Cooking Stack Exchange
Cooking Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [boiling]

Cooking either in boiling water, or by heating the food until boiling

281 questions
178
votes
11 answers

Why add salt to the water when cooking pasta?

What is the effect of adding salt to the water when cooking pasta?
bryn
  • 2,391
  • 5
  • 19
  • 10
82
votes
31 answers

How can I keep pasta from sticking to itself?

Whenever I boil pasta (specifically spaghetti), it always sticks to itself before I'm ready to use it. What can I do to avoid this without it becoming mushy (which happens if I keep it in the water)? Of course, if I happen to have the sauce done by…
Lee
  • 1,617
  • 4
  • 15
  • 20
55
votes
3 answers

Why is my red cabbage suddenly turning blue when cooking, while it never did so before?

I've made fresh red cabbage (not canned or frozen) a few times. Back when I was still living with my parents, it always turned out fine. Now that I'm living on my own, I'm still using the same recipe, with one minor adaptation, which is leaving out…
Tinkeringbell
  • 2,067
  • 2
  • 12
  • 23
51
votes
8 answers

Why wait for water to boil?

I've always heard that you should wait for water to boil before adding pasta/perogies/vegetables/etc. What is the reason for this? Is it because it reaches boiling point faster? If so, why?
Steve Vermeulen
  • 855
  • 2
  • 7
  • 7
50
votes
7 answers

When boiling water without any other ingredients in it, why start from cold?

A question about probably the most mundane subject in cooking: boiling water. For cooking techniques where you drop ingredients in simmering or boiling water - such as for vegetables, pasta, many rice recipes - I have often seen the recommendation…
Erik P.
  • 4,026
  • 2
  • 26
  • 35
50
votes
12 answers

When you cook spaghetti, do you add olive oil to the boiling water?

Many people (at least in Germany) think that Italians add olive oil to the boiling water for spaghetti. However, Italians tend to tell the opposite (from my experience). So, can you please state objective reasons for or against adding olive oil to…
Rasmus
  • 603
  • 1
  • 7
  • 14
42
votes
9 answers

Pasta: is simmering equivalent to roiling boil?

I recently got into a surprisingly heated argument with a friend about what level of boil you should cook your pasta at. He (an engineer) argued that the heat transfer would remain the same regardless of the level of the boil and that anything above…
Chris
  • 700
  • 1
  • 6
  • 8
38
votes
7 answers

Does water "go bad" in this sense?

I have an electric water boiler in the kitchen. I put fresh tap water into it, boil it up, and use it for my coffee. Then, an hour later, I go back and press the button again and have it re-boil the now room-temperature water, and use it for another…
A Nyboer
  • 381
  • 3
  • 4
36
votes
14 answers

How do I prevent an egg cracking while hard boiling it?

Sometimes when I cook hard boiled eggs they will crack in the saucepan, and some of the egg will seep out into the water. Am I boiling the water too vigorously, or can I add something to the water to prevent it?
LeopardSkinPillBoxHat
  • 1,396
  • 5
  • 14
  • 20
35
votes
17 answers

Can I boil pasta in a pasta sauce?

Is it ok to boil pasta in pan with a pasta sauce? Is there any reason to boil pasta separately (and then add the sauce)?
Tuomas Hietanen
  • 781
  • 3
  • 7
  • 13
29
votes
10 answers

Can I boil eggs in the same pot I'm boiling something else?

I know cooking the eggs kills the salmonella and that the risk is small even for raw eggs. However, I stopped boiling the eggs in the same pot I'm boiling something else, like potatoes, when I learnt the salmonella is in the shell. Obviously, I'm…
Julio
  • 2,021
  • 5
  • 24
  • 31
25
votes
17 answers

Stopping water from bubbling over when cooking rice

Every time I cook brown rice (in a traditional pot, or in my new rice cooker), large bubbles form and spill over the sides. How can I prevent this? I found this question, but wasn't able to draw useful advice from the answers. As a side note, I…
Dov
  • 363
  • 1
  • 3
  • 8
25
votes
3 answers

What causes water to boil over?

What are the mechanics of water boiling over? How can you stop it from happening? Is it more likely to happen with certain ingredients? Which? How does the amount of water effect the likelihood of water boiling over? What role does burner…
yossarian
  • 18,963
  • 27
  • 96
  • 153
25
votes
6 answers

When boiling potatoes, should I put them in with the cold water or in to the hot?

I've heard both. What's the correct way to boil a potato? Why?
yossarian
  • 18,963
  • 27
  • 96
  • 153
25
votes
2 answers

Steaming while boiling food

Can you use the steam from boiling one thing to cook something else? E.g. Boiling potatoes and steam broccoli in the same pot at the same time. Thank you!
Nicholas Solari
  • 273
  • 3
  • 5
1
2 3
…
18 19