If you’re learning to cook, you’ll find that there is a lot of misinformation out there! Maybe your Mom taught you that adding a potato to oversalted soup or stew will absorb the salt, or you heard from a friend that salt makes water boil faster. You trust the people in your life, so you take their word without doing any additional research. But just like when you’re deciding which candidate to vote for, or trying to determine what is real or fake news — you should do some of your own damn research. Don’t believe the memes or what your friend of a friend said.

Of course, cooking myths and misconceptions are a lot less detrimental to society — if you believe one your life has maybe been inconvenienced a bit, and it’s not like you voted for a guy that looks like if khaki pants learned to smile. Although this information isn’t life changing, hopefully it’s still useful for your culinary journey!

Throw Pasta at a Wall — If It Sticks, It’s Done

This first one is a bit silly to lighten the mood. (That intro was hella heavy.)

Why? Why was this ever a thing? We get it, as the pasta noodles cook, the outside of the noodle cooks faster than the inside, creating a starchy, sticky coating. If it’s sticky enough to defy gravity a la Spiderman, then it’s done. Do you know what’s a better way to check if your noodles are done? Following the directions on the package and then checking how close they are by eating one. It really is that simple. If your pasta sticks to the wall when you throw it, it’s probably overdone. Don’t do this.

Don’t Wash Mushrooms

This one is just plain wrong. Mushrooms are fungi, and like a lot of fungi they tend to grow where there is a lot of poop and dirt. So why are people telling you not to wash your mushrooms? Because mushrooms are really, really, really absorbent. A mushroom is essentially a collection of tubes that soak up water and nutrients through the ground. They are loaded with water — seriously, grab a handful of mushrooms right now, squeeze them, and watch how much water comes out. So, naturally, if you wash mushrooms, they will absorb water.

The main argument then becomes: lots of water means a longer time to cook, so not washing the mushrooms means they’ll cook faster. And this is true, but it’s nasty because of the above mentioned poop. So wash your mushrooms, give them a bit of a squeeze, and use high heat. They will come out nice and browned and there won’t be any dirt (or poop) anywhere.

Food Labels Tell The Truth

Breaking News: food labels lie. So many use buzzwords to get you believe that they are healthy and will lead you to believe that you’re making the right choice.

Food companies want to sell their product, so they’re going to do their darndest to use stealthy marketing tactics to make you buy it.

Organic: many people think that organic = pesticide free, which means that the food is safer to consume. However, organic certification does allow farmers to use some synthetic chemicals to kill pests. Is organic food more nutritious? No. Does it taste better? Some people say it does, others say they can’t taste a difference. Buy organic food if you want to avoid the chemicals, preservatives, and hormones — don’t buy it because you think it’s more nutritious. To learn more about organic food, we recommend listening to this podcast episode by Science Vs.
Free Range: buying free range meat makes us feel better, as we imagine a happy chicken or cow roaming free and living a happy life before being slaughtered. However, this label is very minimally regulated. According to the USDA, free range simply means that producers must demonstrate that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside. This technically doesn’t require that the animal has spent a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors.
Natural: does natural = healthy? Maybe, maybe not. Always read the ingredients! Natural is defined and enforced in some countries, but in the United States it is not. In Canada, if you claim a product is natural you cannot add artificial flavouring, colouring, nutrients, and it must be minimally processed.
Superfood: this label is being thrown around a lot, but there is no regulated definition of a superfood, because there is no scientifically based study that says “X is a superfood”. Don’t get caught up in the superfood hype — check out Harvard’s article about the term.

If you live in Canada, you can easily search for a food label you want to learn more about via the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website. For information about food labeling in the United States, check out the USDA’s website.

If you want to eat healthy, just read the ingredients list and make an informed decision based on that — don’t trust the marketing buzzwords that you see on the front of the package.

Pink Meat is Bad (And You’re Going to Die if You Eat it)

Not all pink meat is bad for you. The important thing to remember when cooking meat is to make sure that the internal temperature is high enough so that any bacteria has been killed.

This nifty poster prepared by Health Canada gives you the information you need to know, but the gist is:

165 for poultry
145 for red meat (160 for ground meat)
160 for pork
158 for fish
165 for shellfish

As long as the meat meets these minimum temperatures internally, its safe to eat.

Hey look, a nifty poster courtesy of Health Canada.

Disclaimer: This is only true if you’ve taken a proper temperature reading. The thermometer has to be in the thickest part of the meat and not touching any bone.

Bonus Round: The red liquid coming from your medium rare steak isn’t blood. It’s water that has been coloured red by myoglobin — a protein found in red meat. Do you know how unsanitary blood is? You can’t serve blood at a restaurant, use some common sense.

Look at dat red meat. Perfectly medium rare.

Adding Olive Oil to Pasta Water Keeps It From Sticking

Do not do this! It will not prevent your pasta noodles from sticking together while they boil. The only thing you’re doing is wasting perfectly good olive oil. When you strain your pasta, the olive oil layer will be left behind and coat your boiled noodles — making it harder for your sauce to stick to the pasta. If you’re worried about your pasta noodles sticking, just give them a good stir every once in a while!

All Fat is Bad for You

Disclaimer: Okay, so this particular misconception is very complex and highly nuanced, and neither of us are registered dieticians, nutritionists, nor food scientists. So take everything we’re saying with a grain of salt, and make sure to do your own research. We recommend starting here with this Harvard Health article that we used as the basis for this section.

What even is fat? Technically speaking, a dietary fat is a long chain of carbon molecules that are completely surrounded (saturated fat) or partially surrounded (unsaturated fat) by hydrogen atoms. The amount of hydrogen surrounding the carbon, as well as the general shape and structure of the carbon chain is what gives each fat is properties. (And that’s the end of the science lesson we swear.)

