Hey there, we're veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen cookbooks (NOT including those ghost-written for celebrities--now there's a story!).

In this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK, we've got a one-minute cooking tip about tasting food through the process of cooking. We're taking on some of the most common cooking myths. We can't believe they're still around! And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week.

We take apart 101 cooking myths in our book, LOBSTERS SCREAM WHEN YOU BOIL THEM AND 100 OTHER MYTHS ABOUT COOKING. If you'd like to get your hands on a copy, click on this link right here.

[00:54] Our one-minute cooking tip: taste what you're cooking during the process of cooking, not just at the end (but be safe!).

[04:20] We're taking on some of the most common cooking myths.

[18:14] What’s making us happy in food this week? "Drunken" rice noodles )with chicken and basil) and Fresno chilis.

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast cooking with Bruce and Mark.

And I'm Mark Scarbrough, and together, Bruce and I have written three

dozen and are writing the three dozen and first cookbook currently.

We'll tell you about that on down the road.

You can see all of our books, including a whole spate of books, on ebook.

com.

Instant pots and on air frying.

Those are the latest on any place where books are sold, whereby all the big New

York publishers been around for forever.

And this is our food and cooking podcast.

We've got a one minute cooking tip, as is traditional.

We've got a segment in which we're going to unravel some cooking myths.

It's some myths that are around still about cooking and we can't believe

after, oh, 25 years in the business that people still say these things.

And then we're going to tell you what's making us happy in food this week.

So let's get started.

Our one minute cooking tips.

Taste your food and your ingredients through all stages of cooking.

All?

All of them.

All?

So I take out the raw pork and I put it in my mouth.

Okay, so one caveat.

Do not eat the raw meat unless you're making tartare.

But sometimes The writer in the team is absolutely a stickler for words.

Okay, taste your food and most of your ingredients through all stages of cooking,

which sometimes means you're going to taste things you don't want to taste.

I think it's all.

It's all that bugs me, but okay, go on.

So you're going to taste things that you might not want to, like Brian E.

Pasta water.

Yeah, that is tasted.

Is it salty enough?

Spoon up a little bit of that water, blow on it.

It's too hot.

So you need a ton of salt and pasta water.

You do.

I went in pre life before Bruce, I was connected to a

big Italian American family.

And, uh, I have to say that, uh, the ants in this family and the nonas in

this family, all of them, they would.

Always spoon up some of the water and sip it from the pasta before the pasta

went in it to see if it was salty enough.

I'm telling you, I saw them do this a million times.

Other things you might not want to taste, but you should, are

things like dry, chalky spices.

If you've got things that are in your cabinet for years, they might not have

any flavor, so dip your finger into some dry sage and taste it, and it will let

you know if you've got any flavor left or if things could be going off the rails.

The big one on that is, of course, ground paprika, which for most people

is no more than a coloring agent.

It's red color.

Red paprika is supposed to taste like something, and there are hot

and mild varieties, but even the mild sweet varieties should taste peppery.

So taste everything as you go, from slimy, slippery dressings to pasta water to dry

spices, and you will have better food.

Before we get to the next Save it as podcast.

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You can find it by going to our website, cooking with Bruce and mark.

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Oh my God.

Don't even ask that question.

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life in very very rural new england And sometimes they're about things

completely disconnected from anything else that we're doing because it's

a newsletter So, what do you say?

All right on to the next segment of our podcast which is all about cooking

myths and the weird things that people You Still say we can't believe

people still say them, and yet they're still floating around everywhere.

For this segment, we've dusted off one of our earlier books in our career.

Lobsters Scream when you boil them and 100.

Other myths about food and cooking.

Lobsters do not scream.

They do not have vocal cords.

There's no screaming.

So here are some of the top pieces of cooking bull out there

that we think is kind of crazy.

One, sear your meat well to keep it juicy.

Now I have to tell a say about this sear the meat to keep it juicy.

This still is everywhere.

It's on cooking shows.

It's on the Great British Baking Show about searing.

Sausages.

It's on TikTok videos.

It is everywhere.

And I love, for example, in the great British baking show about sausages.

I love saying that as you look down into the skillet full of grease.

And I'm like, where'd you think that came from?

Did that come from nowheresville?

Searing your meat does a couple of things.

First of all, it caramelizes the Maillard reaction.

It chars the outside of the meat and makes it taste absolutely delicious.

Of course.

But it doesn't seal anything inside.

The basic effect is this.

You're making the outer edges of that meat drier compared

to the tender, juicy inners.

So it's an illusion for your tongue.

And part of the illusion, especially

when you deal with protein, if you're a carnivore, part of the illusion is that

you salivate and you salivate at the charred bits and you mistake the amount

of, I know, gross saliva that you have produced for something that's edible.

in the meat.

It's not.

