This week Nancy Leson and I look at some long accepted cooking rules that just don't hold up. My first entry was the prohibition against putting a certain kind of utensil into the dishwasher.
It's on every list of things to leave out. The dishwaher will ruin your wooden spoons. Well, I've consigned mine to the dishwasher for a long time now with no serious damage. I'm not talkin' about any cheap junk from the dollar store, either. These are the real-deal artisan spoons handcrafted by certified hippies in New Mexico. And they're holding up just fine, thank you.
In this week's episode, Nancy Lesonand I eye the warning against washing mushrooms. We ponder the true meaning of “Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.” We agree about the danger of wet oven mitts, but part ways on pitting one's own olives. And for grilling season, I share some of J. Kenji-Alt's debunkingof conventional steaklore about how often to flip a steak, whether it's OK to stick a fork in it, the best time and place for a sear, and more.
Finally, Nancy explains how to accomplish the puzzling recipe direction “Add a heaping tablespoon of olive oil" and reveals at last her shocking practices with Active Dry Yeast.
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” – Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
