Boiling water is such a common task that learning it can help you wherever you are. Are you going to make dinner? Find out when to add a poached egg or if the salt really helps your dish. Are you going hiking up a mountain? Find out why your food takes so long to cook and how to make drinking river water. Read on to learn all this and much more.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Boil Water for Cooking
Step 1. Choose a saucepan with a lid
The lid will trap the heat inside the saucepan, which will make the water boil faster. A large saucepan will take longer to boil, but the shape is not a determining factor.
Step 2. Add cold tap water
Hot tap water can collect lead from pipes, so it is not recommended for drinking or cooking. Better start with cold tap water. Do not fill the entire pan, but it can overflow, you will also need space to add the food you are going to cook.
Don't believe the popular myth: cold water doesn't boil faster than hot water. It is a safer option, but it takes more time
Step 3. Add salt for flavor (optional)
Salt has almost no effect on boiling temperature, even if you add enough to make seawater! Add it only if you are going to salt food, especially pasta, which will absorb the salt along with the water.
- You may see a group of bubbles rise as soon as you add the salt. It's a fun effect, but it doesn't change the temperature.
- Add salt to the water when you make hard-boiled eggs. If the shell cracks, the salt will help the white to solidify, which will plug the hole.
Step 4. Put the saucepan over high heat
Put the saucepan in the kitchen and turn the burner heat to high. Cover the saucepan with its lid so that the water boils a little faster.
Step 5. Know the stages of boiling
Almost all recipes call for food to be simmered or simmered over high heat. Learn to recognize these stages, plus a couple of less common options to help you find the perfect temperature:
- Bring to a boil: small bubbles appear at the bottom of the saucepan, but do not rise. The surface "shakes" slightly. This boil occurs at about 60 to 75 ° C (140 to 170 ° F), a good temperature for poaching eggs, fruit, or fish.
- Slight boil: tiny threads of bubbles rise, but most of the water remains motionless. The water will be about 75 to 90 ° C (170 to 195 ° F) and can be used for a stew or meat stew.
- Simmer: there are small to medium bubbles that pop on the surface frequently, all over the pan. The water will be at 195 to 210 ° F (90 to 100 ° C), a good temperature for steaming vegetables or melting chocolate, depending on how badly you want to eat something healthy.
- Intense boiling: refers to when it steams and there is a constant movement that does not stop when stirring the water. This temperature is the highest possible: 100 ° C (210 ° F). Make pasta at this temperature.
Step 6. Add the food
If you are boiling something in water, add it now. Cold food will lower the temperature of the water, and can lower it to a previous stage. Nothing happens: just leave the heat on high or medium until the water returns to the correct level.
Unless a recipe tells you otherwise, do not add food before the water is hot. Otherwise, it will be difficult to estimate the cooking time, and it can have unexpected effects. For example, meat ends up tougher and less flavorful when exposed to cold water at some point during cooking
Step 7. Lower the heat
High heat is useful when you want the water to reach boiling temperature quickly. When you get where you want, lower the heat to medium (for parboiling) or medium low (for simmering). When water comes to a boil, a higher temperature will only make it evaporate faster.
- Check the saucepan from time to time during the first few minutes to make sure the water is stable at the stage you want it to be.
- If you are making soup or another dish that needs to be boiled for a long time, leave the lid slightly open. Closing the lid all the way will make the temperature rise too high for such recipes.
Method 2 of 4: Purify Water
Step 1. Boil the water to kill bacteria and other pathogens
Virtually all microorganisms in the water will die when the water is boiled. However, boiling does not eliminate almost all chemical pollution.
If the water is cloudy, first filter the water to remove the soil
Step 2. Bring the water to a boil
The heat is what kills the microorganisms, not the action of boiling the water. However, without a thermometer, boiling is the only accurate way to tell how hot the water is. Wait for the water to steam. At that point, all dangerous organisms will be dead.
Step 3. Keep boiling the water for 1 to 3 minutes (optional)
To be on the safe side, let the water simmer vigorously for 1 minute (slowly count to 60). If you are more than 2000 m.s.n.m. (6500 feet) (meters above sea level), let the water boil for 3 minutes (slowly count to 180).
Water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes. Slightly cooler water takes longer to kill organisms
Step 4. Let cool and store in closed containers
Even after cooling, boiled water is safe to drink. Keep it in clean, closed containers.