In fact, when you sear meat, you actually, as Bruce says, to use a totally culinary

word, desiccate the exterior of the meat.

That's really crucial, of course, to great flavor, but it doesn't seal in any juices.

No.

The second big cooking myth we see a lot is this idea that somehow if you

cook, uh, piece of particularly meat.

We seem to be on meat right now.

If you cook a piece of meat in liquid, it keeps it moist.

Another thing that that people think keeps meat moist.

No.

Just because you're cooking it in liquid doesn't make it moist.

No.

I have made many a pot roast that have come out dry.

And how does that happen?

Because it's the temperature of the cooking, not a moist or wet

environment that keeps meat moist.

The hotter it is, the The more moisture is forced

out of the meat.

Just think about it this way.

When things get really hot, they get really tight.

Just like your clothes at the beach.

They get really, they get really sweaty.

And, and, um, you know, as it gets, it tightens up, it's going to force any

liquid out between the interstices.

tissue spaces in the cells and elsewhere and any fats going to melt.

It is in fact going to continue to dry out.

Can you lower the temperature for a better braise?

Yes, you can, but don't fool yourself to think that somehow.

Pouring liquid into a pot and then throwing chicken breasts in it.

I'm looking at you, Josh's mom.

If you know TikTok, you know what I'm talking about.

I don't fool yourself that you're making things moist.

You're not.

When you cut into it, it's still going to shard apart as a boneless,

skinless chicken breast, especially if you've kept it at a boil.

So let's move on to one more about meat.

Let's go there.

Some people say you can't freeze meat once it's thawed.

Those people are idiots.

First things first, I do want to get a fact out there.

You cannot refreeze ground meat.

Right.

Once it's thawed.

That's right.

However, Ground meat of all sorts.

Chicken,

turkey, pork, Beef, Buffalo,

Grandmother, You cannot Ground grandmother.

Nice.

But now that we have that out of the way, Big Bad Wolf, Let's

talk about what you can refreeze.

Yes, well,

you can refreeze cuts of meat, so pork chops, pork loin, briskets, etc.

But there's a caveat here.

Steaks, roasts.

Yep.

There's a caveat here.

And you notice we're talking about a, there are two caveats, actually.

You notice that we're, in fact, there are three caveats, I

suddenly feel like Monty Python.

No one

expects the Spanish Inquisition.

There are

four caveats.

Anyway, there are two caveats.

One is that, um, we're not talking about fish and shellfish, so remember

that's off the table right now.

But when we're talking about meat, you can refreeze it.

If it has been stored in a fridge at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for 48

to maybe 72 hours, but 72 is getting pushing it, you've essentially, if you

pulled out, let's say, I don't know, you pulled out a pork loin and you

Thawed it in the fridge, not at room temperature at all, but in the fridge.

So it's gonna take a couple days for it to thaw.

And then you're ready to cook it and, you know, your partner comes home

and says, oh, let's go to dinner.

And you think, oh, I'd rather go to dinner.

And, but I thawed this pork loin in the fridge.

Don't worry about it.

Just

put it back in the freezer.

So the first caveat is it must have been thawed in the fridge.

The second is fish.

What's the third one?

Oh, I don't have a third one.

What is the third one?

I'll give you a third one.

When it was frozen, it had to be fresh.

Oh, right.

So let's say you bought steaks and their sell by date was

the fifth of whatever month.

And you put them in the freezer on the sixth.

I wouldn't refreeze them once I thawed them because now you're

beyond an expiration date.

Right.

And you cannot, and just to say, just to be perfectly and absolutely

clear, you cannot refreeze them You can't re freeze meat.

You can't do it a second time.

So now if, now if you pull that pork loin out after you re frozen it and

you thought, and still you're gonna go out, lucky you, you go out to dinner

a lot, still you're gonna go out to dinner, you can't now re re freeze it.

So you might as well cook it and slice it up and have it on sandwiches for lunch.

Yes, exactly.

Okay, so let's move on, off meat and into alcohol.

And this is one of my favorites, and it is this idea that somehow alcohol

cooks out of the food you make.

Alcohol.

does evaporate with heat, which is why if you light a cherries jubilee, the

alcohol burns a beautiful flame, but the alcohol will never completely go

away no matter how long you cook it.

Even simmering a bottle of wine in a stew for 20 minutes can leave you

50 percent of the alcohol behind.

50%.

In fact, in chemical tests in, you know, these kinds of places where the

culinary world does chemical tests in.

a four hour braise that included wine.

The original amount of alcohol is still at between four and 5%.

After four hours of bubbling away, there is no.

Way that all the alcohol cooks out never

but if you're worried about your kids, you know getting bombed

During dinner, don't worry about it.

Most recipes going for alcohol.

