18 Cooking Methods Once Considered Dangerous
Cooking techniques that seem perfectly normal today once terrified home cooks and food experts alike. Throughout culinary history, new methods of preparing food have been met with suspicion, fear, and sometimes outright panic—often based on misunderstandings about science, safety, or cultural taboos.
These weren’t just minor concerns about technique or flavor. Many cooking methods we take for granted today were once banned, discouraged, or considered genuinely hazardous by authorities and the general public.
Some fears were based on legitimate safety concerns that technology eventually solved, while others stemmed from superstition or incomplete knowledge. Here are 18 cooking methods that people once viewed with serious alarm but now consider routine parts of modern cuisine.
Pressure Cooking
Early pressure cookers in the 1600s were literally called ‘digester bombs’ because they had a habit of exploding and sending scalding food flying around kitchens. The original designs lacked proper safety valves and pressure regulation, making them genuinely dangerous contraptions that could cause serious burns or property damage.
Modern pressure cookers have multiple safety mechanisms and precise pressure controls, yet many people still fear them based on stories passed down from previous generations.
Microwave Cooking
When microwave ovens first appeared in homes during the 1970s, people worried that the radiation would leak out and cause everything from sterility to brain damage. Some believed the electromagnetic waves would continue affecting food after cooking, making it radioactive or nutritionally worthless.
Health officials had to repeatedly explain that microwave radiation doesn’t make food radioactive, though concerns about uneven heating and nutrient loss persisted for decades.
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Raw Fish Preparation
Sushi and sashimi were considered extremely dangerous by Western medicine well into the 1980s, with doctors warning about parasites, bacterial infections, and food poisoning. The idea of deliberately eating uncooked fish seemed like culinary insanity to many Americans—who associated raw seafood with poverty or desperation rather than fine dining.
Proper fish handling, freezing protocols, and sourcing standards eventually made raw fish preparation much safer than early critics imagined.
Pressure Frying
Fast-food chains like KFC popularized pressure frying in the 1960s, but early commercial units were notorious for accidents and explosions. The combination of hot oil and pressurized steam created conditions that could turn kitchen equipment into dangerous projectiles, leading to serious injuries in restaurants that didn’t maintain their equipment properly.
Modern pressure fryers have extensive safety systems, though many home cooks still consider the technique too risky to attempt.
Sous Vide Cooking
Cooking food in vacuum-sealed plastic bags at precise low temperatures was initially viewed with deep suspicion by food safety experts. Critics worried about botulism risks, plastic chemicals leaching into food, and the unconventional temperature ranges that seemed too low to kill harmful bacteria.
The method required an understanding of time-temperature relationships that contradicted traditional cooking wisdom, making it seem dangerously experimental to conventional chefs.
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Flambéing
Setting food on fire at the dinner table seemed like obvious madness to many restaurant patrons when flambéing became popular in upscale establishments. Insurance companies often refused to cover restaurants that performed tableside flambéing—citing fire hazards and liability concerns.
Several high-profile accidents involving singed eyebrows, burned tablecloths, and minor fires reinforced the perception that adding alcohol and flames to dining was unnecessarily risky.
Charcoal Grilling
Early concerns about charcoal grilling focused on carbon monoxide poisoning and the carcinogenic compounds created by burning charcoal. Medical experts warned that cooking over charcoal produced dangerous chemicals that could accumulate in food, particularly when fat dripped onto hot coals and created smoke.
The indoor use of charcoal grills caused numerous poisoning cases, while outdoor grilling was considered a health risk that prudent families should avoid.
Deep Frying
When deep-frying became popular in home kitchens during the early 1900s, fire departments reported dramatic increases in kitchen fires and burn injuries. Large pots of hot oil were inherently dangerous in homes that lacked proper ventilation or fire suppression systems, leading many communities to discourage the practice.
The technique seemed wasteful and hazardous compared to traditional cooking methods that used less oil and lower temperatures.
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Pressure Canning
Home pressure canning was viewed with extreme caution when it first became available to consumers in the early 1900s. The process required precise timing, temperature control, and understanding of botulism risks—factors that seemed too complex for average home cooks to manage safely.
