[00:00:03.420] - Speaker 1
The best cooking tips I've ever learned have come from my own mistakes. I'm never afraid to try and fail because it's the failures that are my roadmap to success.
[00:00:14.040] - Speaker 2
Welcome to Simply cooking, where nothing's too fancy, nothing's too complicated, and you certainly don't need to be a master chef to understand and implement what we talk about here. This is a podcast all about home cooking. We share advice, tips, tricks, and techniques, all centered around cooking so that you can cook with confidence. Here's your host and recipe creator for the Salted Pepper, Louise.
[00:00:42.310] - Speaker 1
Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for listening I am super excited to be recording our first Simply cooking podcast. I wanted to just share a little bit about me. First of all, I love cooking and all things cooking. I have been romping around the kitchen since before I was able to reach the counter. Just ask my mom. If there's a mistake to be made in the kitchen, I have probably made it. The best cooking tips I've ever learned have come from my own mistakes. I'm never afraid to try and fail because it's the failures that are my roadmap to success. And that is what I encourage for everyone. Don't be afraid to fail. You have to try to succeed. And even some of the failures can be turned around into successes. Although I love cooking and have been doing it for years, I was never trained professionally. Although I think that would have been really exciting if I would have been able to go to culinary school. But instead, I went to nursing school, and I was in that career for 28 years. But once I retired, I jumped headfirst into cooking and working on my hobby food blog, which is now my full-time job.
[00:01:48.780] - Speaker 1
I run the Salted Pepper website and YouTube channel with my wonderful husband, Jeff, who is also in the studio with us today. Jeff, why don't you introduce yourself and tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
[00:02:00.460] - Speaker 2
Hi, I'm Jeff, and I am Louise's husband, and I'm also the behind-the-scenes guy, I guess you could say, for the Salted Pepper. I do all the video production, and I'm handling the production on the podcast now. I've been working in television production since about 1985. I was in the Navy as a broadcast journalist. When I got out of the Navy, that's what I did for the longest time until I became a helicopter pilot. But even after I became a pilot, I stayed involved in video production. And when we decided to start the Salted Pepper, we said, Hey, let's do videos. And the first time we did video, it was a little interesting. Big learning curve.
[00:02:44.840] - Speaker 1
It was rough.
[00:02:46.800] - Speaker 2
But it seems like it all worked out pretty well, and we're really enjoying this venture.
[00:02:52.340] - Speaker 1
Thanks, Jeff. All right. So for the rest of this podcast, I thought it would be fun to go over 10 cooking statements with Jeff. So this is going to be interactive between him and me. And I'm going to read the statement. He's going to tell me if it's true or false, and then I will explain why it's true or false. Now, ordinarily, the podcast episodes might be focused on just one of these topics, or maybe a few that go together. But because we're just getting our feet wet and we're getting started, I thought these 10 statements would really be thought-provoking for all of you listening today. Okay. All right. You ready, Jeff?
[00:03:32.480] - Speaker 2
I'm ready.
[00:03:33.390] - Speaker 1
Number one, true or false. Fresh vegetables are better for you than frozen vegetables.
[00:03:41.150] - Speaker 2
I would say true.
[00:03:42.680] - Speaker 1
It's actually false. Now, of course, I would argue if your frozen vegetables have about five layers of ice on them, they're probably not going to taste very fresh or very good. So in that instance, maybe it's true. But overall, Well, it is actually false that frozen vegetables are frozen at their peak of ripeness and freshness, and that is preserved after they're frozen. So you can rest assured that frozen vegetables are very healthy for you to eat. Number 2, the red or pink juices that pool on the plate of meat, whether it's raw or cooked, is blood.
[00:04:26.000] - Speaker 2
False.
[00:04:26.980] - Speaker 1
That is right. And Jeff does this because we've just had a big discussion about this. So Jeff, do you remember what it's called?
[00:04:34.360] - Speaker 2
It's myoglobin.
[00:04:36.140] - Speaker 1
That is right. So it is false. It is not blood on the plate or in the package of chicken or beef, the red or pink juice that you see, it's absolutely not blood. In fact, just like in the human body, in an animal's body, the blood is carried by blood vessels. It's not stored in muscles. And the muscle is most of the cuts of meat that we're buying at the grocery store. They're mostly muscles. So whether you're getting a rib roast or you're getting a chicken breast or a chicken thigh or something like that, those are muscles. So the myoglobin is what carries the oxygen to supply the muscles with the needed oxygen as the animal is using that muscle. So interestingly enough, the reason why we call a chicken breast white meat and a chicken thigh dark meat is completely due to the amount of myoglobin that is present. So the more myoglobin present, the darker the meat. Since chickens don't use their breast muscles for flying, they don't need a lot of oxygen. Therefore, they don't have a lot of myoglobin. The meat is lighter in color, and we call it white meat.
