History Myths
Nero could not have fiddled, and Tacitus said it was a rumour
The instrument did not exist for another millennium, the emperor was reportedly out of the city, and the source everyone cites was…
Gopal Iyer
Contributing writer, Virgin Myth
Gopal writes about kitchen lore and tests it before writing about it.
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18 articles
History Myths
Einstein did not fail mathematics, and he saw the story in print
The claim can be traced to a novelty column in the 1930s. He read it, denied it, and it outlived him anyway because it is far too…
History Myths
The Boston Tea Party was a protest against cheaper tea
The legislation that triggered it reduced the price of legally imported tea. What it changed was who was allowed to sell it, and…
Food Myths
Searing does not seal in juices, and the test is a set of scales
The idea came from a chemist's guess in the 1840s and was repeated in cookbooks for a century. Weighing the meat afterwards settles…
Food Myths
The alcohol does not all cook off, and the numbers are not close
Retention depends on method and time, and a splash of wine stirred through at the end keeps most of what you added. Flaming a pan…
Food Myths
Salt does not make water boil faster, and it slightly does the opposite
Half-remembered school chemistry produced a kitchen rule that runs backwards. The amount involved changes the boiling point by a…
Food Myths
Oil in the pasta water floats, which is the whole problem
It cannot reach pasta sitting under the surface, and whatever it does reach gets coated on the way out. The sticking is prevented…
Food Myths
Mushrooms do not soak up water like sponges, and a scale proves it
The instruction to brush rather than rinse comes from a much-copied cookbook line. Weighing mushrooms before and after a rinse…
Food Myths
You can wash cast iron with soap, and the rule dates from a different soap
Old soaps were made with harsh alkali that genuinely attacked the seasoning. Modern washing-up liquid is a mild detergent and…
Food Myths
Marinades reach a few millimetres in and then stop
Cut a marinated piece in half and the colour line is visible. What actually travels into meat is salt, which is why brining works…
Food Myths
The fridge does not ruin a tomato, but it does mute one
Cold suppresses the enzymes that make the aroma compounds, and some of that loss is permanent. Whether it matters depends entirely…
History Myths
White marble is what survived, not what the sculptors wanted
Greek and Roman statues were painted in strong colours, and traces have been recorded since the nineteenth century. The taste for…
History Myths
The pyramids were not built by slaves, and the workers had tombs
A Greek visitor writing two millennia after the fact reported vast gangs of forced labour, and the story stuck. Excavation beside…
Food Myths
Marco Polo did not bring pasta home, and a trade magazine invented the story
Italian records mention pasta before he ever left, and a geographer described dried pasta being exported from Sicily long before…
Food Myths
Both sides of aluminium foil do the same thing, and the finish is a rolling artefact
The shiny and dull faces exist because two sheets pass through the final rollers together. Only one kind of foil has a side that…
Food Myths
A sharpening steel does not sharpen anything, and the name is the problem
Running a knife along a steel rod straightens an edge that has folded over. Removing metal to make a new edge is a different job…
Food Myths
Older eggs peel more easily, and the usual explanation is shaky
Cooks have noticed for generations that a very fresh boiled egg fights back. The effect is real and repeatable, while the tidy…
Food Myths
The champagne coupe was in use before any of the women it is named after
The wide shallow glass is said to have been moulded from a queen's breast, or an empress's, or a mistress's. Records place the…