Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Semi OT. Myths exposed

Doug in Eggmonton
Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I get a Google reader feed of the Serious eats blog, and this interesting post debunks many things I had accepted as truth, maybe you'll find it interesting.

Doug.

Comments

  • big fan of busted myths.

    the one that really sticks out for me there is the idea that moist environments will preserve moisture (basting, drip pans, etc.). it's all bunk. you can make a chicken breast dry and overcooked by boiling it, and that is as moist an environment as you can get.

    i can't resist jumping in for the hundredth time when myths are mentioned here as accepted fat. it is my weakness.

    my bug-a-boos are (not an inclusive list), the myths that:

    -salting can dry food

    -that leaving meat out will bring it to "room temp"

    -that smoke stops absorbing into the meat after an hour or so

    -that smoke is even absorbed at all

    -that galvanized metal is dangerous in an egg (uh oh, here we go again!)

    -that searing "locks in" juices (it lets them out, actually)

    -that microwaves cook from the inside out

    -that fidel is a natural blonde
  • Ghost of Stike,

    The one I love is Beer Can Chicken is moister and more tender! Right. TNW busted that one. There was a new food show on last night on tailgaiting cooking competition (it was worse than BBQ Pitmasters) that made that same claim.

    Smokin'Stogies in Exton, Pa with my wife and our four dogs; Sully and Boo the Newfoundlands, Murphy the Irish Setter and Alli the Beagle/Lab mix. 

    Eggers Prayer-

    Our egg, which art in sizes, hallowed be thy smoke, thy will be grilled, at home as it is at eggfest. Give us this clay our daily brisket and forgive us our rubs, as we forgive those who gas grill against us, and lead us not to flashback but deliver us from overnighters. For thine is the grill, the smoke, the egg. Let's eat!

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,662
    never thought to soak beans in salt water, will definitely try that
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Cecil
    Cecil Posts: 771
    This almost makes me miss Tweeve. :S

    Walt
  • I still see lots of beer can chicken touted by respectable chefs. I'd like to see the Whiz run a beer-butt experiment on a regular old gasser or Weber charcoal grill. Could it just be a matter of diminishing returns? We all get such juicy chicken off the egg anyway, maybe the difference is more noticable on a non-ceramic grill.

    On the other hand, I can't for the life of me figure out HOW beer can chicken would actually be effective, so perhaps not...but a test would be nice to see.
  • there's an app for that
  • Cecil
    Cecil Posts: 771
    The topic of "food myths".

    I also need to remember how poorly sarcasm translates to typed words.


    Walt
  • You know, Microsoft originally included a sarcasm font in their applications, but removed it when they discovered it got the most use during discussions about MS applications' reliability. ;)
  • ah. was trying to remember what myths he exposed.

    he's here, by the way. you just need to look for him. he is having a tough time, because, as we know, he NEEDS to get credit for being here. he has a pathological need to be given credit for getting around the IP ban. but he's realized that anything overt will cause him to have that account deleted, and then cause him unwanted time to re-register, etc.

    so his current idea is to keep a low profile, even ingratiate himself a little.

    not sure if later on he'll rear his head and become king doo-schnozzle again or not.

    but he IS here. registered anyway. one post that i saw so far
  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    Thanks Doug,
    Good info and I will never tell KayNOcook she needs more water in the pasta.
    Jupiter Jim

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

  • Cecil
    Cecil Posts: 771
    Fun! I will keep an eye open.

    Walt
  • Yah, I saw that one a while ago and tried it, it worked just fine. What was nice was the water was starchier so if the sauce needs a little thickening it works well.

    Doug
  • Wise One
    Wise One Posts: 2,645
    The only reason I don't flip my burger more is that I am lazy. And - if you flip some of my burgers more than once they will fall apart on you. Now that searing part. I'm sure they're wrong. :-)
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    "Searing to Seal in the juices" is SO overused, and of course is wrong. Yert many chefs on FN still say it time and again, including Bobby Flay. Alton Brown debunked it on the same network years ago.
  • a hotelier told me once... "you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle".

    if it sounds good, it doesn't matter if it's true or not
  • America's Test Kitchen advocated the reverse sear in one of their own episodes, but I STILL hear them use the "seal in the juices" line.