. So the food cooks faster because there are two heat sources, direct energy from the microwaves, and thermal conduction from the hotter outside of the food to the inside.

Just so you know, microwave energy is simply the same electro-magnetic energy used to transmit radio signals. It falls within a specific frequency range. Radars transmit microwave energy in a directional path, and have an antenna that is tuned to the specific frequency that is transmitted. The radar picks up the reflected radio waves and the electronics turns that reflected energy into a displayed reading on a screen, telling how far, and in what direction the object reflecting the energy is from the radar.

In my home town, at the height of the cold war, we use to have a radar that was so powerful, that if you dripped a cow in front of the transmitter, is would be cooked before it hit the ground.

Is there any wonder that the first microwave marketed was called by the brand name - Radar Range?

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I love it, you're so cute. In case anyone is really that naive, I lived right under one of those Dew Line radars for 3 years. I now glow in the dark! Seriously, no one I know had any medical problems. And I mean literally right under it! My kitties did fine, too.

 

[babetoo]

i always heard that if you sprinkle salt in a hot pan, it will not let the meat stick. not true!!

 

[Caslon]

Let us not forget this myth, adding a raw potato to a stew or stock to absorb saltiness. I was taken in by that one.

 

[Andy M.]

Please test your hypothesy. Personal experience has taught me that if I heat the oil with the pan, foods stick to my SS pans. If, however, I heat them dry, and then add just a little oil, running it all over the cooking surface, foods slide across the pan like a puck on fresh ice.

I believe that the oil polymerizes when it hits the hot pan surface, creating a very smooth and slick, oiled surface for the food to rest on.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

We had a similar discussion a couple of years ago. I my testing, there is no difference in sticking whether you add the oil to a cold or hot pan.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I love it, you're so cute. In case anyone is really that naive, I lived right under one of those Dew Line radars for 3 years. I now glow in the dark! Seriously, no one I know had any medical problems. And I mean literally right under it! My kitties did fine, too.

That's because, my dear freind, you weren't in the direct path of the transmitted radiation. the microwave beam transmitted by the radar is thin and directional. I've worked around Omani-directional antennae that had to be turned off due to radiation danger, and they transmitted a fraction of the energy pushed out from those gargantuan radars that the airforce had running.

In the early days of radar gun use by police, several officers were made sterile because the transmitter (the radar gun) wasn't turned off before being set down in the squad car. The microwave energy damaged the men permanently.

Think of it this way. My microwave unit produces 1500 watts of microwave energy. It will blow up an egg in less than a minute. Those big radars produced mega-watts of microwave energy, enough to blow up many, many, many eggs, instantaneously. Electronics techs who worked around radar, radio, and waveguides had to be very careful to make sure the units were turned off before working on them.

Oh, and if I remember correctly, the strength of the signal decreases directly by the square of the distance. Close up, those big transmitters were deadly. But that power dissipated quickly with distance. That's why they had those gargantuan parabolic dishes, to capture as much reflected energy as possible.

Myth - Goodweed knows everything. There may be some small thing that I've missed in this universe. There might even be two small things.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[4meandthem]

Chicken myth: If you buy Foster Farms chicken you are getting a safer product. Same goes for some other major brands but when they were tested foe salmonella bacteria allmost all samples from the large brands contained it (Tyson too). I wash my chicken and treat it like it has salmonella no matter what. It prbably does.I now shop for price and have been consistaly been able to find leg quarters for .57lb frozen. Hard to pass that up and i am generally marinating or rubbing it anyway.

 

[jennyema]

Chicken myth: If you buy Foster Farms chicken you are getting a safer product. Same goes for some other major brands but when they were tested foe salmonella bacteria allmost all samples from the large brands contained it (Tyson too). I wash my chicken and treat it like it has salmonella no matter what. It prbably does.I now shop for price and have been consistaly been able to find leg quarters for .57lb frozen. Hard to pass that up and i am generally marinating or rubbing it anyway.

Washing chicken doesn't make it safer. It just risks cross-contamination of your kitchen. The USDA tells you not to do it.

COOKING chicken to a safe temperature is what kills bacteria.

 

[4meandthem]

Washing chicken doesn't make it safer. It just risks cross-contamination of your kitchen. The USDA tells you not to do it.

COOKING chicken to a safe temperature is what kills bacteria.

I agree and never disputed that. I will however continue to wash my chickens. There are enough nasty bits inside one that I want to remove.

 

[powerplantop]

Please test your hypothesy. Personal experience has taught me that if I heat the oil with the pan, foods stick to my SS pans. If, however, I heat them dry, and then add just a little oil, running it all over the cooking surface, foods slide across the pan like a puck on fresh ice.

I believe that the oil polymerizes when it hits the hot pan surface, creating a very smooth and slick, oiled surface for the food to rest on.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

Tonight I cooked a chicken breast after putting cold in in a cold pan.

Cooking Myth Hot Pan Cold Oil Prevents Sticking - YouTube