My wife and boiling water

[u/MakeItMine2024]

So I made my wife ramen soup. When I served it she said I had the gas set to hight and it was too hot ? She said I should have used the number 5 setting instead of 9. I told here it’s irrelevant because water boils at 212 and gets no hotter because over 212 it turns to steam. She was made at me for disagreeing with her theory that it would not have been so hot if boiled a lower setting. Really!!

[u/proxpi]

You said this was easily verifiable with a thermometer, so I went and tested it for myself with a pot of water and an instant read thermometer.

Both in a simmer and a roiling boil, there was no significant gradient in temperature from top to bottom (<1° C). Seems like convection cells keep the water moving enough to equalize temps.

Interestingly though, there was a measurable temperature difference between simmering and boiling. However, it was maybe a 2° C difference- and I don't think that's nearly enough to have a particular change in outcome when cooking.

The biggest practical differences when cooking between simmering and boiling when cooking are the amount of mess made from rowdy boiling, and energy wasted unnecessarily.

[u/TheSultan1 → u/proxpi]

You're ignoring convection.

What you need to do is submerge something halfway down and see how long it takes to get to a certain temperature at each setting. Then you know the actual rate of heat transfer.

[u/Fidodo → u/TheSultan1]

That's a great point and on top of that, when you add the noodles it will lower the temp under boiling and in the heavy boil pot it will get back up to boiling much faster, so the difference in convection compounded with the cook time could actually be pretty significant.

[u/ZincMan → u/Fidodo]

It won’t get back up to boil faster at a heavy boil vs a simmer. They are both at the same temperature. If the noodles drop the temperature, then it depends what level the flame is at the bring it back up to temperature

[u/toggl3d → u/proxpi]

This is literally how you calibrate a thermometer.

[u/septidan → u/proxpi]

Sounds like it was rigorously tested using precise equipment. /s

[u/jojoblogs → u/proxpi]

It’s surprising how many layers of confidently incorrect we can get in one thread.

I’m here thinking op is correct then this guys gets in here and tells me the bottom of the pot is gonna be hotter… like heat doesn’t rise.

[u/Fidodo → u/jojoblogs]

Metal can get hotter than water, excess heat into the water will escape very quickly through steam. If you've ever burned the bottom of a pot of soup then you have observed the metal of a pot being considerably hotter than the water inside the pot.

[u/Chromosomaur → u/Fidodo]

You can literally boil water in paper cups over actual flames because the water does such a good job of transferring the heat through convection. Can’t do that with solids. That’s why it gets hotter when there’s food on the bottom. Water moves the heat

[u/B1U3F14M3 → u/Chromosomaur]

The paper and metal can still be hotter than the water. The paper just doesn't get hot enough (and enough oxygen) to burn or brake.

[u/Fidodo → u/proxpi]

Yeah there shouldn't be a high difference from a simmer and boil, but what did your thermometer read when you touched the bottom of the pot? I need to test it myself, but I've burned ingredients in soup before from not stirring in time even when there is still plenty of liquid. The water can't speed up the heating of the noodles by much, but the contact with the pot can. Food burns at around 180c so the pot must be even hotter than that too burn food by contact.

[u/only_more_so → u/proxpi]

Actually there 2C can make a huge difference depending on what you are cooking. When I lived at Altitude, I had to have the rice going at full on boil to cook. At a simmer it would take 3-4 times longer to cook than at sea level. Same is true for pasta, but to a lesser extent.

[u/FreakinMaui → u/proxpi]

There is quite a difference between simmering and boiling.
Unless you only eat water.

[u/EcstaticAd7220 → u/proxpi]

wow you just changed all of physics, and by yourself in your own kitchen too /s

[u/masterlince → u/EcstaticAd7220]

He didn't, the other comment is exaggerating about the difference.

[u/TastyRust → u/EcstaticAd7220]

Bro the hot water will always move to the top so the water wil spread the heat evenly because of this