It's in quantities that would make it impossible to get a buzz After yes,

that's true Bruce and I are currently watching a Swedish show, Bonus Family.

Oh, it's fabulous.

It's absolutely fabulous.

And I can totally imagine those kids getting bombed at the dinner table.

But, um, anyway.

Yeah, and you should really think about this.

Not so much for your kids.

Listen, if your kids have a 4 percent alcohol content in a big beef stew, okay.

You know, honestly, I think it's okay.

But you have to make your own moral choices here.

But.

The thing is, if you have friends who have issues with alcohol, whether that

be health issues, for example, I don't know, they're in chemo, or they have

alcohol addiction issues, whatever their issue with alcohol is, just remember

that you're not cooking the alcohol out.

Right.

So, We always are.

Our way of handling this is that we ask in advance, for example, we have some friends

who are recovering alcoholics, and we say, is it okay if we cook with alcohol?

And I have to say, I will just tell you that in the cases of specifically

the friends I'm thinking of, every one of them says it's okay.

They are fine with it, but I can imagine somebody who is not fine

with it, who says, no, I absolutely want no alcohol in my life.

And this becomes really important just to push it with health concerns, with

people who have chemo, with people who are immunocompromised, who are on

anti rejection drugs for transplants.

In these cases, these people really shouldn't have any alcohol.

Your uncle with cirrhosis?

Yeah, no.

These people should have absolutely no alcohol.

So even if they say it's okay, I wouldn't feed it to them.

But you know, we just check and we make sure, okay, let's move from alcohol.

Uh, the seeds

of the chili are not the hottest part, despite everything that's written.

When we write recipes that say, you know, you're using chilies

and you could take the seeds out.

Mark is very careful to say remove the seeds and membranes, because the

membrane is the is where the heat is.

Technically, the placenta of the chili.

No, we're back to ground grandmother.

The placenta of the chili is that membrane that holds the seeds.

And that's where the hot stuff capsaicin is mostly stored.

When you cut a chili, you may experience the seeds as being very

hot, but that's because that capsaicin has been disturbed in the membranes.

It's probably been cut in some way and sliced and it has leached

and or sprayed out onto the seeds.

Do you know this, um, this has nothing to do with what we're talking

about, but do you know that, that, uh, mammals are affected by this?

So your dog, your cat, me, you, we're affected by the hot stuff in chilies,

but birds are not.

Nope, and this way birds can eat these chilies and deposit those seeds

as they fly from the other hole in their bodies, so their plants can grow

already fertilized in other places.

And not only that, um, um, Our digestive system kind of ruins seeds.

Yeah, start with the teeth.

They grind them up.

Yeah.

The acid in your stomach gets rid of them.

Yeah.

And so the plant is actually trying to keep its progeny, its children, away

from me and you and my dog and your dog and my cat and your cow and your horse.

Just think of the

capsaicin as sort of like the porcupine quills of the chili.

Except the capsaicin.

It doesn't work with birds, except birds are

immune to this thing.

It's like possums are immune to snake venom.

It's the same thing.

Okay, anyway, let's move on.

Finally.

Yeah, finally the bit about superfoods.

Superfoods are not magic bullets.

Yeah, this is really big right now.

Yes, they're good for you.

It's all over TikTok.

And there are so many health influencers that are just absolutely insane with this.

And I just can't deal with it.

I really can't.

I just can't.

Blueberries are good for you.

They're

very good for you.

Eat more.

Eat more, but eating a whole pint of them will not cure cancer.

I'm sorry.

They won't.

And I'm sorry if this offends you, but eating, you know, raspberries

every day are great for you.

You should eat them.

They're an excellent source of vitamin C.

Generally, you eat them raw, which means the vitamin C is completely

intact in the raspberries.

Good fiber.

Great fiber.

They, it's, it's a beautiful thing.

And North Americans.

Do not eat enough fruit and vegetables.

I saw a TikTok video the other day that killed me.

Oh, we're back to TikTok.

I

know.

So this woman is sitting there at her computer and the guy comes in

the kitchen and she looks up and says, do you eat fruit every day?

Oh my God.

And it was this whole argument.

Is this his Roman Empire?

And he was like, what are you talking about?

Fruit?

No, I don't eat fruit every day.

And she's like, and he was shocked that she eats fruit every day.

In our house, we both eat fruit.

Oh, I'll eat an orange, I'll eat some berries, I'll eat

an apple, I mean And listen,

North Americans don't eat enough fruit.

And part of it is because the quality of the fruit in the standard

supermarket is kind of gross.

Uh, that is part of the problem because of global transportation.

It's led to unappetizing fruit.

I mean, let's face it, those mushy apples sitting in the

supermarket are not appetizing.

And those hard as rock plums And the moldy berries.

are not appetizing.

