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Krypsis Krypsis is offline
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Default boiling water with lid off?

On 1/03/2012 1:35 PM, dsi1 wrote:
> On 2/29/2012 4:31 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>> On Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:03:09 -1000, dsi1
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/29/2012 2:46 PM, marco wrote:
>>>> the directions for brown rice:
>>>>
>>>> Bring water to a rolling boil
>>>> in "uncovered" container.
>>>> I think I've seen these directions before
>>>> for frozen vegetables.
>>>>
>>>> uncovered? why?
>>>> it takes Longer to boil if uncovered
>>>>
>>>> marc
>>>
>>> My guess is that it's left uncovered so you can see when to turn the
>>> heat down. Personally, I'd just use a glass lid.
>>>
>>> Boiling water without a lid is wasteful energy-wise. Putting a lid on
>>> the pot cause the water to condense back into your food. This releases
>>> the latent heat of evaporation. My guess is that the heat returned to
>>> the system is significant. Why is that? Because it takes a lot of heat
>>> to change water to steam. You can either choose to use the steam to
>>> humidify and heat up your house or you can recycle that energy.

>>
>> Um, if you knew anything about cooking you'd know that often one cooks
>> uncovered intentionally to cause a reduction. And with an
>> uncovered/unpressurized pot you cannot produce steam, that's water
>> vapor evaporating... you obviously failed JHS science.

>
> Surely, you can't be serious... oh wait... you are. One does a reduction
> by evaporation? Amazing! This one's a keeper!


I wonder what that vapourish looking stuff is that escapes from my pot
when I'm boiling water? It can't be steam because I don't have a lid on
the pot and I should have been told in JHS science that I cannot produce
team in an uncovered pot. For me, JHS was a very very long time ago.

Riddle me this... If I boil water on a stove in an uncovered pot, why
will it eventually boil dry if, as we have been told by Brooklyn, no
steam is being produced? If no steam is being produced, we cannot be
having any loss of liquid, can we?

Wait, maybe Brooklyn is wrong? Could that be possible? Did he flunk JHS
science classes? Maybe some new discovery has been made that turns the
old theory that I learnt on its head in more recent times?

--

Krypsis