Why you shouldn’t add oil to pasta water… plus other cooking myths busted
DO YOU keep eggs in your fridge door, leave meat marinading for hours and add a glug of oil to the water before cooking pasta? Well, it's time to have a rethink.
According to Dr Stuart Farrimond, who's written a book called , these are just some of the kitchen myths which need to be busted.
Many people have heard that adding olive oil to pasta water will stop it sticking when you bring to the boil.
But it actually does nothing of the sort, as it only sits on top of the water. Instead the best thing is to give the pot a good stir when you first bung your pasta in, and keep doing so for several minutes.
That, as well as using a lot of water, will stop the starch from gluing it together.
Stuart also debunks the claim that meat has to be marinaded overnight.
He suggests that doing that has no benefit, because there's only a certain amount flavours can penetrate.
After two hours, you've basically as good as you're going to get. Leave it longer and anything acidic in your blend might actually digest the meat, leaving it much softer.
Eggs are another one a lot of us seem to get wrong.
We previously explaining keeping them in the fridge door isn't the best bet as the temperature fluctuates so much, but there's another reason too.
All that opening and shutting shakes them up every time, which can effect how thick the white is.
Also, if you're partial to a poached egg you won't want them in the fridge at all.
That's because the temperature of the water they are in is vital, and reducing it by adding a cold egg can make the white stringy.
Finally, Stuart takes on the claim that fruit and veg are best eaten raw.
That's a long-held belief with many, following claims cooking them zaps nutrients.
According to the expert, that isn't always the case.
quotes him as saying: "The idea that raw is best cannot be true because tomatoes are very high in the antioxidant lycopene, which is only really available to the body at significant levels when tomatoes are cooked.
"The same is true for carrots, as the body has to work very hard to extract heart-protecting carotenoids when they are raw, but cooking makes it easier to access them."
If you're keen on more food news check out some of the weirdest crisp flavours ever, plus we have the lowdown on the Nando's secret menu.
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