Cooking Class tidbits

I've been in my cooking class for 5 weeks now and I love it.  Our instructor really knows his stuff and he's a fountain of information.  He's also really funny and it makes going to class even more enjoyable.

So far we've covered the basic ingredients (oils, salt, peppers, fats, etc.), stocks, soups, sauces, and the first of three classes on eggs.  I was really excited after this first egg class because finally there's something that's simple to make and I know my kids will eat, and it doesn't rely on anything else; because we haven't covered protein yet I don't have something to put sauce on.  "Well kids, we're having sauce for dinner tonight."  ;)  For meals where eggs are the main protein, I've got that down.  :)

I've learned so many techniques for different things so far, but I want to share 14 extra things I've learned as well (and for a few of them I've linked other articles that expound on what I mention here, and I've put them in bold so they're easy to find; they're important):

1) The problem with the American diet isn't fats-- it's sugar and carbs.  When the USDA first came out with the food pyramid, this is what it looked like (and this is what I grew up being taught): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif  Remember that?  When that came out, my cooking teacher looked at it and said, "It's upside down!"  Natural fats are good for us-- our body needs them to be healthy, and they help us feel full faster without eating too much.  This explains why I haven't lost any weight in the past year: I don't over-eat, far from it; but what I do eat is usually carbs and there's usually sugar in it.

2) While white granulated sugar isn't good for us, it's better than high fructose corn syrup.  I've actually seen a commercial on television that goes like this:

Man: (when offered a popsicle by the woman) "I shouldn't eat that, it has high fructose corn syrup."
Woman: "So?"
Man: "So... you know what they say."
Woman: "What?  It tastes the same as sugar and it's just as good for you in moderation."
Man: "Oh."  And he proceeds to eat the popsicle she offered him.

Our teacher said that when companies claim that high fructose corn syrup is okay for you, they are lying.  I found an excellent article online that explains why high fructose corn syrup is so bad for us:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup_b_4256220.html
Wow, that makes the commercial above sound a lot like the Adam and Eve forbidden fruit story.  hahaha!  ;)

3) When you see that something has "natural flavoring", the actual name for it is Castoreum, and that is extract of beaver.  I'm serious, it's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum  So when they call it "natural flavoring", technically they're not lying, it is from nature.  Doesn't mean it has any business being in our food, though!

4) Unsalted butter is best so you can control how much salt goes into your food.  NEVER use margarine or shortening; they have hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated oil, and you should NEVER, EVER eat anything with hydrogenated oil.  IF YOU DON'T READ ANY OF THE OTHER ARTICLES I'VE LINKED IN THIS POST, READ THIS ONE!!   http://www.naturalnews.com/024694_oil_food_oils.html
Mc told me the other day that there's talk at the federal level about banning hydrogenated oil, and that was music to my ears!  If that becomes law, then there's so much junk food that will disappear from the grocery store shelves; it'll be glorious!

5) Peanut oil is best for cooking.  If someone has a peanut allergy, Canola oil is the next best.  The only olive oil worth using is extra virgin olive oil; it'll be more expensive than the other olive oils, but it's the best.

6) Cinnamon that you buy at any grocery store is sawdust.  The best, real cinnamon is Saigon cinnamon from Vietnam (you can get it at Costco).  It's more expensive but it's worth it.

7) There are 3 kinds of peppercorn-- green, white, and black-- and white and black are the ones we cook with (some people claim that there's pink peppercorn, but that's actually called sumac).  White peppercorn keeps its flavor and heat when cooked and thus it's best for actual cooking, while black peppercorn loses its flavor when cooked and only keeps its heat, so it's best for at the table when your food needs a little kick.

8) Use whole milk (3.25% fat) and 2%-fat milk for cooking.  Your kids should be drinking whole milk as well (unless they're teenagers who chug milk all day, in which case go for 1% for them).  ;)

9) Use wine vinegars for cooking-- distilled vinegar is for cleaning, not cooking (the one exception my teacher has told us about so far is for cooking poached eggs).

10) When cooking with wine, only use wine you would serve at the table with the meal.  "Cooking wine" has too many additives and the bottle says something like, "for cooking only, not for consumption."  If you wouldn't drink the wine, don't cook with it.  And use "dry" wines for cooking rather than sweet ones.

11) The USA has some of the highest numbers of acid reflux cases (or heartburn) in the world, and it's because we eat food that isn't cooked properly.  For example, onions shouldn't be eaten raw, they need to be cooked.  Another example is tomato sauce.  Tomato sauce should be simmered for a MINIMUM  of 1 hour.  But factories put everything in the jar and cook the stuff in the jar on very high heat for 15 minutes.  To make it palatable, they add sugar.  If you don't want to make your own tomato sauce, take the store-bought stuff and dump it in a pot and simmer it for 45 minutes.

12) If cooking with tomatoes, use canned tomatoes.  Every tomato you see in the stores is picked green; they're kept in huge storage facilities for months at a time, and when someone orders tomatoes, they stick the green tomatoes in a gas chamber which gets them to artificially ripen to a red color and then they ship them off to the stores.  Canned tomatoes are ripe when they're canned, and thus they are better for you and they taste better, too.

13) Don't cook for a long time or store food in an aluminum pot-- acids from food break down the aluminum, and the aluminum will get into the food and the pot will be destroyed.

14) And last but certainly not least: HEAT QUICKLY AND COOL QUICKLY.  At room temperature, the growth of bacteria doubles in 20 minutes.  The higher and lower the temperature, the slower the bacteria can grow.  So when cooking something, heat it quickly.  When cooling something, cool it quickly.  If you're serving a hot dinner, serve what you need to and then put the remaining food in the refrigerator right away without letting it sit out on the counter; anyone who wants seconds can heat it up later.  ;)

Well there you go-- a few extra tidbits of information that I've picked up from my cooking class.  The techniques for cooking the food we've covered so far are fun to learn, and the teacher really is a great chef and a great instructor.  I'm excited to continue learning more!