To keep things simple we’re going to only discuss the types of fat that you will encounter in your cooking: Monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans fat.

Unsaturated Fats (Mono and Poly)

If you see these terms think oils — olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, and nuts are all examples of monounsaturated fats. These are generally considered healthy for you in moderation, especially when used in place of saturated or trans fats, and may help to reduce harmful cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated fats include things like corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil. These fats are essential fats (fats that your body can’t make, and thus need to be consumed for proper bodily function) and so are considered healthy in moderation as well. These fats will help to reduce harmful cholesterol.

Saturated Fats

The main difference between saturated and unsaturated fats is that saturated fats will generally be solid at room temperature. Things like butter, milk fats, and red meat fat are all saturated fats. (We’re so sad that butter is on this list. Butter is delicious.)

Are saturated fats bad for you? That’s a tough question to answer. One meta-study suggests that there is inconclusive evidence to suggest that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease. So what should you do? Play it safe and try to reduce the amount of saturated fats in your diet and use unsaturated fats when you can.

Trans Fats

This shit is just straight up bad for you. Trans fats are unsaturated fats that have had a hydrogen atom added to them to make them more solid and thus have a longer shelf life. If you can buy it at a gas station convenience store, it probably has trans fat in it. So does most shortening. Why do you think that baked goods made with shortening taste so good? Trans fats.

Trans fat is well known to increase the amount of harmful cholesterol in your blood and increase the risk of heart and cardiovascular disease.

Just avoid it. Please.

Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids

We’ve already talked so much about fat, so we don’t really want to keep going, especially about Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, but the quick and dirty is that they are wonderful for you, and you should include them in your diet wherever you can.

Diet/Low Fat/Low Calorie Foods Are Better For You

It’s hard to make a blanket statement for this one, but we’re going to try.

If you take something out of food (sugar, fat, carbs, calories) you either need to replace it with something else, or accept that the food is now missing something.

For foods sporting the “diet” label, they have removed sugar and replaced it with an artificial sweetener — usually aspartame or Splenda (sucralose for those who want to get all scientific). “bUt aSpArTaMe cAuSes cAnCeR” I hear you cry. At best, the data is inconclusive.

Low fat foods are foods that have had some of the fat taken out of them, and then usually replaced with a form of carbohydrate. So sure, you’re reducing your fat intake, but possibly increasing the amount of sugar, or other simple carbohydrates, in your body, thus increasing calories, and possibly leading to weight gain. Kind of a weird trade off once you start thinking about it.

Low calorie foods are basically what they say on the tin: foods with less calories. Does that mean it’s automatically healthier for you? Not necessarily, because you need calories to live. Calories are a measure of energy content, and everyone has a certain amount that they require every day to live. (This is called your Basal Metabolic Rate and is a good starting point if you want to start weight loss, or weight gain, but that’s an entirely separate topic.)

So as long as you’re getting the proper amount of calories and nutrients elsewhere everyday, then go ahead, slap on some low calorie mayo to your sandwich. (Reducing calories is done by removing either fat or sugar — it’s just another way of labeling the same thing.)

Sharp Knives Are Dangerous

This one is a bit loaded, because yes, sharp knives are more dangerous than blunt knives. However, like we said in a previous post, a sharp knife goes where you want it to, and a dull knife goes where it wants to.

Sure, a sharp knife has a better chance at puncturing your skin, but a dull knife has a better chance of putting you in that situation.

Sharp knives can be scary, especially if you’re new and haven’t developed your knife skills yet. Work slowly and carefully, concentrating on making precise cuts, and in time, the speed will come.

Need to sharpen your dull knives? Learn how to sharpen your knives with a whetstone!

Marinating Meat Tenderizes It

We’ve been guilty of believing this one for a long time. In reality, most of the time when we use a marinade we’re just imparting flavour, and not tenderizing the meat all the way through like we think we are. In this interview, America’s Test Kitchen busts this myth by conducting an experiment.

“All marinating does is put a tiny bit of flavor on the outside part of whatever it is you're marinating. The other thing people say is that marinating tenderizes things. If you use acid – or the other thing people often use is papaya juice – theoretically, it will tenderize the meat, but only to the same depth as those marinades penetrated. All it does is make the outside mushy. No matter how long you marinate, you're only going to get mushy exterior and a tiny bit of flavor on the outside.” - John “Doc” Willoughby.

There you have it folks — martinating doesn’t tenderize. There are a lot of people that swear by marinating meat, but apparently it really isn’t doing much to tenderize your meat.

The problem with this myth is: marinating works, it just doesn’t work the way people think it works — it’s not penetrating the meat as far as we think it is and breaking it down. If you want to make a tough cut of meat easier to eat, slice it thinly instead.

The Heat From Peppers Comes From the Seeds

This was a “TIL” moment for us when writing this post. We’ve always been told that the heat comes from the seeds, and this has been reinforced in our brains when a recipe calls for a jalapeno pepper to be deseeded. However, the heat (capsaicin) is actually stored in the white membrane (aka pith, ribs) of the pepper, and not the seeds! When you deseed a pepper you take out the membrane along with the seeds, so you are making it less spicy, but not for the reason we originally thought.

There are a lot of food myths to cover, and we’re only two people so we can’t cover them all! We covered some easy ones and some more complicated ones, so be sure to check out our sources to learn more.

What food myth did you believe until you learned it wasn’t true? Tell us in the comments below!

10 Food Misconceptions & Cooking Myths