Questions tagged [cooking]
Any method which prepares food to be eaten.
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Does scouring a stainless-steel pan cause it to release metals into food?
The cookbook "Let's Cook It Right", by Adelle Davis contains the following claim (on page 4 of at least one edition - I'm not sure which edition this is but it's likely from the late sixties ...
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Does a lobster feel little/no pain when boiled alive?
Image Source
I have just read Cracked.com's "9 Ridiculous Cooking Myths You Probably Believe", that claims:
[...] because [the lobster's] nervous system isn't very complex, so it's feeling little ...
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Is it dangerous to use wooden cutlery and cutting boards with raw meat?
I have heard multiple times that "one should never cut raw meat on a wooden cutting board nor mix it using a wooden spoon."
The reason most often cited is that apparently bacteria can survive in the ...
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Are McDonald's fries coated in sugar before cooking?
I've heard that McDonalds and other fast food chains coat their fries in sugar water before frying to aid in color development, but the official McDonalds nutrition information (see page 2) indicates ...
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How unhealthy are aluminum cooking pans?
It is regularly stated that aluminum cooking pans are unhealthy, but I come accross them very often. I see people cooking both alkaline and acid foods in them, scrape them with metal, leave food ...
user4513
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Are sharp knives safer to use than dull knives for preparing food when cooking?
There seems to be an agreement that sharp knives are much safer than dull ones when you are cutting vegetables, meat, anything you cut with a chefs knife when you cook and prepare food. The reason for ...
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Does pricking eggs before boiling them reduce cracking?
All my life, I have pricked a little hole in the blunt end of an egg before boiling it. I was taught the reason is to let the pocket of air inside escape as the insides swell with the heat, to prevent ...
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Does lemon juice slow the oxidation of guacamole?
It is common belief that adding citrus juice (or in some claims, any acid, including ascorbic acid/vitamin C, vinegar, tomatoes, etc) to guacamole will reduce browning. Examples of the claim:
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Is non-stick cookware bad for your health?
Apparently Teflon (PTFE) will release toxic fumes when overheated. See this article for a lot of claims without references. You can also kill birds with it.
The claim is that heating Teflon over its ...
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Do onions become toxic or otherwise dangerous within a day of a being cut open?
I saw a new "health advice" meme on Facebook today:
Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and ...
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Does washing vegetables remove nutrients?
There are many people who cook vegetables without washing them (before cutting) because they think it removes important nutrients.
This claim is predominant in some Asian countries.
Is that true?
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Does briefly searing a steak on one side before flipping it over once "seal in the juices"?
As long as I can remember when people have fried steak, they have flipped it after the first say 20 seconds to sear it and "seal in the juices", then cooked the other side, then flipped it back to the ...
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Is there any reason to tear basil instead of cutting it with a knife?
I've heard numerous times (especially in connection with Italian dishes) that you shouldn't cut basil with a knife, but rather tear it with your hands. I've heard two different reasons for this:
the ...
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Could bread be baked in a mailbox when the temperature is 100°F (37°C)?
Texan journalist
John-Carlos Estrada recently reported on Twitter
How hot is in Texas?? This woman BAKED BREAD IN HER MAILBOX!! Roberta Wright, who lives in a suburb of Houston, posted these photos ...
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Is there formaldehyde in the glue of bamboo cutting boards? Is it dangerous?
Many purveyors of bamboo cutting boards make a point to advertise that the cutting board is made from formaldehyde-free glues.
There seems to be fairly widespread advise to avoid formaldehyde in ...
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Can the explosion of a pressure cooker kill you?
According to this XKCD what-if?, the explosion of a pressure cooker is not dangerous in itself, the heat is the sole danger.
They can explode, in a sense, but not as violently as you might fear (or ...
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Is aluminum foil safe to use with food?
Prompted by comments in the family, help me clear this up. A Google search for is aluminum foil safe yields articles that claim it's dangerous, as well as articles that claim it's safe. So which one ...
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Does rubbing the end of a cucumber improve its taste?
It's said that cutting off the end of a cucumber and rubbing it at the incision makes the cucumber less bitter. It would be very surprising to me if rubbing just one end of the cucumber could alter ...
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Do fruits and vegetables sold in supermarkets taste worse than those grown on local farms?
It is a common belief that the produce sold at American supermarkets is "bland" and "tasteless". For example, the article "EVER WONDER WHY MODERN PRODUCE IS SO TASTELESS?"...
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Can a person submerge their hands in hot frying oil without adverse effects?
I've seen numerous videos claiming to show this without blistering effects, cringing pain, or skin burns as if it was a unique skill and not just trickery -- something anyone can do with practice,
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Does boiling vegetables wash away important vitamins?
I recently heard that you should steam vegetables instead of boiling them, because boiling washes away the vitamins.