[00:05:49.070] - Speaker 1
The chicken runs around all the time, so it uses its thigh muscles. Therefore, there's more myoglobin to supply the oxygen to the thigh muscles, and the more myoglobin, the darker the color of the meat. So when you cut open your chicken and you see pink juices, you say, oh, it's raw. It may not be raw. It may be fully cooked. Just a little bit more myoglobin was present in that chicken than in one previous to that because it's going to vary. And this is why it's so important to use an accurate thermometer to determine the doneness of chicken, because those red juices don't tell us anything except myoglobin is present. All right, Jeff. Number three, if your dish is too salty, add a potato, and that will balance the flavors. True or false?
[00:06:38.810] - Speaker 2
I'm going to go with true.
[00:06:41.940] - Speaker 1
It is false. And we know this. Don't you remember when I made that big pot of spaghetti sauce and we ran all over the place? I think it was a holiday, but we found some store that was open so we could get a potato. Do you remember?
[00:06:57.900] - Speaker 2
I do, but I thought we salvaged the tomato sauce.
[00:07:01.080] - Speaker 1
Well, we did, but it wasn't the potato that did it.
[00:07:04.170] - Speaker 2
It was wine.
[00:07:05.240] - Speaker 1
No, we basically made another batch and a half of spaghetti sauce. It watered down the salt. Exactly. Anyway, Well, okay. So a potato obviously will absorb liquid, right? So there's a myth that if you add potato to a dish that's too salty, it will pull the salt out. I mean, I guess technically, if there's liquid in there like there was with my spaghetti sauce, technically, it's going to pull some salt out into the potato, but it's also going to pull the water. So your balance is still going to be wrong. Now, if you remove the potato at the end, you're just pulling out some flavors. But you're still not going to have a balanced dish. So in order to fix an overly salty dish, you definitely have to add more of the ingredients that you have already put in. So if your tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce is too salty like mine was. You're going to need to add in more of all of the ingredients that you put in to that spaghetti sauce, except for the salt. Leave that out, and then you'll balance your dish. All right, Jeff. Number 4. Meat and seafood that is thawed at safe temperatures can be refrozen.
[00:08:24.070] - Speaker 2
I'm going to say true.
[00:08:25.570] - Speaker 1
This is true. And a lot of people think it's false, especially with seafood. But I've even heard it being said with chicken and other meat that once you thaw something that's frozen, they say you can never freeze it again. That is simply not true. As long as you have thawed it under safe conditions, meaning in the refrigerator, meaning that the temperature never got above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. That's the key. So it's about food safety, and food safety is all about temperature. So thaw your meat seafood in the refrigerator. And if the next day comes around and you're not going to end up using it, you can absolutely refreeze it. Now, I don't recommend going more than two days in the refrigerator before refreezing. So if I'm going to, let's say, make a breaded fish, and I have some frozen fish, I will thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I will bread it and either cook it or bread it and freeze it. But it is perfectly safe to refreeze meat or seafood as long as it was thawed under safe conditions, meaning your refrigerator. All right, number five. Now, this one's a fun one.
[00:09:46.410] - Speaker 1
So Jeff, listen carefully as I read this statement. You should add oil to your pasta water so the pasta doesn't stick together. True or false?
[00:09:56.950] - Speaker 2
False.
[00:09:58.270] - Speaker 1
It is false. It is Definitely false. And I know a million people saying, I add oil to my pasta water and the pasta doesn't stick together, and I'm going to keep doing it. It is perfectly fine if you want to keep adding oil to your pasta water. But that is not really doing much because the oil is actually floating on the top of the water. So it's not really preventing your pasta from sticking together. Now, once you strain it and your pasta runs through that little bit of oil on top, it can get a little slick with oil. But are you really doing your pasta any favors by adding that little bit of oil? Or if you're one that rinses your pasta under cold water after cooking it, are you really doing any favors to that pasta? Probably not. And here's why. Because the starch on the outside of the pasta is what really holds on to our sauces. So as soon as you add oil or rinse with water, you're removing that layer of starch. And you are allowing the pasta to be a lot slicker, and therefore it doesn't hold on to any of the sauces that we put with it.
[00:11:09.230] - Speaker 1
So it becomes slick and watery, and it's just not the best pasta eating experience. So next time you're tempted to add oil to your pasta water, just skip it and make sure that your water is boiling and very hot when you add in your pasta and then stir occasionally, and that will prevent it from clumping and you won't have to add that oil. And please don't rinse it either. Not doing your pasta any favors. All right, Jeff. Number six. Let's see if you get this one right. By searing meat first, you lock in its juices. True or false?