Several cases of botulism poisoning from improperly canned foods reinforced fears that pressure canning was best left to commercial operations with proper equipment and expertise.
Induction Cooking
Electric induction cooktops generated fear about electromagnetic fields and their potential health effects when they were introduced to home kitchens. Some people worried that the magnetic fields would interfere with pacemakers or cause other medical problems, while others feared that the technology was too new to understand its long-term consequences.
The unfamiliar way induction cooktops heated pans without getting hot themselves seemed unnatural and potentially dangerous.
Wok Cooking
High-heat stir-frying in woks was considered dangerous in Western kitchens that weren’t designed for the intense flames and rapid cooking techniques required. Traditional wok cooking used gas burners that produced much higher heat than typical home stoves, creating fire hazards and concerns about inadequate ventilation.
The technique also required constant motion and split-second timing that seemed too demanding for home cooks to perform safely.
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Alcohol-Based Cooking
Using wine, beer, or spirits in cooking was once prohibited or strongly discouraged in many communities due to moral and safety concerns. Religious groups opposed any culinary use of alcohol, while others worried that cooking with spirits created fire hazards or would leave dangerous alcohol residues in food.
The belief that alcohol never completely cooks out of food made many parents refuse to serve dishes that contained any alcoholic ingredients.
Smoking Meats
Early concerns about meat education centered on the carcinogenic compounds produced by wood smoke and the difficulty of maintaining safe temperatures during long cooking processes. Medical experts worried that traditional educational methods didn’t heat food enough to kill harmful bacteria, while the smoke itself contained chemicals that could cause health problems over time.
The technique seemed primitive and unsanitary compared to more controlled cooking methods.
Fermentation
Deliberate fermentation of foods was viewed with suspicion by many people who associated bacterial activity with spoilage and disease. The idea of encouraging microorganisms to grow in food seemed counterintuitive to emerging germ theory—making fermented foods appear dangerous rather than beneficial.
Scientific understanding of good versus bad bacteria was limited, leading many to avoid fermented foods entirely rather than risk potential illness.
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Clay Pot Cooking
Unglazed clay cookware was considered potentially dangerous due to concerns about lead contamination and bacterial growth in porous surfaces. Health officials worried that traditional clay pots couldn’t be properly sanitized, making them breeding grounds for harmful microorganisms.
The rustic appearance and unfamiliar cooking properties of clay pots made them seem primitive and unsanitary compared to modern metal cookware.
High-Temperature Roasting
Cooking at very high temperatures was once discouraged due to fire hazards and concerns about creating harmful compounds in food. Early ovens lacked precise temperature controls and adequate insulation, making high-heat cooking genuinely dangerous in many home kitchens.
The technique also seemed wasteful of fuel and created cooking conditions that were difficult to control without modern equipment.
Molecular Gastronomy
When chefs began using liquid nitrogen, chemical additives, and laboratory equipment in restaurant kitchens, food critics and health officials expressed serious concerns about safety and food integrity. The use of industrial chemicals and scientific equipment in food preparation seemed to cross a line between cooking and chemistry, raising questions about training, safety protocols, and long-term health effects.
Many techniques required specialized knowledge and equipment that seemed too dangerous for widespread adoption.
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Sprouting Seeds
Growing sprouts at home was discouraged by health authorities due to the ideal conditions that sprouting creates for bacterial growth. The warm, moist environment needed for sprouting also favors harmful bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella—making homegrown sprouts a potential health hazard.
Several outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to contaminated sprouts reinforced the perception that this ancient food preparation method was too risky for modern kitchens.
From Fear to Familiarity
These once-feared cooking methods remind us that culinary progress often faces resistance rooted in legitimate safety concerns, cultural bias, or simple unfamiliarity. What seems dangerous today might become commonplace tomorrow as technology improves and knowledge advances.
The evolution of cooking safety reflects broader changes in food science, kitchen technology, and our understanding of nutrition and food-borne risks. Modern cooks benefit from decades of refinement that have made previously dangerous techniques much safer, though the fundamental principle remains the same: any cooking method requires proper knowledge, appropriate equipment, and respect for potential hazards.
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