The water will taste simple compared to normal water, because some of the air inside will have escaped. To improve its flavor, pour the water between two clean containers over and over again. As you pour it, it will trap more air
Step 5. Carry a portable device to boil water on your travels
If you have access to electricity, bring a coil to heat the water. If not, bring a camp burner or kettle and a fuel source or batteries.
Step 6. Leave plastic containers in the sun as a last resort
If you have no way to boil water, put the water in a clear plastic container. Leave it in direct sunlight for at least 6 hours. This process will burn some dangerous bacteria, but it is not as safe as boiling it.
Method 3 of 4: Boil Water in the Microwave
Step 1. Put the water in a microwaveable mug or bowl
If you can't find a container that says "microwave safe," choose a glass or ceramic one that doesn't have any metallic paint on it. To test if it's microwave safe, put it in the microwave, empty, next to a cup of water. Heat it for 1 minute. If the container is hot after the minute, it will not be microwave safe.
For added safety, use a container that has a scratch or dent (in scientific terms, a nucleation site) on its inside surface. This will help the water bubble, which will reduce the risk of an overheating explosion (very unlikely)
Step 2. Add a microwave safe item to the water
This also helps the water bubble. Try putting a wooden spoon, a chopstick, or a skewer. If flavoring the water is not a problem for you, even a tablespoon of salt or sugar will suffice.
Avoid inserting plastic objects, as they may be too soft to allow bubbles to form on top
Step 3. Put the water in the microwave oven
In most ovens, the edge of the turntable heats up faster than the center.
Step 4. Heat in short intervals, stirring regularly
For the best possible safety, find the recommended periods for heating water in the manual for your microwave. If you don't have the manual, try heating it in 1 minute intervals. After each interval, stir the water carefully, then remove it from the oven to test its temperature. The water is ready when it steams and is not too hot to touch.
- If the water is still cold after the first few minutes, increase the length of each interval from 1.5 to 2 minutes. The total amount of time depends on the power of your microwave oven and the amount of water you boil.
- Water will not boil vigorously in a microwave oven. The water will reach boiling temperatures, but it will be less obvious.
Method 4 of 4: Boil Water at High Altitudes
Step 1. Know the effect
The higher the altitude compared to sea level, the air becomes thinner and thinner. Since there are fewer air molecules pushing the water, it is easier for each water molecule to separate from the others and enter the air. In other words, the water boils at a lower heat. Although it boils faster, the low temperature will make it more difficult to cook food.
You don't need to worry about this effect, unless you live at 610 m.a.s.l. (2000 feet) or more
Step 2. Start with more water
Since liquids evaporate faster at high altitudes, you should also add a little more water to compensate. If you plan to cook food in the water, you should add even more water. Food will take longer to cook, so more water will evaporate than usual.
Step 3. Boil food for a longer time
To compensate for the lower temperature, you can cook your food for longer. The following is a simple rule of thumb for how much longer to cook:
- If the recipe takes less than 20 minutes to boil at sea level, add 1 minute of cooking for every 1,000 feet (305 m) above sea level.
- If the recipe takes more than 20 minutes to boil at sea level, add 2 minutes of cooking time for every 1,000 feet (305 m) above sea level.
Step 4. Consider using a pressure cooker
At particularly high altitudes, cooking with boiling water can take an excessively long time. Better boil the water in a pressure cooker. This traps the water inside an airtight lid and raises the pressure so that the water reaches higher temperatures. In a pressure cooker, you can follow the recipes as if you were at sea level.
Video. By using this service, some information could be shared with YouTube
Advice
- If you are boiling something other than water, such as a sauce, lower the heat when it reaches a boiling point to prevent the bottom of the pot from burning.
- Generally, the pasta is added to a giant pot of boiling water, approximately 4 to 6 liters of water per ½ kilo of pasta (or 8 to 12 liters per kilo). Nowadays, some chefs have started using a small pot of water and are even starting to cook pasta in cold water. The second method is much faster.
Warnings
- Boiling water and the steam that comes out of it can burn you. If necessary, use a saucepan holder and handle things carefully.
- Distilled water is more likely to overheat in the microwave, because it does not contain impurities that help the water bubble. While it is a rare occurrence, it is best to limit yourself to using tap water.
- Steam burns more than boiling water because of the extra heat energy it contains.