Cooking Stack Exchange
Cooking Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [heat]

111 questions
66
votes
5 answers

Why do you need to heat the pan before heating the olive oil?

In the Netflix documentary Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat says this when she is making sofrito and she is about to put olive oil into the pan: This is one of those important things that I think home cooks always forget, is how important it is…
Josh Withee
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6 answers

Why should one pre-heat an oven?

When cooking potatoes and bellpepper in an oven, it is highly recommended to pre-heat the oven. Why would it be a problem to put them in the oven while it is heating up ? Thank you very much ! :)
niilzon
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27
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4 answers

How Can Cooked Meat Still Have Protein Value?

I've been taught 2 things that seem to contradict each other: Cooked meat has plenty of protein Heating proteins denatures them and damages/changes them If this is the case, then cooked meat must have very little usable protein, which is clearly…
Tom J Nowell
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23
votes
5 answers

Preventing my toast from becoming wet when I put it on the plate

Since I moved to my new flat, I have a problem when heating bread in any way. What happens is that if I put it on a plate, it gets very wet on the plate side. This is so acute that drops appear on the plate. If I put paper around the bread, both get…
Felix L.
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22
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5 answers

Why must the oven be preheated for a Pyrex glass pan?

This Pyrex glass safety label says "Always preheat oven". Any idea why?
davidjhp
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21
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9 answers

Can food be boiled "extra fast/hard" in water?

Once water is boiling you can either leave the heat on quite high, or turn it down a bit so that it just keeps boiling. Apart from extra water vaporating, does this have any effect on the taste of food you're boiling (meat, vegetables, eggs,…
Jeroen
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21
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3 answers

What is the hottest part of a chili/chilli/chile pepper?

I often hear different points of view to this question - some say the hottest part of the chili is its seeds, yet I've heard some (arguably more believable) sources claim that the white part that holds the seeds to the flesh is the hottest. What…
Mark McDonald
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19
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3 answers

Does preheating a pan before sautéing aromatics make a difference?

Many recipes call for things like garlic and spices to be sautéed first before combining other ingredients into a pan. I have always preheated the oil in the pan first to get a good “sear”, but is it possible to achieve similar, or at least…
proto_trash
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16
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2 answers

Science of fast (high heat) vs. slow (low heat) scrambled eggs and omelets

There seems to be a lot of disagreement about cooking "light" (as in texture) scrambled eggs, which would seem to be one of the simplest of foods. (To be clear, I'm specifically asking about the "standard" light and puffy variety of scrambled eggs…
Athanasius
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7 answers

Why does oil transfer heat to food more gradually than water?

While working on the homework for week 2 of Harvardx's Edx course, SPU27x Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science, I came across this question: The difference in the specific heats for water and oil is important for cooking.…
AKKA
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13
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2 answers

How to explain why aluminum won't work on an induction stove?

Those cooks who use induction ranges love them, but some lament the limited type of pans available. Alas my powers of explanation are not good enough to explain how an induction stove works well enough to explain why aluminum is not suitable. Now I…
hildred
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12
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5 answers

Getting even heat on a gas stove

I am cooking on gas stoves very seldomly, mostly in some hotel/airbnb's with a small personal kitchen. I often have this problem: the gas comes out in a ring of blue flames. I think more expensive stoves may have more than one concentric ring, but…
AnoE
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11
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2 answers

How can you cook milk without it burning the pan?

How can you cook milk without it burning the pan? The intention isn't just to heat/warm the milk, but to thoroughly cook it. Burned pans are hard to clean, and they make the milk taste burned. The traditional approach of boiling milk on the stove…
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
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11
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7 answers

Do household ovens ventilate heat to the outdoors?

If I run my oven in the summer at 400F(~200°C) for an hour or two, this produces a great amount of heat. Is this energy vented outdoors once the oven is turned off, or does it simply dissipate from inside the oven to the inside of my home? I suspect…
Behacad
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10
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1 answer

How to get heat high enough for stir fry?

Considering that mounting a fighter jet afterburner in my kitchen (or anything, for that matter) isn't very convenient or realistic, what would be a realistic way to get the extreme heat output that stir frying requires? I have heard of people…
JS Lavertu
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