I Tested Viral Food Myths 

the biggest food myth ive been told was "im just going to get some milk"

The no soap in cast iron thing comes from when soap was made with lye, not modern detergents. Supposedly the harsher chemicals could strip the seasoning.

Regarding the chicken colour myth: I think it implies the same cooking method, frying or baking or even boiling, not curing or smoking. Cured and smoked chicken will retain some pinkness, but completely cooked chicken when fried is not pink

Fun fact, the person who wrote the non peer reviewed article that MSG was bad for you retracted their statement but it was too late the damage was done.

Just want to point out the marinade you use as a massive difference on whether or not it makes the meat more tender or not, if you marinate your steak in barbecue water it's not going to do anything, but if you puree a whole pineapple and marinate it with your seasonings in that, it will come out of the marinade almost already fallen apart, choosing a marinade carrier liquid that has natural enzymes in it like pineapple will break down the tough parts of the steak like connective tissues. If you tenderize and marinate even the toughest worst cuts of meat in enough fresh pineapple puree for long enough, you can basically turn any steak into a tender cut

The mythbusters would be horrified by your methods, respectfully

The thing with the bread is: The one in the fridge needs to be more like in a freezer for it to work. But at any rate, a cool environment slows down or even prevents the process of molding. A proper freeze actually can prevent it from being too stale even though you have to properly bring it back to room temp, like a short bake in the oven, to get back the crispyness. I'd say it's less about getting stale than preserving the bread over a longer time. PS: It might be added that ventilation is good, even if it makes you bread dry. Most bread in a regular fridge or even worse, plastic bags, will mold due to the condensation being trapped, creating a beautiful environment for mold to spawn.

"I'm going to toast this bread" *Proceeds to fry it* As a Brit...toast comes from a toaster. Fried bread comes from a frying pan 😂

The salt myth wasn’t necessarily tested fairly because I feel that the default test should be salt vs no salt. That being said, salt shouldn’t make the water boil faster, but should increase the boiling point of the water (which would make it boil slower), but cook whatever you are preparing faster

Don't let Uncle Roger near a person saying that MSG is bad

The main thing with refrigerated bread REALLY helps with mold since that grows in warmer/room temp environments. Had an old loaf in the back of my fridge for like a month with no mold.

I will forever be posting about how MSG is not bad for you. It's meant to be used in moderation just like SALT. It's naturally occurring in many foods we eat and can naturally be present in the human body. The original study that claimed it was bad for you was disproven AND the original panic surrounding it was rooted in anti-Asian sentiments at the time, so it was extremely racist people saying it was bad. Eat the MSG and don't worry.

I was always told and had thought that salt SLOWED DOWN the time it takes to boil, which is why i always added salt to the water after its already boiling

Depends on the marinade. Pineapple will absolutely tenderize, I feel like Worcestershire sauce does help as well.

There are several videos where they tested flipping frequency and movement in the pan. The single flip normally results in the thickest (though not always nicest) crust but has more inconsistent cooking and a larger gray band. Not moving the steak at all tends to result in an inconsistent crust. The best results were flipping every 30 seconds ~ 1 minute and placing the steak onto a different part of the pan with each flip, giving a smaller gray band, nice even crust, and consistent cook. The reason this works is that it keeps each side of the steak from getting too hot, gives a more balanced overall temperature, and the steak is placed on a hotter part of the pan with each flip which helps with the crust. EDIT: I would recommend Chris Young's video "Why Flip Your Steak Every 30 seconds?". He was a chef at the Fat Duck and actually goes into the science of why.

No! Storing bread in the fridge prevents my EVIL CAT (whom I love dearly) from ripping it up and gnawing on it

165 degrees for chicken is just the temp for instantaneous bacteria sanitization. Pasteurization at lower temps for longer times is also possible, but not instantaneous. See: sous vide chicken Pasteurization.

The shiny side/matt side thing with foil is a consequence of how it's manufactured. A block of aluminium is squashed between progressively closer together rollers making the foil thinner and thinner. At the final stage the foil is fed between the rollers two layers at a time, and that point where the foil layers are pressed together and then peeled apart to be spooled onto rolls is what creates the matt side

"Officer i swear this is just myoglobin all over my hands." "My mistake, citizen. May I join you for a glass?"

