“Myth: high heat is like fast-forward for cooking. Still working to get my dad to understand this one.”
“Cookies: “bake until golden brown.” The cookie sheet will stay hot after it leaves the oven and keep baking the cookies for a minute or so. If you want soft cookies, it’s better to take them out when only the edges look golden brown and let them keep cooking outside of the oven.”
“Starting to saute onion and garlic at the same time. Onion takes a lot longer to cook and adding the garlic too early can burn it which can ruin the entire flavour of the dish. So many recipes tell you to do this and I just don’t get it!”
“Use aluminum foil shiny side in. Reynold’s says the shiny side is a result of the manufacturing process and not intended to speed up cooking. The impact of having the shiny side in is so minimal and negligible you will not notice a difference.”
“Rinsing off chicken. I know you don’t want to get salmonella, but rinsing off chicken just spreads it. Cooking it solves the problem automatically.”
“When making pie crust, rubbing the butter into the flour or using a fork/knife/pasty blender to achieve “pea-sized” crumbles.
Pretty much every recipe will describe it this way, but the expanding water from the butter drives that beautiful flakiness. Use a cheese grater with moderately large holes. Use very cold butter, and handle the butter lightly so that it doesn’t melt into your hands. Grate it and toss it into the flour about 1/3 of the butter at a time, tossing it to coat it with flour. Then make your dough. It will be light and flaky and heading in the direction of puff pastry.”
“One clove of garlic.”
“Adding oil to your pasta water to prevent it from clumping. Oil floats in water. Just stir it.”
“Myth: never use soap on cast iron. Reality: you absolutely can use soap and scrub a well seasoned cast iron. Just don’t soak it.”
“Add seasoning to taste” is a great tip to someone who’s already a competent and experienced cook (i.e. a person who doesn’t need that tip to begin with).
It is a TERRIBLE tip for an inexperienced and/or infrequent cook. Give a suggested amount of seasoning in your recipe or description.”
“If you throw a noodle at the wall and it sticks, it’s finished cooking.”
“When cooking a hamburger patty, press down on it with your spatula to make it cook more evenly/faster.” All this does beside flatten your patty is make all the juices escape, leading to a more dried out burger with less flavour.”
“Using extra virgin olive oil to cook. EVOO has a lower smoke point than regular olive oil, so regular olive oil is better for cooking.”
“Cold water boils faster.”
“Salt is supposed to be treated as flavour enhancement, not a spice. I hate overly salted food with a passion, just the thought makes me gag a bit.”
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....So where exactly do you think those minerals in your water heater came from?
The water heater isn't generating new filth, if anything it is filtering it out.
If you aren't getting crystal clear hot water, than you need to have your unit cleaned or replaced.
Quote from the U.S. EPA: USE ONLY COLD WATER FOR COOKING AND DRINKING. Do not cook with, or drink water from the hot water tap. Hot water can dissolve more lead more quickly than cold water.
The same EPA that tells us everyone is going to die if the temperature goes up 2 degrees?
#6 I use my flower coated hands to mix the butter in then put in the freezer for 30 minutes
#8 If it boils over you need more a larger pot and more water for that ammount of pasta. And mind your temperature, you don't need a rolling boil. Add the pasta to a rolling boil and slowly turn the heat down remembering that adding food to a pan will cool it down initially.