[00:11:45.580] - Speaker 2
False.
[00:11:46.950] - Speaker 1
Yes. I think that's going to shock a lot of people, and I'm surprised that you got it right. So why do you say it's false?
[00:11:55.990] - Speaker 2
Because I understand the reason for searing, and it has nothing to do with the juices.
[00:12:01.960] - Speaker 1
That's right. So I have probably even said this on one of my YouTube videos. I am sure I can hear myself. Now you want to sear the meat first so you lock in the juices. I can hear myself saying that because it's something that I've heard over and over and over again, but it's actually not true. The reason why we sear the meat first is to create the Maillard reaction, which is that browning. That is developing developing the flavor on the outside of the meat, but it has nothing to do with searing in the juices. In fact, I just read that by searing the meat first, you create more porous surface area for more juices to leak out. But I don't want you Don't worry about that. I do want you to sear your meat first, but for flavor, not for locking in the juices.
[00:12:51.030] - Speaker 2
The best way to lock in the juices, don't overcook it.
[00:12:54.420] - Speaker 1
Yes. Okay. So the best way to lock in the juices is to actually sous vide. Sous vide cooking, if you do it at the right temperature, will definitely keep those juices inside the meat. See, as the meat fibers cook, they contract and they expand as they cool down. And that has a lot to do with the moisture loss and the liquid loss. So when you control that and have a more even cooking at a lower temperature like you do with sous vide, you can really prevent a lot of the liquid loss or moisture loss. The other thing you can do if you're going to cook with a more traditional cooking method, like a high heat frying pan, is let your meat rest after you cook it so that the juices and stuff can redistribute within those meat fibers before you cut it open and let them run all over your cutting board. All right, well, this is a great segue into the next question, actually. Number seven, cooking a chicken to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit and holding it for 90 minutes will make the chicken safe for eating. True or false, Jeff?
[00:14:04.800] - Speaker 2
True.
[00:14:05.880] - Speaker 1
This is true. I knew he would get this right because we filmed a video about it not that long ago. So cooking chicken, we've all heard, you Must cook your chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit in order to kill any possible salmonella that would be in the meat. However, that is only one way to do it. You can actually cook your chicken and other meats as well to a lower temperature for a longer period of time, and it will have the same effect on the salmonella. It's called pasteurization. So there's two ways: high heat, short period of time. So when your chicken reaches 165, it only needs to be there for a few seconds to kill all the salmonella that would be present. However, at 145, it needs to be there for a longer period of time. Let's just say 15, 20 minutes held at 145 in order to kill all the solomonella. So you can do that. And sousvying is a perfect way to do that. And let me tell you, the texture of chicken breasts, cook to 145 degrees internal temperature that's held for 90 minutes is amazing. So if you have a sous vide appliance, definitely use it to cook some chicken.
[00:15:22.740] - Speaker 1
And don't set that temperature to 165. Set it to 145, cook it for 90 minutes. It'll be perfectly safe, and it'll be the best chicken breast you've ever eaten. And if you want to serve iticed, then definitely give it a quick sear afterwards so you get that Maillard reaction. So we have the best of both worlds. We're controlling moisture loss. So we have a really juicy chicken breast, and then we're going to sear it on a hot heat. Cast iron would be great for this or even on a grill, a really hot surface for a short period of time to get that Maillard reaction, that browning on the outside that gives us so much flavor. All right. Number eight, Jeff. Greek yogurt is fermented differently from regular yogurt. True or false?
[00:16:08.070] - Speaker 2
Well, I know this because you've made a lot of yogurt, and that is false.
[00:16:12.690] - Speaker 1
It is false. So Greek yogurt is not some fancy yogurt that goes through any a special process. Greek yogurt is exactly the same as regular yogurt, except for the fact that the way is strained off at the end. So this is a little bit of a tidbit of information for you. If you see a really good sale on regular yogurt, but you're not a fan, you like Greek yogurt better, and it's a really good sale, grab it, strain it at home, and you will have delicious thick Greek yogurt. Better yet, get an instant pot, a Ninja Foodi or a standalone yogurt maker, and start making your own yogurt from milk and a little bit of a yogurt starter. Oh, my gosh. Then I strain it for Greek yogurt, and it is the best yogurt ever.
[00:17:09.170] - Speaker 2
A little interesting side story there. I had yogurt last week while I was at work, and I put it in a bowl, and I was sitting at my desk eating the yogurt. Somebody walked by and was fascinated by how thick it looked. They called in somebody else, said, Look at this yogurt. This looks nothing like the stuff that you get at the store. And I explain to them that we let the way drain out of it, and it creates a thicker, luxurious yogurt.
