For questions about best practices for simmering soups, meats, etc.
Questions tagged [simmer]
17 questions
32
votes
8 answers
What does "bring to a simmer" mean?
First, a confession: I work in software, so I'm probably paying way too much attention to the state of liquid that is "a simmer". That written, I love to cook, and no recipe direction gives me more confusion, sadness, and googling than "bring to a…

Christopher
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Automated stirring in a domestic kitchen
I'm currently making 9 litres of quite thick lentil soup in a 10 litre stainless steel stockpot. It needs to simmer gently for an hour or two. Despite the sandwich base and my weakest gas ring on minimum*, it needs stirring every few minutes or…

Chris H
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7
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5 answers
Why is bolognese cooked for so long?
Most bolognese recipes advise to simmer the sauce for 4 hours, some even advise to simmer longer than that.
Until I heard about that, I had a recipe, which was a total of maybe 45min of cooking, which worked well for me.
Since then, I have tried to…

user1721135
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1 answer
What is the temperature of the massive pots of water at hotels for cooking 10 poached eggs at once?
I love cooking poached eggs at home.
Assumption: This is all sea level (+/-15 metres).
I went to a hotel with glass walls to the kitchen and watched the way they prepared the morning cooked egg orders.
On one stove top, they had an enormous pot…

hawkeye
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Could overfrying and/or undersimmering the Spanish rice have caused it to develop a cardboard-like taste and a pungent odour?
Growing up, my mother always made me one of my favourite treats, which was arroz Guizado, or Spanish fried rice. It was the only kind I had ever tasted up until I was around eleven or twelve. When I went to visit my friends' houses, and if they had…

HeavenlyHarmony
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Safe to cook with alcohol
I want to cook with wine as the recipe I want to make calls for it. However I cannot have any alcohol in me because I have to drive and my country calls for a 0 BAC.
The recipe uses 750ml of wine, 1 cup of water and no other significant source of…

JudasMoses
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how do I remove partially-disintegrated sediment/tiny-bones from stock?
I have just finished my first batch of bone broth, and have removed all of the bones I could find. I noticed that there are some smaller pieces, as well as "grit" from disintegrated bones, which seems to be from the handiwork of my vinegar leaching…
user73707
3
votes
2 answers
How do you stop tomato sauce from splattering?
In order to reduce tomato sauce to make a nice thick tasty topping for pasta, you often need to let it simmer with the lid off for a very long time. This always seems to result in tomato splatters all over my kitchen.
How can one prevent the…

lucas
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How many times (and ways) can you reheat honey safely?
We have an old house that is quite cold especially in winter. As a result, the bottled honey we buy solidifies in the squeeze bottle. The manufacturer recommendation for this is to gently reheat the bottle (although it doesn't state exactly how).
I…

Greybeard
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Simmering with or without the lid
Many Indian recipes give the requirement of simmering the gravy, covered until reduced. I'm wondering if this advice is flawed as one would presume the pan would need to be uncovered in order to reduce the liquid.

Howeitzer
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What am I doing wrong that is making my dishes spicier when served as leftovers. Am I not simmering long enough?
For some reason the last three dishes I've cooked seem to get spicer leftover the next day. When they do obtain close to room temp they've all been stored in Pyrex and placed in the same fridge but cooked in different intervals (weeks apart). All…

user9447
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What setting on a thermomix would create a simmer?
Making marmalade in a thermomix and I need to simmer. What setting should give me a simmer? Thanks.

Eva Wynn
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At what temperature should I simmer bolognese to avoid burning?
Bolognese requires a long period of low heat cooking or simmering, according to some recipes several hours.
At what temperature should I simmer, in order to avoid burning / overcooking, while still achieving caramelization, reduction and breaking…

user1721135
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When cooking grains with vegetables, should I cook them together or separately
For example, if I would like to make quinoa with mixed vegetables, should I:
(a) Cook the vegetables, add the quinoa and stock, and simmer; or
(b) Cook the quinoa in one pan, cook the vegetables in another pan, then mix them together?
Which of these…

YinWai Tse
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Does leaving the lid on make a difference to whether the meat in a soup softens/cook properly?
I've been coooking soup with a pot lid off and notice the meat is still tough when cooking. It could be the due to the lid or some other factor.
I put a thermometer in the soup water and it seems to be at a good temp for simmering meat(90-95c) and…

James Wilson
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