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One should always cover a pan while heating

Name: One should always cover a pan while heating
Prep time: 1 h 2 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 1 pan
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: No ingredients in this recipe (a); No ingredients in this recipe (b)

Tradition says: "One should always cover a pan while heating".

In other words, if you heat water (or something else), it comes to the boil faster with a lid on the pan than without.

True or false? Let's try the experiment...

122 K 1× 3/5 (45 reviews)

1 hour 20 min. difficulté

Easy

1 pan

Last modified on: July 25^th 2017

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 2 min.

Resting: 1 hour

Cooking: 20 min.

All in all: 1 hour 20 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 2 min.

One should always cover a pan while heating : Stage 1

1 litre of water is measured and poured into a pan without the lid and put on the hob with a thermometer in it.

Starting temperature of water (and room): 70°F (19°C).

Stage 2 - ⌛ 9 min.

One should always cover a pan while heating : Stage 2

The heat is switched on. The water reaches 210°F (100°C) in 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 1 hour

One should always cover a pan while heating : Stage 3

The hob is left to cool for about one hour, to allow it to reach room temperature again.

Another 1 litre water is put in the same pan covered with the same thermometer in it, on the same hob.

Starting temperature of water (and room): 70°F (19°C).

Stage 4 - ⌛ 9 min.

One should always cover a pan while heating : Stage 4

The heat is switched on. The water reaches 210°F (100°C) in 9 minutes and 27 seconds.

Stage 5

The result is shown more clearly in the diagram: the temperature of the uncovered pan in red and that of the covered pan in green.

Conclusion

False: The time difference is too small to be significant. It really doesn't matter whether the pan is covered or not.

Source: Homemade.

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The 1 comment already posted on this recipe

This is going to be a most interesting addition to your site, jh. Now I wonder if hot water or cold water makes any difference in the boiling time?
Posted by Louise october 24^th 2009 at 17:48 n° 1

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