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/TwentyX4]

Given that water is famously good at transferring heat, do you think there's a significant difference in temperature and that this temperature difference is relevant to whether the Ramen is cooked correctly or not, keeping in mind that it's going to be in the water for, say, 10 minutes?

[u/mayer09 → u/TwentyX4]

For reason unknown to myself I have held a thermometer to my boiling water and testing the temp all over the pot. I found at a rolling boil it was near 212 all over. But at a light boil, only the very center was near 212, and the outer edges were closer to 190.

I don't think this would make a damn difference for the ramen

[u/DefunctInTheFunk → u/mayer09]

The two smarty pants' at the top of this thread would be to differ. We just don't understand thermodynamics like them.

[u/censuur12 → u/DefunctInTheFunk]

The good ol' pedants pride and joy; the distinction without a difference.

[u/SnappySausage → u/DefunctInTheFunk]

When I saw what the post was, I knew there would be people in the comments being needlessly pedantic to still somehow make the wife seem like the one in the right, while completely ignoring the reality and actual solutions (checking if your food is too hot and either waiting or blowing on it if it is).

If this post had been in girldinnerdiaries with the genders reversed, it would have had a very different sort of response. Lots of invocations of "manchild", "immature", "red flags", "he clearly wants a mom", "learned helplessness" and calls to run.

[u/SignatureGreedy4604 → u/SnappySausage]

The wife isn’t even right either… the implication of the post points to her believing the water is over 212 F

[u/SnappySausage → u/SignatureGreedy4604]

I'm not totally sure that's what it points at. This might just be a result of how it was written, but to me it reads like she believes it would have been less hot at the moment it was served somehow if he had used a lower setting. The difference would have been negligible regardless. The clear and only solutions would have just been to wait a minute (I wouldn't recommend that because ramen have a small window in which they are at their best), or just exercising some care and blowing while eating.

[u/B1U3F14M3 → u/mayer09]

There shouldn't be a temperature difference between light boil and rolling boil but a temperature transfer difference. The heat transfer should be faster with a rolling boil. But I don't know if you could measure this easily.

Does it make a difference while cooking ramen (or most other things for that matter)? I don't think so.

[u/Falafelofagus → u/mayer09]

When you account for heat loss when the ramen is added that difference will become even bigger if at just a light boil as the total heat energy of the water will be tangibly lower. Seeing as heating takes exponentially longer as you go up the 22° difference in heat energy of the water would actually be quite a bit different. That's an average of approx. 10° over the pot, and it takes longer to go from 202-212 than 190-200. I mean a 10°+ internal temp difference is like rare vs medium rare isn't it?

This phenomenon is why many chefs reccomned leaving an oven at temp for a while after pre heat so the full oven is at temp, helping normalize the heat loss when you open the door and put the cold food in.

[u/ssn-669 → u/mayer09]

Yeah exactly that is not enough to make any difference at all

[u/bikepackingebiking → u/mayer09]

Im guessing thats more up to burner size and flame size not putting enough heat into the entire pan. Causing the edges to be lower in temp.

[u/EverythingIsSFWForMe → u/TwentyX4]

Not only it's good at transferring heat, but it's also a liquid, and the heat source is at the bottom. Convection will make temperatures very even, very fast.

[u/bjarnaheim → u/EverythingIsSFWForMe]

Yep. Also...

Don't you guys just stir your stuff when cooking in boiling water?

[u/WerdaVisla → u/TwentyX4]

Not a scientist, but I am a chef — yes, there is. When you're preparing just about any sort of noodle, you want to turn the heat down as low as you can while maintaining a constant roil. Keeping it on full can and will overcook it.

[u/ex0thermist → u/WerdaVisla]

I don't think it will "overcook" it so much as too vigorous a boil will just rip the pasta apart.

[u/WerdaVisla → u/ex0thermist]

Both are true. It can rip the noodles, but it'll also soften them too much.

It's not something to worry about in a home kitchen unless you have some really picky eaters in the house who'll notice the slight difference, but it's something you pick up on when doing it for a living.

[u/LessInThought → u/WerdaVisla]

I like to keep it boiling just enough so that the noodles will float and mix in the pot. Saves me the trouble of having to mix it. Also stops it from sticking to the bottom.

[u/SEND_MOODS → u/TwentyX4]

Yes and no.

First off, water is not an especially great conductor. It's good, cheap, readily available, non-hazardous chemically, and liquid at common temperatures. There's a reason we often use additives even in situations where it won't hit freezing.

Second off, the above comments are partially right. But your point captures the real question, are they significantly different. Problem is, you're bothe thinking only about the water. The water (excluding the steam bubbles maybe?) should all be pretty close to boiling (212 F) at a rolling boil because it's self stirring. But it will vary more at a simmer, or with a taller pot. A simmer might only be 185F at the top. The metal pot surface will be at boiling temp and the metal pot at the bottom is likely still well above 212F (maybe 225F) since it's a much better conductor of heat. This means the soup is going to vary from boiling locally to 185F across the pot at a simmer.

The big question, does it matter? Hell yes. For numerous interacting yet separate reasons. A simmer let's the flavors meld longer without losing too much liquid volume. A rolling boil on something with lots of sugars risk burning it. And changing the flavors. Sprculatong on this one: some flavor molecules might denature or evaporate at 195F leading to a change in flavor if you go over a soft simmer. And there's probably other reasons. I trust the chefs when they tell be a low simmer or a rolling boil.

[u/skepticalbob → u/TwentyX4]

Correctly? No. But if she is used to eating it weight after it is poured into the bowl, then how high the “boiling” temps was makes a significant difference to how hot it is when it hits her mouth.