Tested a lot of good ones! Thank you for this :)

Hey, chemist here. Adding salt to water actually increases the boiling point of water due to the colligative property of solutions that states that adding a solute to a solvent decreases its vapor pressure. The boiling point is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid/solution is equal to the external pressure, causing the liquid to quickly change into the gaseous state. So, TLDR, adding salt to water should theoretically INCREASE the amount of time it takes to boil, since the temperature at which it reaches its boiling point is higher.

I just can't believe he said store bought dry pasta is the same as fresh pasta after I bought his book *and* a pasta maker and started making my own pasta every time I eat pasta that I am so proud I made from scratch haha.

Am I the only person who thought this was the "Stay Flexy" guy all grown up?

The biggest thing I found when adding oil to pasta water is not to stop the noodles from sticking, but it stops the starchy water from boiling over because it breaks the bubbles up.

The myth that drives me nuts is that mixing oil with butter increases the smoke point, which is ridiculous, it’s the milk solids that burn. I see many famous chefs still say this. GREAT VIDEO

That Chef Max Mariola impression was just 👌🏻 The Sound of Love ragazzi! ❤️

Josh: *adds frozen fruit to a smoothie, which are full of ice* Also Josh: A smoothie with no ice

Joshua! Please do a dive into Panamanian food. I think it’s something that’s slept on and I wanna see your creative take on it.. Points for using Yuca! 🎉❤❤❤

I always thought most marinades help tenderize meats because the ingredients are helpful in breaking down the connective tissues? There's nothing wrong with dry pasta taking 10mins to cook. If you're doing a more elaborate meal then that 10mins could be used to prep, make a sauce, cook proteins One thing to note about the smaller pot for pasta: Even though the pasta "fits", it still takes time to get the pasta entirely submerged in water. This could lead to potentially over/under cooked pasta. I think the larger pot also helps prevent clumping up as the pasta has more places to go.

I feel like you could do a whole series about these 😆 loved it!!!

Your other channel about staying flexible is also really nice David! 😁

Smoothie tip: 1) Generally, the frozen fruit to liquid ratio should be about 1/2 and 1/2 for a nice thick smoothie. 2) Fresh fruit is basically liquid. 3) Idk about all protein powders, but whey concentrate thins out (and puffs up, volume-wise) the smoothie, so you can add more frozen fruit if you want the same thickness.

The medium salted pot was situated in between the two other burners, leading to slightly more heat input and less heat escape.

The pot with the medium amount of salt was different from the other two. It had two neighboring heat sources (2/4 sides heated) while the other two only had one neighboring heat source (1/4 sides heated, 3/4 losing heat).

Also according to the USDA when cooking to a temp and maintaining chicken at that temp for a certain period of time you can cook chicken at temps as low as 135 (for 65-95 min). Typically this is done using the sous vide method for home cooks. Other temps are 140 for 35 min and 145 for 15 min.

I love that you included vegemite on that list for msg and as an aussie thanky ou Joshua

Putting bread in the fridge keeps it from getting moldy, from which no toasting can bring it back. If you're buying a $7 loaf and aren't housing it one go, fridge is fine.

Putting bread actually makes it go stale quicker, due to the retrogradation process (the starches letting go of the water it binds to) going faster around 0-4 degrees C. Sure, if you reheat it anything will come back alive lol. Put bread in the freezer if you wanna store it long time, never the fridge. Take that as advice from a bread baker.

The quote from chef Max Mariola "the sound of love" was top G. Bravo!

The MSG myth has always driven me bonkers. And it's myo-globe-in, not myo-globb-in

Funnily enough, on the subject of steak and juice, there was a guy not too long ago on YT here who scientifically proved that resting steaks actually does nothing at all in regards to juiciness. He did it, simply, by using a special stovetop with near perfect temperature control, and by weighing steaks he cooked there to see how much moisture they were losing when they were cut. For the resting steak he also measured how much it lost to evaporation from the actual rest. The result was, interestingly, that the amount of juice that left the steak when it got cut was more or less exactly the same for both steaks. The only reason a steak that hasn't rested appears to be losing so much juice is because that juice is only the juice that was on the surface of the steak and got seared away; meaning if you let it rest that same juice just evaporates anyways and never hits your mouth. He used an interesting analogy with syringes to explain why juice leaves steaks when they get cut at all, and it has everything to do with the internal temperature- the higher the temp, the higher the vapor pressure of the water inside the steak. Meaning that unless you're eating cold meat, your steak is always going to lose more or less the same amount of juice due to cutting since you're presumably always eating it at the same rough temperature.

