Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

kind of off topic, but in regards to the garlic sprout, i'm all for it. i usually put garlic cloves that have started to sprout in a pot full of potting soil, and water like you would any other plant. eventually, the sprouts grow tall and you can cut them and use them like chives, with a nice light garlicky flavor.

but the myth of rubbing your hands with something made out of stainless steel under running water to get rid of the garlic smell? doesn't work for me and never has.

Putting salt in the water will make pasta, potatoes, whatever cook more quickly. Uh, no. Putting salt in the water lowers the boiling point of water. That means that the water will boil at a lower temperature. Lower temperature = longer cooking time.

I'm not sure that anyone puts enough salt in their water to actually have a noticeable affect on cooking time, but it still bothers me that I've seen this advice over and over and over!

I don't know about how it affects cooking but adding salt to water INCREASES its boiling point...CHem 101.

As to the myths about tricks to avoid tears while cutting onions-- the one I most hear in my family is to light a candle and place it nearby. Could be psychosomatic, but it's always worked for me. (Thank god.)

For the onions we always used the big saran/plastic food wrap around our head to cover our eyes (kind of makes you feel like a ninja turtle, and silly like one) thats the only one I have really found works.

The change of degrees (in water) from adding salt is 1 degree, at max 2, so using the old salt cliche for cooking faster doesn't really play into any serious cooks mind.

Want to read something that really blows your mind? Look up fruits that ripen (and those that don't) - online with the United States Department of Agriculture...Why? Because things like this= Pineapples DO NOT ripen after being cut or picked from the tree! It's also a myth that you can tell a fresh pineapple by a yellow color.

Just as in reverse, Avocado's do not ripen on the tree.

You would be surprised at what actually does not ripen after separating from the plant.

...cook, chef, culinary sponge, traveler, volunteer, missionary.
tyronebcookin

I didn't cry when I cut an onion recently, but my eyes stung badly, and I was wearing contacts. So, I would say that contacts are not a good solution. Then, what was worse: I cut a jalapeno pepper and then had to go into another room without having a chance to wash my hands. My nose itched because of allergies, and I scratched it. Then my nose burned! It was not a good night for my nose and eyes.
My mom said when onions make your eyes sting, drink chocolate milk. I like to have choc. milk nearby. It helps, somehow. Perhaps it's just mind over matter!

Tyrone, I liked your comment. Never knew that about fruit/veggies, but it certainly makes sense.

As for onions, I "whistle while I work." Placebo effect? Probably. And now I have this mental link between onions and the seven dwarves.

I add salt to pasta water for one reason and one reason only - it's tasteless without salt.

Myths run rampant due to old wives tales.

My mother used to make me throw a quarter in the pan while I sauteed portobello mushrooms (when they first started being available in supermarkets). Her logic was that "the quarter will turn black if the mushroom is poisonous." I think all it accomplished was giving me my daily requirement of heavy metal.

Raw Garlic is poisonous if you cut your finger with a knife that you used to cut raw garlic. Mom said the mafia used to rub their bullets with garlic so if the bullet didn't kill you the garlic would finish the job. (Ridiculous but colorful.)

Spicy foods and/or stress causes gastric ulcers. A virus causes ulcers.

Onion tears? Scuba mask is the only way I've been able to avoid it but you can bet I'll be trying Tyrone's Saran Wrap tip. Tyrone, you should send that tip in to Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated.

The myth about choosing male over female eggplant for fewer seeds drives me nuts.

And the myth about cooking dried beans and salt. Salting beans during cooking does not keep them from softening.

Tyrone, a good myth to expose. Jeffrey Steingarten has an entire chapter on the topic in his book The Man Who Ate Everything. I posted a summary of that for Eat Local Challenge. Add to the list of ones that will NOT ripen after picking: Blackberries, cacao, cherries, dates, grapes, grapefruit, lemons, limes, lichi, mandarins, olives, oranges, raspberries, strawberries and watermelons.

How about the use of the word "caramelize" to mean "brown"?

Everyone is caramelizing everything nowadays. Caramelization refers to the oxidation of sugar, so since onions have a lot of sugar, we can get away with the use of that word.

Because it's become common usage, it's not like it bothers me, but while sugars can caramelize, proteins undergo maillard reactions when they brown.

In the salted, seared steak example, the great thing about salting a steak and letting it sit before cooking it is that the salt draws out water from the flesh and with the water comes dissolved amino acids, which, when exposed to heat, undergo maillard reactions and become delicious and brown.

With onions, breaking the cell walls allows enzymes in different parts of different cells in the onion to intermingle, creating gases that, when they meet the water in your eyes, create sulfuric acid. Ouch. The best way to protect yourself is to protect your eyes, refrigerate the onion and use a sharp knife. This minimizes exposure to and intermingling of the chemicals.

And the story of the flame and the onion is if you put the flame near the onion, it creates convection currents, and the fumes from the onion move with the air toward the flame and when they reach it they are incinerated. I'm not sure how well it works or how exactly to position oneself to minimize exposure, but it's worth a try.

frederika: I don't add salt to water for boiling eggs...never knew there was a controversy ? That one is news to me...either Harold McGee or 'The New Kitchen Science' can bring you up to speed quick with things like that.

I haven't had problems with graying yolks or problems peeling eggs once learning science behind it...which is just usually consistent methods or understanding the food itself.

ExpatChef: It drove me nuts trying to convince my 'bosses' that those fruits did not ripen after picking! Finally had to break them down with the old USDA site!

...cook, chef, culinary sponge, traveler, volunteer, missionary.
tyronebcookin