Welcome Guest Search | Active Topics |

Tag as favorite
Boiling points Page 362 CC
Keshav_5360
#1 Posted : Thursday, July 23, 2020 11:24:19 PM
Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/30/2020
Posts: 9

Thanks: 0 times
Was thanked: 0 time(s) in 0 post(s)
Hello!

I am confused about boiling points and cooking times and temperatures etc...

So I understand that at a higher altitude, pressure of the atmosphere will be lower than at sea level. I also understand that at lower pressure, the boiling point of a substance will decrease. What I don't understand is the fact that cooking time will increase at higher altitudes...

I thought that since the substance can "get" to a boiling "state", the food should cook faster? But that is not true so I am confused as to what we are looking at when talking about food cooking time and pressure/ temperature

Thank you
INSTR_Katerina_102
#2 Posted : Saturday, July 25, 2020 4:14:37 PM
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 6/24/2019
Posts: 250

Thanks: 0 times
Was thanked: 0 time(s) in 0 post(s)
Hi,

This is a common misconception.

Boiling alone does not cook things, high temperature is what cooks things.

The best example I can think of to remember this is liquid nitrogen - if you've ever seen it poured on milk it will make that milk into ice cream by flash freezing it.

However, if you think about it, while it is doing that, the liquid nitrogen is boiling away!

Because of this, we can conclude that it is the average temperature surrounding food that will cook it, not whether or not it is in boiling liquid.

We just tend to boil water for cooking because that affords us the highest available cooking temperature. Historically, it's also probably a good indicator of a consistent temperature, especially when you do not have a thermometer handy.

Now back to the role of pressure

If we pressurize liquids, we increase their boiling point and allow ourselves to reach a higher temperature without having to change the liquid you use (you don't want to use DMSO to make soup).

When you can access this higher temperature, your food will cook more quickly.

In contrast, at low pressure, your water boils away very quickly and at low T, and as a result you cannot cook things very well (the water might boil away before you get any appreciable cooking done).

Please let me know if this is unclear,

Katt
Users browsing this topic
Guest (2)
Tag as favorite
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.

Clean Slate theme by Jaben Cargman (Tiny Gecko)
Powered by YAF | YAF © 2003-2009, Yet Another Forum.NET
This page was generated in 0.088 seconds.