Simmer, Boil and "Rolling Boil"

Hi All,
It's time to talk food vocabulary again.  I've been asked "What's the difference between a simmer and a boil and what's a rolling or hard boil?".  I might even get into how to "burn water".  Here goes:

When a recipe calls for the food to simmer, it means for the food to continue cooking at a temperature below 212 degrees F.  You will still see bubbles on the surface of the food and occasionally they will pop.  Stirring is still needed because the food is still on the heat source and can burn.  Simmering helps ingredient flavors blend.  This can be an important part of the process and can mean the difference between just OK flavor and very flavorful.  If the recipe calls for the food to simmer, don't skip the process.  It is important to remember because simmer is achieved at a lower temperature; it helps keep foods, herbs and spices from getting scorched.  A scorched food, herb or spice can give off a bitter or bad flavor.  Stirring occasionally also helps prevent scorching.

Water boils at 212 degrees F and we usually associate boiling with water.  We boil water to cook many different things but pasta comes first to my mind.  To boil water, it is best to use a pot or saucepan with a good fitting lid.  The boiling process will occur faster if the pot is covered and remember a watched pot will boil but it will take longer because you are taking the lid off and letting heat escape.  When a food boils, the surface of the food has lots of bubbles and almost all of them pop on the surface.  The rolling boil is the boil when you stir the pot and the boiling doesn't stop.  Remember stirring allows heat to escape and lowers the temperature of the food.  In the time of home canning, foods were boiled to destroy bacteria that may have grown over time.  Many people still follow this logic with foods from the grocery store.  Just remember, high heat can also kill many nutrients.  I'll let you decide which is best for you.

Now let's talk about "burning water".  Of course, you can't burn water but you can let your pot or saucepan cook dry.  What it means is the pan has been on the heat long enough to convert all the liquid to steam and the pan or the solids left in the pan start to burn.  This could result in the loss of a favorite pan or cause a kitchen fire.

I hope this helps clear up the difference between simmer and boil.
Happy Cooking,
Becky Homecy

Cube, Dice, Chop and Mince

I get lots of questions about the difference between cubing, dicing, chopping and mincing.  The difference is really quite simple.  When you cube a food you want it to be bite size.  Think about the cheese cube.  It is about one inch square or more.  On a toothpick, it becomes a snack or with the addition of other bite size foods it can be an appetizer.  Dicing can be thought of as a smaller version of cubing about 1/2".  You are still trying for that square shape. For this food, let's say green peppers, you want to see it in the salad but you don't want it to be the only thing you taste.  It has to be smaller and share the "stage" with other foods in looks and not over flavor.  When we chop we really don't care so much about the shape of the food and the size is often about 1/4".  Sometimes the food will almost cook away in the recipe.  What we want is the flavor and some of the presence of the food.  A good example here is the onion.  When we chop onions for soup, we really want the flavor and being able to see some of the onion is not really a bad thing.  Mincing is the smallest cut of all and shape doesn't matter.  The best example is garlic.  We usually mince garlic into very small pieces.  Garlic can have a very robust flavor and that small minced clove really adds to any dish.

So there you have it.  The simple explaination of the difference between cubing, dicing, chopping and mincing.  See you next time.
Becky Homecy