How Bad Are Your Cooking Mistakes -- Really?

Wonder if the kitchen faux-pas you’re making are just kinda bad, or really bad? Check out Rach’s answers to some of our audience member’s dilemmas.

How bad is it to use dried herbs?

“Depends on what it is,” Rach says, “If you are going to use dried herbs and spices, you should know that you need to keep them cool in a dark place and away from heat. They should be rotated every six months, not every six years.”

Rach says she uses dried thyme and sage but would never use dried parsley or basil because they “taste nothing like parsley or basil.”

How bad is it to boil pasta in a really small pot?

“Terrible. It’s going to be starchy and can’t cook appropriately. You need six quarts of water for every one pound of pasta,” Rach proclaims, before giving our audience member one of her pasta pots.

How bad is it really to use no-boil lasagna noodles?

“I love them, I prefer them, they’re great,” says Rach. “I can’t stand those long curly things that Italian-American kitchens serve. I didn’t grow up with that at all, we always used flat pasta. We would use homemade pasta or the no-boil sheets, they’re fabulous!”

How bad is it to keep tomatoes in the refrigerator?

Deadly sin alert! Rach says that putting tomatoes in the fridge is “horrible.” “It’s a death chamber,” she explains. “Tomatoes will become grainy, tasteless, the wrong texture. Never put a tomato in the refrigerator -- I will come to your house!”