[00:17:40.480] - Speaker 1
It really is. It is. It is creamy, and we don't use any sweetener. So we keep ours completely unsweetened. And then when we're serving it, we'll usually put a little bit of honey or something on it, but we don't add any sweeteners to the actual yogurt itself. And it's just glorious. I would say it's like texture of sour cream.
[00:18:01.670] - Speaker 2
It's very much the texture of sour cream.
[00:18:03.670] - Speaker 1
Not the flavor of sour cream, of course, but it is really, really delicious. If you haven't made your own yogurt before, you might want to give that a try. It's a process. It's definitely a process. It takes at least a day, but it's hands off most of the time, and it's just amazing. It's simply amazing. All right, Jeff. Number nine, storing tomatoes stemside down keeps them fresh longer.
[00:18:32.290] - Speaker 2
I'm going to say false because I have never heard of that before.
[00:18:36.960] - Speaker 1
I had never heard of this before either, and I have never done it, but it is apparently true. And it makes sense. Once I read up on this. It makes sense. So when you harvest your tomatoes and you take it off the stem, there is a little area at the very top that is a little more porous. And so if you turn it upside down and air doesn't get to it, it will keep it fresher longer. However, most of the time when we buy tomatoes, we need to ripen them a little bit. So you can do that a couple of ways. You can always leave your uncut tomatoes room temperature So leave them on your windowsill or leave them on your counter if they have not been cut open yet. And you can also, if you need to really ripen them a little bit quicker, you can put them in a paper bag. Now I need to look that up. Is that true or false? Let's have Jeff look that one up. That's just one of those statements that I've always thought was true. But now that I'm thinking about it, and now that we're going through this exercise of whether these commonly thought statements are true or not, I think we better check me on this.
[00:19:48.860] - Speaker 1
So the question, Jeff, is will putting fruit and vegetables in a paper bag speed up the ripening?
[00:19:57.670] - Speaker 2
I've always heard this for bananas. In fact, I've done it for bananas because usually when you buy bananas, they're very unripe, which is a good thing because they ripen so quickly sometimes.
[00:20:06.800] - Speaker 1
So a quick tip there, you could take one or two off and ripen those while the other ones sit.
[00:20:10.970] - Speaker 2
And here, this is from a good source. This is from the Farmer's Almanac.
[00:20:14.210] - Speaker 1
Okay. Trusted.
[00:20:15.580] - Speaker 2
To ripen a few green tomatoes, this is green tomatoes, but same idea, I guess. Put them in a paper bag, close it up, and store in a warm location. It's the ethylene that they emit that stimulates the ripening.
[00:20:29.120] - Speaker 1
Awesome. All right. So That one then is true, and I can continue to share that with people. All right, number 10. We're getting to the end here. This is a really important one. I'm sure Jeff is going to get it right, though. Salt added at the end of cooking will season food just as well as adding it while cooking.
[00:20:50.290] - Speaker 2
That is false.
[00:20:51.980] - Speaker 1
This is false. This is false. So when recipes don't call for any seasonings and then say salt and pepper to taste at the end of cooking, they're going to be bland or they're going to be oversalted. They're just not going to be very flavorful because it's super important that we layer our reasoning. And that's true with all reasoning, but especially with salt. You want salt to enhance the flavors of each of the components of our dish. So if we're sauteing some vegetables to make the place for a soup, you need to salt those. Then if you're going to add in a pasta, let's say you're going to cook the pasta and add it into your soup, you need to season the pasta water, which will season the pasta itself. So Each thing that you add into your dish should be well seasoned, and especially seasoned with a little bit of salt. And one thing that you might think, oh, my gosh, that's a lot of salt. You're using too much salt. I can't use all that salt. Studies have shown that if you salt during the cooking process, you will use a lot less salt overall.
[00:22:09.460] - Speaker 1
So for example, if you're going to make a soup and you're going to layer your seasonings, you're going to salt your vegetables as they go in, you're going to salt your broth, you're going to salt your potatoes, you're going to salt as you go. You will use less salt than if at the end of cooking all of your ingredients together and And simmering it, you started to add your salt. You would need to use more if you did it that way. So definitely layer your seasonings, especially salt. Use it with each component of your dish for a really flavorful and well balanced recipe. One thing also I will say is that salt will bring out the natural flavors in food, so it makes it taste better. We're not covering up anything. We want to bring out these natural flavors in our food. So a little bit of salt on vegetables will change the way you think about vegetables. Trust me. Thanks, Jeff, for partaking in that. That was a lot of fun, and you got a good amount of those right. So I hope everyone learned a little something here with us today. If you have a cooking topic that you want us to explore, debunk, or simply talk about, please let us know.
[00:23:22.440] - Speaker 1
Also, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you can stay up to date with new episode releases. As always, make it yours, make it delicious, and keep it real. Until next time, guys.