I’ve seen the oil one, but in the context of after the pasta is cooked and if you have some noodles left for later. In that case, sometimes the noodles do stick together and a little oil did help. Purely anecdotal tho

I never once in my life washed chicken before cooking it. I believe in UK there's even a label on the packaging when you buy chicken telling you not to wash it.

One thing to add about how many times you flip a steak: Flipping frequently will actually help prevent overcooking the inside if you're trying to get a thorough sear without letting the meat inside cook too much. That way you're limiting how long the steak is being heated from one side at a time. The thicker the steak the more this rule applies. This is especially true if you cook sous vide before searing. You already have the desired doneness (or maybe a little less to let the searing process compensate), so if you leave the steak searing on one side for too long you're risking the heat permeating the meat from one direction for too long on and cooking it further. Flipping it frequently allows each side a chance to cool down a little before you flip back again.

i've always used the shiny side of the foil when cooking because it said on the box it was nonstick, and when you arent adding oils it does seem to come off easier. especially for things like grilling pouches.

11:58 A really good method that is a nice compromise for this is flipping/handling the meat every 30 seconds. From my experience and others, this not only helps develop a good crust, but also assists in limiting the gray band / cooking the meat more evenly.

About the oil in pasta in order to not stick: Most people where I live do not have such large cooking pots, or stove space for that matter, and putting a little oil does help if you are bored to bother just stirring twice while pasta is boiling

The chicken colour thing also depends on if you're cooking with the bone in. If you cook a drumstick or thigh with the bone in, the meat beside the bone will be pink. You can always tell because cooked flesh, whether that's Chicken beef pork or long pork, is always opaque while uncooked is translucent.

I've found that cooking pasta in a small pot makes it more of a nuisance to avoid clumping. There's not as much room for the strands to separate out at first, so they get kind of glued together, and you need to really get in there and work at separating them. The large pot makes it easier to fan everything out so it all just works.

As a griller of over 50yrs I say that you flip the steak as often as needed. I wait until the juices start to appear on top of the steak, flip it and repeat until the juices are mostly clear and not fatty looking. It always gives me a great crust and nice even pink throughout the steak, no gray bands around the edges.

15:25 I always use a pot for my pasta where many people would say it’s too small. Guess what, the pasta cooks perfectly fine, you just have to push it into the pot as it gets softer and maybe stir it more often to prevent sticking.

Josh Weissman in a video literally 3 months ago: "Using soap on your cast iron strips it of its seasoning and will make it rust" Josh Weissman in this video: "Clean ya pan you nasty! Myth busted!"

Would be interesting to redo marinade test including bromelain (pineapple or papaya) in the marinade. Haven't seen it in a while but used to love getting John Soules marinated steak for the grill.

Myoglobin has a very similar structure to hemoglobin (note the name). Not just their structure is similar, but also their function. Both bind oxygen to transport it and, when bound to oxygen, turn red. Higher levels of myoglobin also mean you can stock up on oxygen more (which means you can go longer periods of time without breathing; which is interesting for whales). Hemoglobin is found in red blood cells - an essential component of blood - and myoglobin is found in muscle cells. Cooking your meat "well done" will obviously cause the protein to lose its structure and thus function and also its red colour when exposed to oxygen. Anyhow, blood is actually used in food. Most notably black pudding, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm gonna say myth on if you add oil on pasta afterwards, the sauce won't stick. At the place I worked, we would add oil to pasta to keep them from sticking, you just dump the pasta in boiling water to reheat and drop it into a pan and add your sauce totally fine. A good way of maybe making a bunch of pasta at home and putting it in the fridge for the next few days without it clumping together. Also, some of you might say putting the oil pasta in water will get rid of all the oil. Trust me, there's a lot of oil on the pasta more than you would add in the water to keep it from sticking in the first place.

This was a great episode. Learnt a few things even.

Great video man! Thanks! One thing however, there is at least one category of marinade that absolutely does make meat more tender. That's any marinade containing bromelain either just as an additive like in Lawry's tenderizing steak marinade powder, or through the use of pineapple in the marinade.

