apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i remember watching one of those cooking contest shows *the one where that mean guy just yells at everyone for an hour* and someone filled a pot with cold water saying "it helps it to boil faster" - that was the funniest thing i'd ever heard. subsequently, i never ever watched that show again because listening to the poor idiot get yelled at for 20 minutes just doesn't float my boat!

I am almost ashamed to admit that when I was on one of my first breaks from college, and my parents were on vacation, I had to call my sister and ask her what temperature to boil water on so I could make some mac and cheese.

In my defense, I'm the youngest of 3 girls, with a bro-in-law who's a chef, and a mom who cooked constantly. There was always someone around to make me food back then.

After a moment like that, which I still get teased about, everyone is most impressed with how far I've come, and now my family asks me advice on cooking!

Well it depends, when I lived at sea level I just put the pot on high and let it boil, only covering is I was in a hurry.

Now I live at 5,000 feet, so even a teakettle takes 20 minutes to boil on the stove. When I make pasta I have to plan ahead. A full pot of water can take 30-45 minutes to boil when covered. We just moved here, so we are looking at buying an electric tea kettle. 20 minutes is too long to wait for coffee!

If I'm making a single serving of pasta, I do it in my biggest skillet rather than a pot. More surface area on the bottom means it heats up faster, or at least it feels that way.

I had a roommate burn a pan because she forgot she was boiling eggs and boiled off all of the water. *sigh*

and KDKaboom's "poor guy" was partially right in that cold water will absorb heat faster than hot water. Heat transfer is driven by temperature differential. But you still have to put more heat in than you would have if you'd started hot. Cold water also doesn't disolve as many potential undesireables into the water you're going to be eating.

Adding salt to the water will increase the boiling temperature, so it will take a little longer to boil. This effect is not really significant, though. It just makes your food taste better.

Adding salt decreases the boiling temperature.
Meaning, salt (sodium and chlorine ions) reduces the temperature at which water will go from the liquid to the vapor state.

As for pasta, does one really need "boiling" water, or hot water. Meaning does the pasta cook because (at sea level) the water is 212F or because its boiling?

If its temperature of the water that's important then one does not need for it to boil.

Combining ScienceandtheCity with SeanG, I was taught to always salt water before boiling it because while it may take a wee bit longer to come to a boil, it's much hotter once it's there and therefore cooks the food faster. But maybe this is just one of those culinary rumors...

I boil my water in the microwave. Pyrex measuring cup. 5 minutes or until you see it boiling. If you don't see it boiling, after 5 minutes, make sure to stick a spoon in it before you touch it.

PS - it takes less energy to use an electric kettle to boil water vs. a stove top kettle.

SeanG: No. Adding solutes will raise, not lower, the boiling temp. See explanation here:

http://www.seed.slb.com/qa2/FAQView.cfm?ID=1112

If you want to boil water quickly and have a glass-top cooktop make sure that your pan or pot is flat on the bottom. If your pot isn't flat it takes much longer to boil because the heat isn't transferring through contact over the whole surface.

Also if you have the extra money induction cooktops boil water the fastest and are the most efficient.

I always have the opposite problem when I make pasta. I'll start boiling some water first, then begin on the sauce. Normally I time it all wrong and realize that my water is boiling but my sauce isn't going to be ready in eight minutes and have to turn the water down to a simmer.

We too use an electric kettle when time is limited... our gas stove is not-so-very-powerful.

Also, living in an early 1900s building we always start with cold water to avoid what Tiamat_the_Red referred to as "potential undesirables" above. Cold water comes straight from the city water treatment center to my spout... the hot water goes through my building's water heater... and thus many more pipes that might leach "undesirables" into it.

Cherise: at 5000 feet, won't an electric kettle take just as long to boil as a kettle on a gas or electric stove?