Photo Credit: Lacey Wilcox
There isn't much else to say here, right? You see the picture above. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Whether you are making rice, pasta or any other dish that requires you to boil something, you can very easily end up with a big mess from the pot boiling over like crazy. You might deal with this fairly often - especially if you are multitasking in the kitchen. Just the sight of this image may have you boiling over.
So let me show you another image to help you simmer down...
Photo Credit: PlentyPerfect.com
Ahhh....
That's better right? Do you see what's happening here? That's right, you've got a pot that looks dangerously close to boiling over, yet there is something preventing that large pile of foam from getting any larger and spilling over.
The very simple secret to keeping your water from boiling over is to place a wooden spoon right over the top of the pot. So is this some kind of ancient ninja secret passed down through the ages by wizened master chefs?
Not exactly.
There are actually a number of scientific reasons why the spoon keeps the foam in check - some having to do with thermodynamics. I'm not going to pretend to be any sort of physicist here, for I am merely a humble student of gastronomy. However, a simple Google search will yield the nitty gritty details, if you are so inclined.
Suffice it to say that the reasons are fairly simple - the temperature of the spoon is less than the temperature of the steam that fills the bubbles of the troublesome foam. Also, the mere presence of the spoon breaks the bubbles and causes the usual mountain of foam to collapse inward, instead of growing ever larger at the center and expanding outward until the inevitable over-spillage occurs.
There are most assuredly other physics-related reasons why this little trick works - and my above description is most likely a gross oversimplification. However, the fact of the matter is this trick works and it makes life in the kitchen so much simpler.
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