Whenever I can I avoid those large strawberries. They are typically tough and tasteless, especially when they are white in the inside or close to the stam. The best strawberries I ever had were tiny and has weird shapes, picked straight from the plant and they were still a bit warm due to the direct sun exposure.

josh the way you test things kill me sometimes 😩 U don’t always include an independent variable

13:02 THIS IS CHEMICALLY IMPOSSIBLE There’s this thing Called freezing point depression and boiling point elevation that exists when you add a salt to water Essentially based on the number of moles of salt in the water relative to its volume the temperature at which said water will freeze/boil changes In this case If you add NaCl (table salt) to water it WILL LITERALLY MAKE IT TAKE LONGER However this is not a reason to not salt pasta water as it will make the pasta cook quicker Why? Well…. Allow me to indulge myself Because of equilibrium and how that stuff works When a liquid is boiling, it tends to stop accepting more heat energy Because well, that heat is what is kicking those other molecules out to become vapor This matters because when you heat up water to its normal boiling point, you can’t really heat it up past that. However if it has a higher boiling point then the water is literally hotter than it would be w/out the salt. This matters because it makes pasta cook faster Yes I am a nerd Shut up This myth is complete nonsense

There is a very simple reason for the shiny and dull side of aluminium foil. To get it to a thin sheet they roll it between two steel drums. These are smooth as butter. To go the final step they pass two sheets together, to get them even thinner. The shiny side is the side of the roll, the dull, that of the other foil.

FYI: freezing the bread actually works better and longer! but not forever, freezer burn is of course a real thing

I have seen so many of these vids where people salt the pasta water before adding the pasta(THIS IS THE WAY). I believe a long time ago, when old Italians salted their pasta water it was because they left the water in a pot with the lid on while they made the ragu. when they got round to using it it was still but at temp. adding salt to that water causes an instant and violent boil that separates the pasta and stirs it for you. Give it a try! not unlike microwaving water and adding a fork for an explosion.

The reasoning behind the matte vs shiny is how the metal is drawn out. They run 2 sheets between the rollers, so matte side is where the sheets are togethed, shiny side is running against the rollers.

The pink chicken one is a cop out. While ultimately it's true -- don't trust anything except a thermometer -- the myth is that normal, store bought, UNCURED chicken is still raw if it's still pink. And I'm pretty sure it's true.

Personally, when I make smoothies, I use frozen fruits instead of ice for the reason of diluting the flavor

What do you mean you not a scientist?!.... You're a chef... so you're a chemist. 😅

Instead of ruining my walls with starchy stains I just taste the pasta to see if it is done to my liking

Uncle Roger ‘bout to come for your soul 💀

The most essential science experiments. Entertaining as always 😊

The only food-myth that is impossible to bust: Uncle Roger fakes his MSG addiction

"seasoning" on a cast iron is severely mis-understood even for chefs. there is 2 parts to seasoning, and why the initial is so important. to properly remove seasoning from a pan you have to wash it to remove the surface, then heat it up to like 400 F and then before it cools down too much, wipe it down. there is the surface crust that provides the anti-stick which is built up over time and use. the "deep" or "internal" seasoning is mostly done in the initial seasoning treatment where the surface cast iron will absorb very small amounts into the iron and carbon.

I am Italian and the way you pronounced "spaghetti" was so accurate I freaked out

The point about using a large pot with water to cook pasta is about the concentration of starch. Pasta that is boiled in less water will have a larger concentration of starch around it, making the pasta gupy and kinda glued when taken out of the water. If you aim for the perfect ratio of water to pasta, try about 1L of water per 100g of pasta and you'll see a major difference. If you don't have a large pot you can cook in a smaller one, but you'll have to rinse the pasta after you take it out in order to take away the excess starch that can ruin a sauce you'l be throwing the pasta in.

I had a friend that always added oil to her pasta water so the pasta wouldn't stick to the pot. She was fanatic about that (she had many issues). Sauce had a much harder time sticking to the pasta, so I think she added more, and it gave a bad texture to the pasta and coated my mouth with oil. She wouldn't hear of cooking it without the oil.

The experiment with boiling salt water was unconvincing. Too many variables -- sizes of the burner flames, volumes of water in each pot, the sizes of the pots, etc. It would have been nice to compare boiling unsalted water as well.

Would like to see more bread storage myths. I spent much money on different bags, boxes and bins to find something to keep my bread last as long as possible.

Papa with a thumbnail that make Uncle Roger cry

Uncle Rodger talking about moderation with MSG is priceless when he adds a terrifying amount during all his cooking videos

Not only is he overhandling that steak, he's Squirrely Dandling it too!

Making a salt solution changes the freezing point/boiling point of water. So when you add salt, you are RAISING the temperature at which water boils and LOWERING the temperature at which it freezes. So salted boiling water is HOTTER than unsalted boiling water, and therefor, cooks things faster. And adds flavor. So yes, you busted the myth of salt making water boil faster. That has always been a misunderstanding. Salt makes water boil at a higher temperature so it takes more time and energy to get there.