Is this really true? Is there any scientific backing to this claim? Can you really ...
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Are new born mice an available dish in Chinese restaurants?
A video of someone supposedly eating new born mice is currently doing the rounds on Facebook etcetera. Here is the video on Youtube. The Daily Mail showing this video states
The footage is believed ...
user22865
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Did the restaurant chain Olive Garden have warranty terms for their pots that prevent salting the cooking water?
In 2014, the hedge fund Starboard Value published a presentation criticising the business of the restaurant chain Olive Garden, a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants. The presentation claimed that:
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Can an astronaut on Venus cook a 16-inch pepperoni pizza by holding it in the air for 4 seconds?
According to Neil deGrasse Tyson, one can cook a 16-inch pepperoni pizza on Venus by holding it in the air for 4 seconds. However, no detailed calculations were given to demonstrate this.
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Was the microwave discovered by finding food cooked in a pocket?
Percy Spencer, just after the end of World War II, was working on a power tube for the Raytheon Corporation. Nothing might have come of it, if it weren’t for one heroic chocolate bar that gave its ...
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Is it possible to bake a cake with a phone inside, leaving the phone intact?
Recently the following picture has been circulating on some websites on the internet:
Imagine this scenario. You drop your phone in the cake batter. The cake bakes. The cake comes out looking great, ...
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Is human hair used to make bread?
While browsing Facebook I came across a post on eDidYouKnow,
Is this something that actually happens on a regular basis or is it just one of possible ways to create L-cysteine?
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Do juicers preserve the nutritional quality of fruit and vegetables?
I heard that fruits and vegetable have much more vitamins when we eat them in normal way (biting) then when we use juicer and drink only the juice.
Is it true that juice from fresh fruit and ...
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Is pouring liquor from a bottle onto a flambé an explosion risk?
Several TV chefs including, the late Julia Child, have advised against pouring liquor directly from the bottle to a pan to be ignited, as 'flames could travel up the stream and ignite the bottle' ...
Carl D
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Do vacuum blenders preserve nutrients and flavour, and produce less foam?
Aldi Australia, a supermarket, recently stocked a vacuum blender - an appliance which blends food under lower pressure.
On the packaging, there are a number of claims about the benefits of vacuum ...
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Are angel food cakes cooked in tube pans because they need support?
According to Cooks Illustrated:
There’s a good reason angel food and chiffon cakes are always baked in tube pans, and it’s not just aesthetics. These specialty vessels actually help delicate cakes ...
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Are soaked almonds easier to digest than unsoaked almonds?
Many people, especially in India, soak almonds overnight before eating them.
Some people claim this has health benefits. For example MD-Health claim:
when soaked, almonds release enzyme inhibitor ...
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Does rubbing hands on a steel block reduce the smell of garlic?
I read the question How do you remove garlic smells from your fingers? on Seasoned Advice and it reminded my of a claim I was always skeptical about. The accepted answer states:
The smell of garlic ...
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Risks of using a cast iron skillet on a flat/glass top electric range?
There are many claims about possible risks of cooking with a cast iron skillet on a flat/glass top electric range:
the glass top can break if one is not careful;
the glass can be scratched;
the glass ...
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Do earthenware pots contains lead?
I have heard somewhere that the earthenware pots contain lead, which can cause brain-damage.
Is this information correct?
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Are harmful chemicals leached from ordinary Ziploc bags when used for sous vide cooking?
Sous vide cooking is a style of cooking where you seal meat in bags and soak it in water at a specific temperature for a very long time, sometimes days. Some worry that in this process, harmful ...
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Does cooking eggs at high temperatures oxidise more fats than low temperatures?
Over the years, eggs have been vilified, then given a reprieve with regard to cholesterol, but when reading Srinivasan & Rose (2014), there is mention of lipid oxidation which can supposedly cause ...
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Does ethanol activate any taste or smell receptors?
I was reading about reducing wine and came across a claim that alcohol itself has no flavor.
But, what about the alcohol? Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol—the byproduct of yeast fermentation—has no flavor ...
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Is the first pancake normally the worst?
It is a well-known piece of folk-wisdom that when making a batch of pancakes, the first one is always a dud.
It is widespread enough that Urban Dictionary and others use it as an analogy for dating.
...
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Can you make yogurt with cultures from ant-eggs?
After being asked by a friend if there is a way to make yoghurt from scratch, I found this
There are two ways to get the bacteria, that we found; one, using the soil from an anthill, or using crushed ...
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Are eggs safe to consume once they reach 70 degrees celsius
In the Homemade Eggnog {Non Alcoholic} eggnog recipe featured on the website Annie's Noms as part of the recipe the author makes the claim that at 70 celsius the eggs are safe to eat. As below
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