Nowadays, the internet is filled with a lot of modern cooking hacks, but the catch is that many of these rarely seem to work. However, this isn’t even a new phenomenon. There are countless examples of counterproductive old-fashioned culinary tricks as well, and here are some of them that do more harm than good.
Peeling Carrots Before Cooking
Many wannabe chefs recommend that you peel carrots before cooking them, but that really isn’t necessary. All it achieves is removing valuable nutrients found in the skin. It’s good to give your carrots a good scrub under running water to clean them adequately, but you should keep the skins on, enhancing the nutritional value of carrots, as well as their texture.
Squeezing Lemons with a Fork
For some bizarre reason, people always advise each other to use a fork to squeeze lemon juice, but anyone who has tried this knows that it leads to a mess. It’s super inefficient, too, especially when handheld citrus juicers exist. These tools extract way more juice with less effort while also keeping seeds out of your dishes.
Overcrowding the Pan
Not so long ago, chefs on social media were obsessing over one-pot recipes, and while these have their place and time, they can quickly overcrowd your pan. This leads to your ingredients being steamed rather than seared, resulting in soggy, unevenly cooked food. So, give your ingredients enough space to ensure proper browning and flavor development, and use multiple pans if necessary.
Adding Oil to Pasta Water
A lot of people still claim that pouring oil into boiling pasta water is a good way to prevent sticking. In reality, Simply Recipes explains that the oil will coat the pasta, making it slippery and less able to absorb sauces. This results in bland, flavorless pasta dishes, so instead, just stir your pasta occasionally to keep it from clumping together.
Rinsing Raw Chicken
Contrary to popular belief, washing raw chicken under running water doesn’t remove bacteria; it just spreads them around your sink and kitchen. Cooking chicken thoroughly to the proper temperature is the only way to ensure it’s safe to eat, so avoid this hack like the plague to prevent cross-contamination.
Storing Tomatoes in the Fridge
Despite the rumor being around for decades, refrigerating tomatoes does not prolong their freshness. In reality, all it achieves is to ruin their texture and flavor, so what you should really be doing is storing them on the counter, away from direct sunlight. This way, your tomatoes will always be ready to be cooked at optimal ripeness.
Cooking Steak Straight from the Fridge
Another outdated cooking hack that does more harm than good is putting refrigerated steak directly into a hot pan. This is terrible advice because it causes uneven cooking; you should allow your steak to come to room temperature before cooking to ensure even heat distribution and better results.
Flipping Pancakes Frequently
Every year, social media influencers spread the myth that you should constantly flip your pancakes for the ultimate fluffy texture, which is nonsense. It only leads to uneven cooking and a tough texture; in reality, you should only flip them once when bubbles form on the surface. Any pro chef will tell you that.
Using Dull Knives
For some reason, a rumor has been going around the culinary world that dull knives are perfectly fine to use. This isn’t true at all; they’re really dangerous, as they require more force and can slip easily. Furthermore, they usually lead to unevenly or inefficiently chopped ingredients, so just throw away your old knives and buy new ones, along with a knife sharpener.
Boiling Vegetables
While it might seem more straightforward to just boil your vegetables, this will inevitably lead to nutrient loss and bland flavor, so steaming or roasting are much better options. These techniques preserve the nutritional value of your vegetables while enhancing their natural flavors, so you should ignore anyone who tells you otherwise.
Microwaving Bread
No matter how many times people tell you to do so, never reheat your bread in the microwave, as this will turn it tough and chewy. Instead, use an oven or toaster oven to revive its freshness, helping to restore its original taste without negatively affecting its crisp texture.
Adding Salt at the End
Despite what amateur chefs often recommend, adding salt only at the end of cooking isn’t sufficient for seasoning. You should salt your food gradually throughout the cooking process, tasting and enhancing the taste as you go. There’s nothing wrong with adding some extra salt at the end of cooking, but it certainly shouldn’t be the only time you do it.
Using Expired Baking Powder
Recently, some social media chefs are telling their audience that it’s okay to use expired baking powder, but don’t listen to them–this could ruin your baked goods, causing them to fall flat. Check the expiration date before using your baking powder and replace it if necessary. You can save your expired baking powder for a DIY cleaning product, which could still be effective.
Peeling Potatoes Before Boiling
Just like with carrots, it’s never wise to peel your potatoes before boiling them, which removes valuable nutrients and flavor found in the skin. Boil them with the skins on, then peel them after if desired. However, we’d recommend just keeping them on, as they add a whole lot of goodness to the vegetable.
Using a Metal Spatula on Nonstick Pans
It’s outrageous how stupid some cooking hacks of the past were. Using a metal spatula on nonstick pans is a classic example. This damages the pan’s nonstick coating, causing it to flake off into your food. Not only does this wreck the pan, but the coating could also be toxic when consumed. So, just use wooden or silicone utensils and ignore anyone recommending this outdated “cooking hack.”
Measuring Dry Ingredients in Liquid Measuring Cups
Some people claim that you can skip using scales and just measure dry ingredients in liquid measuring cups, but this is a big mistake. It will most definitely lead to inaccurate measurements, affecting the outcome of your recipes. Stick to using scales to measure exact weights, and leave the measuring cups for liquids.
Thawing Meat on the Counter
As mentioned earlier, it’s a good idea to let refrigerated steak reach room temperature on the kitchen counter, but don’t do this to defrost frozen meat. This is a major hygiene hazard, as it could lead to bacterial growth and foodborne illnesses. Despite this basic rule, so many people recommend this technique as a handy cooking hack, which is concerning.
Using Too Much Flour When Rolling Dough
Contrary to popular belief, there definitely is such a thing as using too much flour when you’re rolling dough. Going overboard with flour will make your dough dry and tough; you should still lightly dust your surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking, but that’s enough.
Relying Solely on Nonstick Spray
Perhaps the most frustrating outdated cooking hack that we hear all the time is the recommendation of using nonstick spray in baking, which almost always leads to unevenly coated pans. In turn, this results in your baked goods sticking to the tray, potentially ruining it completely. So, use real grease, and use it plentifully, making sure to give your tray a thorough coating, and you’ll have no problems.