Why you're peeling bananas, wrapping cheese and storing wine all wrong

Are you peeling bananas wrong or throwing away eggs to early? Photo / Getty

As 90 per cent of the population eats cheese on a regular basis, it's a fair bet that you've got a half-eaten block sitting in the door of the fridge right now, just biding its time before you rip off its cling film overcoat and ravish it between two crackers. If so, I'm afraid to say you're doing this fine foodstuff a serious disservice because, according to the Good Housekeeping Institute, the familiar plastic wrap is actually one of the worst materials you can use to keep cheese fresh, thanks to its propensity to trap moisture and encourage The Wrong Sort of Mould.

Much better, apparently, to use waxed paper, or at a pinch, grease proof, and keep cheese in the salad drawer, which is the most humid part of the fridge, to stop it drying out. (Indeed, very hard cheeses like Parmesan don't need to be kept in the fridge at all: anywhere with a stable temperature of between eight and 15C will do.)

For me, this was a culinary revelation akin to discovering that peanuts are actually legumes, and raw oysters are still alive when you eat them.

Turns out, however, that the new edict on cheese is not the only counter-intuitive food rule out there. Here's what else we've been getting wrong.

1. You're peeling bananas the wrong way

That stalk at the end may look like the perfect handle, but there's a reason that monkeys start from the other end: it's much easier.

Simply pinch it between your fingers to split the skin, and then peel this back for instant proof that a bigger brain isn't always better.

2. You don't need to stir risotto continuously

Every Italian nonna will tell you that to get a really creamy risotto, you need to stand over the pan for 25 minutes, coaxing the starch from the rice with your wooden spoon, when all you really want to do is drink wine with your guests/the dog.

Good news: according to J Kenji Lopez Alt of the Serious Eats website, this all-important starch is actually concentrated on the surface of the grains, which means you can rinse it off with water or stock before cooking, collecting the resulting starchy liquid in a jug beneath the sieve to use as a cooking liquid.

Hey presto, perfect risotto, no stirring required - though you may want to shake the pan occasionally to make sure the rice cooks evenly.

3. Tomatoes in the fridge? No. Leftover wine? Yes

Are you storing tomato right and using the correct part of a chili?

While the southern hemisphere's tomato season is over, if you're still forking out for them, don't spoil their summery flavour by storing them in the bleak midwinter of the fridge.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal found that chilly temperatures slow the activity of the enzyme-producing genes responsible for the fruit's distinctive taste - yet they'll also slow down the oxidation of an open bottle of red according to wine expert Jancis Robinson.

4. The chilli's heat isn't in the seeds

Capsaicin, the compound that can leave you gasping for a cold glass of milk, is concentrated in the pale pith that attaches the seeds to the fruit, rather than the seeds themselves, so it's this you'll need to cut out to tame the pepper's fire.

5. Sealing steak is a whopper

You can't trap the juices in meat by searing it briefly over a high heat, though this will improve its flavour. Instead, make sure you allow it to rest before serving to give the fibres time to relax and reabsorb some of the juices driven to the surface during cooking.

About 10 minutes is recommended for a steak or a chop, and up to 45 minutes for a large roasting joint.

6. Cook pasta in the minimum of water

Again, ignore the nonnas on this one: as long as your pasta is fully submerged, and you give it a brief stir to stop it sticking together, then you can boil pasta in as little water as you want.

As a bonus, as food science writer Harold McGee observes, the resulting cooking liquid will be starchier, making it much more effective at thickening sauces.

Do you wash your mushrooms or use too much water in pasta? Photo / Getty

7. Give your mushrooms a bath

The old idea that mushrooms are like sponges, ready to turn into water bombs at the merest hint of liquid, is rubbish - they're 90 per cent water already, and rinsing the outsides is going to make very little difference, so faffing around with a damp cloth is a fool's errand.

That said, the same goes for mushrooms as any other food you'd like to fry to a delicious golden brown: dry them first, so they saute, rather than boil in the pan.

8. Fresher eggs aren't always better

While no one's suggesting you should tuck into a pungently rotting omelette for breakfast, it is worth knowing that eggs lose moisture through their shells as they age, increasing the size of the air pocket in the rounder end, and making them easier to peel - something to bear in mind if you're planning on getting out the celery salt for a picnic any time soon.

Fresher eggs, meanwhile, make stabler meringues and soufflé's, thanks to the stronger protein bonds in the whites - much better for Eton mess.