But probably of all the fruit choices in your supermarket, Citrus now, in the

winter, and berries, almost always, are probably among the best choices, but just

think this, don't think superfoods, just

eat more fruits and vegetables.

Oh yes, and bananas all year long, and I don't care that bananas

are nature's cheesecake, that makes them even more delicious.

That's true.

We, it comes out of our life.

We run a photo shoot from one of our books mugs, and this nasty art director wouldn't

eat a banana, but she said, my father says bananas are nature's cheesecake.

In other words, she wasn't gonna eat it to put weight on it.

And I'm like, you know what?

Um, just eat a piece of cheesecake if you want it or don't, but

don't make it a big health issue.

Make it a personal issue.

Anyway, okay, sorry, I'm getting off on a hobby horse.

Well, the deal is, North Americans need to eat many, many more fruits

and vegetables to be healthy.

Your gut will thank you.

Your brain will thank you.

Your heart will thank you.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.

Your mouth will thank you.

But don't Don't make it into some mystical thing that it's going

to turn you into a superhero.

It's not Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes.

It's not going to turn you into a superhero.

It's just going to make your life, your health better.

It is.

Before we get to the final segment of our podcast, we really

appreciate that you're here with us.

If you can subscribe to this podcast, that would be terrific.

You won't miss a single episode.

If you can rate it, that's even better.

And if.

If you're on a platform that allows you to write a comment, even like,

nice show or great job, thanks.

Uh, that's a really nice thing to do.

Thank you.

I know it helps us with the algorithms.

I know that that's not your problem.

That's our problem.

But we certainly do appreciate it.

Okay, on to the end of the podcast.

What's making us happy in food this week?

And I'm going to start.

Okay.

I get to start.

And what's making me happy is, uh, a dish that I love, I love.

It's Pad Kee Maw, and Pad Kee Maw, uh, sometimes it's called drunken

noodles or drunken Thai noodles, because I think it's supposed to be

you're inebriated and on the street.

Yeah, you're drunk.

You get them from a street stall.

Yeah.

And in Thailand, I don't like that.

These are rice noodles,

and they have chicken and basil.

That's what I like.

It's the chicken, basil, spicy, rice noodley thing, and Bruce

made a big wok full of it this week, and we ate the entire wok.

I'm not ashamed to say I ate the entire wok of it.

And it was Utterly delicious.

It was hot, it was spicy, it was sweet, it was basil y, there was chicken in

it, and those delicious rice noodles.

I love rice noodles.

Mmm.

Just, oh, just a fabulous dish.

It was a fabulous meal.

I was very contented as I left that meal to go watch the Swedish show, Bonus.

bonus family.

I should get paid for bonus family.

What's making you happy in this food?

It's a vegetable.

It's a red Fresno chili.

Oh, and I actually sliced them and put them in that, uh, Thai stir fry.

I love these chilies.

They're like short squat, uh, jalapenos, but they're red and

they're pointy and they are really spicy, but they're also very sweet.

It's like on first bite, you think you're just having a sweet red bell

pepper cause they have so much.

bell pepper flavor.

And then the heat hits you.

And I love them because of that sweet and that hot.

And I'm putting them in everything.

And this new book we're working on has lots and lots of recipes for

things like pickles and chutneys.

So I'm using lots of those chilies and everything.

And did you notice that, um, D Magazine just had an article that

came out this week that Halopinos, because of the varietals used,

are getting, fresh halopinos, are getting milder and milder and milder.

And that most of the halopinos now that show up in our

supermarkets are so absurdly mild.

And they are.

And fresnos still retain a level of heat.

In fact, according to De Magazine, and I think according experientially

to our having these things, serranos are now hotter than halopinos,

which shouldn't be the case.

It should be the other way around.

Mmm, I love serranos too.

I grow, I sometimes grow chilies on our back deck in the summer, and

when I grow jalapenos, we're both blown away at how hot they are.

Your homegrown ones are, they're just nature's napalm.

They are, they're really hot, and they remind me of being a kid, whack, living

in Texas when jalapenos were super hot.

My father loved jalapenos on cheese nachos.

He

also loved jalapenos.

Yeah,

there may be a reason for that.

And he also had diverticulitis, so that may be a reason for all of that.

Anyway, but I remember how hot they were, and I couldn't even stand them as a kid.

And now, they're pretty mild.

So, uh, Bruce is right.

Fresnos are a great choice because they do have this super mild flavor.

Sweet bell pepper component, and yet they're still very spicy.

Well, that's the podcast for this week.

Thanks for being on this journey with us.

We hope you learned something.

We hope we gave you a few laughs over the course of the podcast

and we hope you'll come back.

And we tell you every week what's making us happy in food.

So go to our Facebook page, cooking with Bruce and Mark, tell us what's

making you happy in food this week.

And we can talk about it here on cooking with Bruce and Mark.