‘It’s the best secret’: Man reveals little-known trick to boiling water properly when cooking. But does it work?
Boiling certain foods, like grains and small pasta shapes, may have just gotten easier with this hack.
When you're cooking, it can be quite tedious to be tied to the stove because you have to stir your food every once in a while. Sometimes, you want to be able to just set an alarm and return to an evenly cooked meal.
This creator tried a hack that's supposed to make your cooking routine easier.
Boiling TikTok hack
In a viral video with more than 230,000 views, creator Jason Behr (@behr_taz) said he saw a kitchen hack on TikTok that he just had to try out.
In the video, Behr boils a pot of something (maybe rice?), but there's something off about how he's doing it.
Instead of the pot being centered on the electric burner as most people do for an even temperature distribution, Behr only has it half on.
"It starts this rolling water thing," he said, describing how the momentum from the side with the boiling bubbles seemingly creates a loop, so it's like it's self-stirring.
Not only is the food seemingly not sticking to the pot, but it also prevents that boilover that sometimes happens with starchy substances.
It seems this "hack" made the rounds early last year, based on the videos from these two guys who tried it out for themselves and were happy to discover that they were free from having to stir their pots.
The Daily Dot also covered a creator earlier this year where he shared this hack for cooking ramen noodles. He called the thermodynamic phenomenon a "convection current," though his viewers still flamed him in the comments.
Tricks and myths to make your water boil quicker
Boiling water is an essential part of the cooking process, but sometimes it just takes too long to get that pot the roiling boil you need.
There's plenty of advice out there for how to get those bubbles going quicker, but not all of it is legit. Here's what you need to know, according to All Recipes:
Trick 1: The more shallow the water the quicker it'll heat up. That's because the water is being exposed to more surface area. This works well when cooking certain vegetables and proteins, but not if you need to cook a big vat of pasta.
Trick 2: Be mindful of the pot size. You're better off using a small or medium pot (depending on the quantity of what you're cooking) than a large one. Plus, it's an easier dish to wash.
Trick 3: Keep the lid on your pot. This traps the heat that rises up and circulates it back into the pot.
Myth 1: Cold water doesn't boil faster than hot water. In fact, it's actually hot water that boils faster since it's already closer to bounding temperature.
Myth 2: Adding salt doesn't help make the water get much hotter. But don't let that discourage you from salting your water, a step that's especially important for boiling pasta and creating sauce and soup bases.
Myth 3: Baking soda will not quicken boil time.
Commenters react
"I’ve been doing this for years. It’s the best secret of boiling," one person said.
@behr_taz ♬ original sound - Jason M Behr
"I just turn down the temperature it works and uses less hydro," another wrote.
"The problem with this tho is that it will eventually warp the pot/weaken the metal. But it is an effective short term solution," a commenter pointed out.
The Daily Dot reached out to Behr for comment via TikTok direct message and comment.
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