Cooking rules that you ignore

[Deleted]

I think that most of us ignore certain cooking instructions or rules because we have always done it a different way and the instructions seem wrong or silly. And then there are the rules that we are never sure about, like not putting certain things directly out of the refrigerator into boiling water or a hot pan (eggs, butter...) or else salting water or not before boiling certain items, or adding oil to the water...

Frankly one of the "hygiene" rules that annoys me the most is "no wooden implements." This is purportedly because wooden spoons or wooden cutting boards are hotbeds of bacteria and various dreadful diseases. Well, I will use wooden spoons and wooden cutting boards until the day I die, because I love the feel of them. A wooden spoon stirs things in a pot perfectly and reaches all of the corners correctly. A wooden cutting board holds things firmly in place and does not dull the knife. The health scoundrels don't seem to know that a spoon in a boiling pot sterilises itself and that even if your cutting board has germs on it, they are your own household germs and it's not like you used the board to scrap dog shit off the sidewalk. Most of the time, what you cut gets cooked anyway, but even if you are just chopping lettuce or herbs for a salad, it is no big deal.

I would approve of some of these rules in a commercial kitchen, but at home it is just overkill.

[patricklondon]

This is purportedly because wooden spoons or wooden cutting boards are hotbeds of bacteria and various dreadful diseases.

If you're cooking, then any nasties should be killed off by the cooking anyway. And I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that wood has naturally antiseptic properties, and it's not as if the things don't get washed, surely? I use the same old (heaven knows how old) wooden chopping board as my mother used to use, and I'm slicing up salad stuff on it most days. As I understand, the only thing you need to be particularly careful of is raw meat, but soap and hot water deal with any problems there.


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[Deleted]

I agree, but certain "authorities" are afraid of everything, including runny eggs and oysters, not to mention all of the so called sushi that is sold now with the label "no raw fish."

[bjd]

I also use wooden spoons and cutting boards.

[lagatta]

I do too. I have wooden spoons from a very large, sturdy stirring spoon to a bamboo spoon, long and lithe, with a small bowl.

Some health authorities now have a quasi-kosher code with red for meat, white for dairy, yellow for poultry, blue for fish and green for ... greens. They sell a lot more boards that way.

[questa]

Patrick is correct...there were studies done which showed clean wooden implements did not grow bugs due to natural resistance in the timber, whereas the plastic/nylon or marble boards grew bacteria easily. I can't remember the source for this but we were using it in our work with feeding babies.

[patricklondon]

I suppose in a commercial kitchen there are sound arguments for plastic. With the cleaning-up staff not paid very much (I'm guessing) and certainly under a lot of time pressure, it makes sense to make it as easy as possible to do the safe thing. Plastic can go in the dishwasher, where wood can't, and colour-coding for different possible sources of cross-contamination makes avoiding that all the easier too.

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[Don Cuevas]

A ridiculous instruction that I ignore is "butter a baking pan". WTF are you using costly butter, which tends to stick and burn, when a non-stick spray or vegetable shortening works better?

I also sneer and scoff at recipes that call for Kosher or sea salt, especially in baking. Really, do you think anyone can taste the difference in the finished product?

[lagatta]

Well, I don't usually have vegetable shortening in my house. I'm not a professional baker, nor do I bake a lot at home. I use practically no aerosol sprays, except for WB40.

"Butter" is a very old cookery direction, dating back to when there were few other choices.

[patricklondon]

A ridiculous instruction that I ignore is "butter a baking pan".

That's what you would have used the paper wrappers of blocks of butter(or margarine) for, once you'd put them in the butter dish for the table, so you'd have been using what would otherwise have gone to waste.

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[bjd]

I confess -- I butter baking pans, then put some breadcrumbs on the butter when I bake. I have never seen aerosol sprays here, and wouldn't buy them if I did -- for the kitchen at least. (I have some WD40 in the garage too.) I don't have any vegetable shortening or margarine either, but I don't bake enough to justify buying any.

I don't have Kosher or sea-salt either -- just use either normal salt (which is from the sea in France anyway) or unidentified coarse salt.

[Don Cuevas]

Apr 25, 2014 23:48:17 GMT lagatta said:

Well, I don't usually have vegetable shortening in my house. I'm not a professional baker, nor do I bake a lot at home. I use practically no aerosol sprays, except for WB40.

"Butter" is a very old cookery direction, dating back to when there were few other choices.

Kind of in the same category as scalding, then cooling milk for bread making. Or, preheating the oven, then mixing a yeast dough that will be several hours before it goes into said oven.

[Don Cuevas]

Apr 26, 2014 7:34:40 GMT patricklondon said:

A ridiculous instruction that I ignore is "butter a baking pan".

That's what you would have used the paper wrappers of blocks of butter(or margarine) for, once you'd put them in the butter dish for the table, so you'd have been using what would otherwise have gone to waste.

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I wouldn't waste butter wrappers. They're good for buttering a skillet, but not so good for baking.

[tod2]

I'm a wooden spoon and wooden board user as well. Many years ago I tried one of those white plastic cutting boards and hated all the scratch lines it made, so out that went.
I have tried to persuade the Wooden Spoon Vendors to make the stir-fry shape but each time they come around selling from a box, it's all spoons.

[LouisXIV]

I use a wooden cutting board and prefer it mainly because it is more friendly to my kitchen knives and I like the way my knife cuts on it compared to the plastic ones. I have some wooden spoons, but seldom use them. I have "plastic" stirring spoon I use most of the time, and usually use stainless steel utensils. I generally use stainless Steel pans for cooking.

I was trained as an army cook and in the past worked in some commercial kitchens. I have been in some commercial kitchens that after seeing them would not eat the food there. I have also been in some private homes and kitchens and while most are clean some scare me to death about the habits of the people in those kitchens. Commercial kitchens at least have people who inspect them every once in a while and at least there are rules and procedures to follow. But for home kitchens the training for sanitation is not as structured and in some situations bad habits are passed down generation after generation.

I was a cook in the army and was in the artillery. When we were out in the field and the big guns would be firing we would sometimes be not to far behind them and the ground would shake when the guns fired. We would bake perfect cakes under these conditions. When we were back in the mess hall and had to bake cakes we would bang the oven doors closed to simulate the guns firing and insure a perfect cake. Makes no sense, but it worked for us.