The shiny side of the foil is simply the side that was against the roller when it was made. Other than that, there is no difference, as you just proved.

Uncle Roger on MSG! I wasn't expecting that!!! I just spewed my drink all over the dogs on our bed!!!

With the bread in fridge one, you missed a great opportunity to also compare mold growth (for things more prone, like bagels) and what the freezer does! I'm no chef, but I've found that bread is very diverse; different types store well (and recover well) differently between the pantry, fridge, and freezer.

Whether or not a person washes chicken says a lot about their cultural background and where and from who they learned to cook. In hot, humid climates chicken meat will get a kinda slimy/filmy surface unless washed, whereas in a cooler, dryer climate it won't. You'll have black people in the North or Midwest still wash their chicken like their Great-Grandma from Louisiana taught their grandma and mom even though there is no need to in cool, dry Michigan.

12:52 The pots are not the same size.

Since I started following someone's advice on just heating the water with the dry pasta already in it and a thermometer (so I know when the timer starts) it has cut my cooking time in half.

Fun fact salt makes water boil slower bc it raises the temperature at which water boils and lowers the temp at which it freezes. This is why they salt roads in winter. You also theoretically could put enough salt in a pot of water that it wouldn't even boil on the face of the sun

I see 55 seconds ago, i click. Content is always so reliable Joshua!!! Balance of comedy and actual real life facts is really hard to do and you do it really well! :)

Are those copper pans actually just for show 😂😂😂

13:45, you do need oil AFTER taking the pasta out if you want to prevent it from sticking. alternatively you have to sauce immediately

The easiest one to overrule was the experiment of the effect of different amounts of salt in the water and boiling: The more the salt, the more the boiling point of the solution, hence the longer you have to wait. The result we have seen was biased most probably due to different experimental conditions, e.g. not similar heat being transferred to the pots.

12:30 Putting salt in stainless steel pots BEFORE the water is boiling can damage the finish and cause pitting. Add the salt after the water is already near boiling.

The issue with washing your cast iron with soap is that most people do *not* re-season their pans often enough or properly; resulting in a build up (over time) that makes your seasoning leave a soapy taste on the food (soap is harder to get out of a cast iron pan completely compared to other pans so if you aren't super thorough you are going to leave soap residue every time you wash it).

I also tried the Avocado myth without wrapping it up and the seed definitely makes a difference. Tastes way more fresh and the oxidation doesn't go nearly as deep. I guess putting it into foil takes away most advantages

I will say, i never heard anything about the fridge keeping it from going stale. If anything, the texture go "stale" over night and it maintains a firmness. However, what I have found, is that putting out bread in the fridge it keeps significantly longer. I have had bread in the fridge that is a month old and never have any mold on it. However, leaving it on the counter it will grow after a few weeks.

The MSG thing is wild to me because I have people in my life (mostly baby boomers) who say that MSG gives them migraines and causes them to get dizzy and shit. But I feel like they were totally affected by the "Chinese Food Syndrome" craze. Especially because I *know* they have eaten food with MSG in it and they love it. Plus, there are studies that say it helps the elderly reduce their salt intake while still making food interesting and flavorful for them.

What I always tell people about MSG is that it’s like salt - the studies that originally showed it was unhealthy were feeding the rats the equivalent of an _unholy_ amount of MSG in their food, and _of course_ they found negative effects. As you would find if you fed them that amount of salt on a daily basis, as well. And yet we all eat salt every day. MSG is just like salt - if you eat a _TON_ of it, _of course_ it’s gonna be unhealthy. But a regular amount added to season your food is totally fine.

The pot size is an advise to prevent the pasta to stick. If too much pasta is made in a small pot is most likely to stick because it doesn't have enough space to move and most if the pasta will be in contact.

13:16 when (some) ppl wash their chicken we simply mean: - Grab a bowl (metal or glass) - add chicken - add water, about 1/3 cup of white vinegar, and 1-2 halved and squeezed lemons or limes -light sprinkle of salt - scrub the chicken with said citrus -sit for about 10-15 mins - pour out liquid - rinse -this is optional depending on where you get the chicken: (scrape excess fat/visible feathers off -set aside - clean sink with hot water, bleach, comet, etc REMINDER: Yes not everyone does this. Its mostly a cultural/prefrence thing. I personally think it gets rid of that odd taste and smell of chicken