Is day-old rice safe to eat? Can a 3-year-old clean up a bowl of cookie dough? Does butter really need to be stored in the fridge?
When it comes to the topic of meal prep, it seems like everyone has an opinion. If you've ever found yourself in a debate about these controversial eating habits, read on for science-based answers that may put an end to the debate.
Does cooking really burn off all the alcohol?
Many recipes call for a little wine or a little liqueur, but how much alcohol is actually left after cooking? The answer depends on the cooking method and time.
According to USDA research, cooking can reduce the alcohol content but not completely remove it: For example, simmering a dish for 30 minutes can remove about 35% of the alcohol, while cooking for an hour reduces it by about 25%.
Cooking it for a longer period will reduce the alcohol content further, but traces may remain. Therefore, even though the alcohol content is significantly reduced, it is not completely gone, so keep this in mind if you are serving it to someone who is on a diet.
How to safely enjoy leftover rice
Meal preppers rejoice: As long as you follow the proper guidelines when preparing, storing, and reheating, leftover rice is safe to eat the next day. Plus, choosing the right recipe can help prevent rice from drying out overnight. Whether you're making fried rice or whipping up a creamy, hearty wild rice mushroom soup, both are great options.
Great raw cookie dough
Baking cookies with your kids is a great way to foster a love of cooking at an early age, but should you say “no” when they beg to try some raw cookie dough?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is never safe to eat raw cookie dough. Raw cookie dough typically contains raw flour and eggs, which can contain bacteria that can make people sick. To be on the safe side, you should never eat raw cookie dough and should follow the CDC's guidelines for baking cookies safely.
Meanwhile, in 2016, Brian Zigmund Fischer, a faculty member at the School of Public Health and an expert in health risk communication, published a CNN story about how he and his family regularly eat raw cookie dough, but minimize the risk by only using pasteurized eggs and making sure flour isn't subject to recall notices.
“Our goal is not to minimize all risks regardless of cost,” writes Sigmund Fischer. “Our goal is to maximize life… Maximizing life means [people] Don't be shy and enjoy the (carefully prepared) cookie dough.”
Still hesitant to eat dough? Our flour-free, egg-free edible cookie dough recipe might be just what you need.
Should tomatoes be stored in the fridge or left on the counter?
Experts say storing whole tomatoes at room temperature is the best way to preserve their flavor and texture, but if you're worried about them going bad, consider storing them in the refrigerator for at least a few days.
Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju of Urban Farmie says, “When I have an abundance of fresh tomatoes in late summer, I like to store them in the fridge, especially if they're starting to get a little out of season.”
Room temperature tomatoes are most flavorful when eaten fresh, but refrigerated tomatoes are also great for cooking. “They will soften, and I prefer soft tomatoes over rotten ones,” says Bhaskaran Makanju. Roasted tomato dishes, like these baked tomatoes with Parmesan, are a great way to use up that overflowing fridge.
Raw chicken: to wash or not to wash
Chicken sashimi may be all the rage on the internet, but home cooks should still follow food safety principles when working with raw chicken. So, should you wash raw chicken before cooking it?
“While washing meat and poultry to remove dirt, slime, fat and blood may have been appropriate decades ago, when many people butchered and cooked their own meat and poultry, this is not required under our modern food safety system,” explains the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
In fact, according to the FSIS, washing raw meat and poultry can spread bacteria to other kitchen surfaces, utensils, and foods through a process called cross-contamination. This means washing raw chicken is unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst. Instead, follow FSIS advice for properly handling raw meat and poultry:
Do you have blues cheese?
Mold is an important part of the cheesemaking process for many cheeses. Many cheeses, such as Roquefort and Camembert in France and Gorgonzola in Italy, use mold to aid in ripening. But not all mold is your friend. If your formerly yellow cheese now has new green or white growths, should you throw it away?
Leah Ingram of Bagels and Lasagna recalls, “A food expert I interviewed a long time ago said that it's perfectly safe to remove the mold from a hard cheese and eat the rest, but not with soft cheeses. So that's where we draw the line.”
The USDA confirms: “Discard any soft cheeses that have mold. For hard cheeses, such as cheddar, cut away at least an inch around and under the moldy area (do not insert the knife into the mold itself). After cutting away the mold, the remaining cheese should be safe to eat. Wrap the cheese in new plastic wrap and refrigerate.”
Can I leave butter on the counter?
Butter was invented long before refrigerators, so it should be safe to store at room temperature, right? According to the USDA, butter is indeed safe at room temperature, but you shouldn't leave it out for more than a day or two to avoid it smelling rancid. Butter bells, invented in the 16th century, help keep butter soft.
Looking for a quick way to use up some leftover butter? This Garlic Butter Chicken makes a quick and delicious dinner.
Don't leave safety undisputed
In the old days, tomatoes were considered so poisonous that frogs were put in milk containers to keep the milk fresh. Though our eating habits today may have changed somewhat, there is still a lot of confusion regarding food safety.
Changing cooking habits isn't easy — you might have a hard time convincing your grandma not to defrost meat on the counter, for example — but as anyone who's had food poisoning knows, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Next time you find yourself debating about food, seek advice from government agencies like the USDA or CDC. Then, once things have calmed down, you can move on to debating the issues that really matter: Why not put pineapple on pizza?
Sara Nelson is the founder of Real Balanced, a cooking blog featuring easy, balanced recipes. She has been sharing these recipes with thousands of readers and social media followers since 2017. Sara lives in Wisconsin with her family.
Sara Nelson is Seattle City Council President and will serve in 2022.
