My water is boiling too fast
Every time I try to boil a pot of water to make spaghetti, I leave the kitchen to go do something else (I am very busy lol). Sometimes I come back to find the pot boiling over and a mess on my stove! Is there some way I can make the water boil more slowly so I have more time to run my errands?
Best Answer
Turn the temperature down - Once the pot reaches boil, it takes a lot less energy to keep it boiling, turning the temperature down it will keep it from boiling quite so violently.
Don't overfill your pot - Makes sure you are using a pot large enough to handle all the water and pasta
A teaspoon of oil will also help - This helps keep the water from building the bubbles causing it to foam over. When you cook spaghetti, do you add olive oil to the boiling water?
Pictures about "My water is boiling too fast"
Why is my water boiling over?
With the combined influences of heat and water, the starch thickens as it rises to the surface, creating an active agent at the top of the water which blocks air from escaping. Because it contains more air, the volume of water then expands, rising to the point of boiling over.How do you stop water from over boiling?
It's simple, but can help postpone a surprise stovetop mess in the heat of the moment. All you need is your trusty wooden mixing spoon. If you lay a wooden spoon across the top of the pot of boiling water, the water will not boil over.Does closing the lid make water boil faster?
Truth: Keep the pot covered. So put a lid on the pan. The air in the pan will heat up as the water heats up, and it circulates back into the water as it's heated. This helps bring the water to 212 degrees F more quickly.Why do you add salt to boiling water?
Key Takeaways: Adding Salt to Boiling Water The best reason to add salt to water is to improve the flavor of food cooked in it. Salting water also helps it boil (slightly) faster. While salting water does increase the temperature at which it boils, the effect is so small that it really has no impact on cooking time.Can You Boil Water Just By Mixing it Really Fast? Water-Stirring Challenge Accepted!
More answers regarding my water is boiling too fast
Answer 2
Use a kettle? When boiling water for pasta, I just boil it in the kettle and pour into the pan. Has the benefit I can just start it boiling and forget about it until I need it
Answer 3
Use a small kitchen timer. Set it for the time takes your pot of water to boil, and put it in your pocket or on lanyard. Then "errand away" until it beeps
Nice timers at http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.1013~search.timer from credit card to apple sized
This works for anything of course, not just boiling water. You can bake cookies, and still "errand away" :-)
Answer 4
Add some salt and a little olive oil when putting the water to boil. As it will make the water more dense it will boil a little harder than regular water. The olive oil is also good to prevent the pasta from getting stuck to the pot and the salt you need it dissolved so it can be absorbed by the pasta.
Answer 5
You could always boil the water in the oven if you're worried about spillover. This will allow you to use a bigger pot as well and have more precise control over the temperature.
Answer 6
Actually, I think the answer is very simple: leave the lid OFF.
There's a lot of other answers here that may be missing a beginner's bad approach to boiling noodles. We often use a lid to decrease time to get to boiling, but once you add the dried pasta and fluff it to keep it from sticking together, don't return the lid back onto the pot.
When cooking pasta, you should actually pay attention and leave on high for a minute (or so, depends on your rangetop) until boiling resumes, and then lower the heat. After that, your attention can wane until the final timer goes off - not that you should leave the house, haha.
Some recipes actually call for turning the heat off at a point in the process to preparing noodles, similar to my favorite method of cooking corn on the cob, hard-boiled eggs, or even when boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes. As an aside, though turning the heat off isn't my norm in practice, it's a great way to more precisely time perfectly "al dente" noodles (or more precisely reaching any desired texture, for that matter). Or, if you insist on having a lid on the pot for whatever reason, cant it so the steam can escape.
Leaving the lid on, with high heat, can actually cause other of starchy and/or "glutenous" things to boil over, such as oatmeal.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Stephane Hurbe, Kammeran Gonzalez-Keola, Damir Mijailovic, Blue Bird