Cooking is as much about breaking the "rules" as it is about following them. That's why you taste the dish you're preparing even if you're following a recipe.
Even some restaurant chefs might be deemed as anarchists for abandoning convention but still have their tables booked.
So to find out what practices people have thrown out their kitchen window, Redditor ThatSpyGuy made a post on the platform, asking other users, "What commonly repeated cooking tip is just completely wrong?"
I think it's important to highlight that intention is what matters the most around cooking pots. The ability to recognize precisely what you want on your plate and how your actions impact the end results. We can't really categorize all of the replies ThatSpyGuy has received in terms of "bad" and good". What we can do, however, is appreciate the thinking and experimenting.
#1
Caramelized onions - 5 minutes. wtf... I see this everywhere. it's takes 20 - 45 minutes to do that
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190points
#2
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!
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157points
#3
The prep/cooking time in that recipe you're using is a bald-faced lie.
156points
#4
"Don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink." I swear this is a rule made up by lushes planning on drinking the wine and using cooking as an excuse to buy it. What I want in a wine to drink is very different than I want in a wine to cook with.
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147points
#5
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.
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140points
#6
Break the spaghetti to cook it faster. All you’re doing is breaking someone’s Italian nana’s heart.
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139points
#7
Not washing/cleaning after you cook because of X amount of reasons. Clean as you cook is the way.
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129points
#8
Not a cooking tip but a drinking one: Don’t put too many ice cubes in your drink because it will melt and you will end up with too much water. Wrong, the more ice cubes you put the longer the ice will stay and not melt. If you put only one or two, they will melt VERY quickly.
(Ofc exceptions has to be made for “on the rocks” spirits)
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122points
#9
Myth: high heat is like fast-forward for cooking.
Still working to get my dad to understand this one.
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115points
#10
"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.
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110points
#11
"Cook until it's ready"
IF I AM NOT PROFESSIONAL HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS READY? WTF? PLEASE GIVE ME INFORMATION HOW LONG SHOUD I COOK IT
102points
#12
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.
102points
#13
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.
Seriously, I use the same dough recipe I always used and the results are just staggeringly better because of this technique.
ETA Yep, this works for biscuits too.
98points
#14
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.
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86points
#15
Not really a tip, but a recipe complaint.
Don’t measure flour(or other compressible powders) in volume! Use weight, a cup of sifted flour can be half of a cup of compressed flour.
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82points
#16
Leave the burger for a long time, then flip it once.
Lots of people give this advice, including web sites and even chefs.
But then the labs who actually test this stuff find that the burgers are better, and cook faster, if you flip more often.
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81points
#17
Adding oil to your pasta water to prevent it from clumping. Oil floats in water. Just stir it.
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73points
#18
That mayo is superior to butter for grilled cheese. It's not. Yeah, it also gets a nice crust and is easy to spread, but butter tastes way better.
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72points
#20
“Microwaving food will destroy nutrient molecules”
Microwaves are far too long-waved to cause any molecular changes. All they do is make molecules vibrate faster. They don’t directly break up molecules.
To actually split chemical bonds you need much shorter wavelengths. UV light at least. It is true that Microwaves can INDIRECTLY cause chemical reactions because they will increase the temperature of the food. But that is no different to any other heat source.
Likely, microwaves preserve nutrients BETTER than boiling/steaming because the heat is delivered faster and the food spends less time in a high temperature state.
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66points