Boiling over is not a great gesture, right?
If I should speak about it, it is a clear mess.
Come one who likes boil-overs?
It will spoil the whole place and the worst thing is you cannot touch or clean the place until it loses the heat, clearly time-consuming work.
Especially when you are in a hurry to go to work, and you have no time to prepare breakfast, then you will go for some warm milk or a strong coffee rather than a french toast, scrambled eggs, or oatmeal thinking it would be easier and quicker, but if out of the blue misfortune hits you in every possible way it can, your milk can boil-over gifting you great chaos in greater time.
Some people just leave it like that and take care of it after coming back from work, some clean it all and will get rebuked by their higher officials.
Boiling over is extremely common in every kitchen, in my kitchen it happens every alternate day. You see it once, it is fine, you turn your gaze and fix it on something else, the liquid boils over in a jiffy. How sad can this get? That mere moment can disappoint us to hell, we will regret turning our head for that one single moment. We cannot undo that accident. All we can do is watch it with an uninterrupted stare, that is not possible, is it? How can one stare continuously, in this bustling world no one has time to do it.
This serious problem needs a solution once and for all.
Well! We have already discussed that a constant stare cannot happen, so we should do some searching for a better alternative which can keep you relax and provide focus on the other work you are doing at that time.
There are many options mentioned to prevent liquids from boiling over, but will all these really work?
We need perfect useful options to sort this out which will be an answer to all your messy, chaotic, and irritating boil-overs. We need to get into a lot more detail about every alternative present for the prevention of boil-over.
Should I Boil with a Lid On?
When you are boiling liquid with a lid on, the evaporation cannot take place.
The moisture sticks to the lid in the form of steam. It traps the steam and the process of evaporation slows down.
Due to this more heat is required to carry out the process of evaporation.
This leads to more pressure when there is more pressure the boiling takes place quicker than usual.
The heat leaves faster when you put the lid on when the heat is leaving faster the boiling will be extremely quick.
It is important to keep an eye when you cover the water with a lid. When the heat increases, moving the lid partly is helpful, this will let the steam out.
Lowering the temperature should also be done.
The temperature lowering is a must while boiling, because when left it can lead to a boil-over. There is a lot of energy wastage too.
To prevent skin burns and such you must ensure that you are taking off the lid slowly. A sudden removal will release all the steam once which is not great. It will boil all over your stovetop.
Alternatives for the Prevention of Boiling Over:
- Placing a wooden spoon on the vessel
- Tiny drops of oil in the liquid
- Adding salt in water
- Placing boil over preventer disk/ pot minder/ spill spotter
These are some common alternatives for boil-over prevention. We think all of them will work because that is what everyone says. But when I tried them myself, some didn’t happen. Let’s contemplate on these four alternatives.
Placing a Wooden Spoon on the Vessel:
The most brought out hack for stopping boil-overs is the usage of a wooden spoon. It is said that the wooden spoon placed over the pot will react as soon as the heat increases, the wooden spoon has the power to destabilize the bubbles as soon as they reach and touch the wooden object.
But unfortunately, no scientific evidence for this reached my vicinity and actually I tried this by myself, and the boil-over did not stop and so the mess.
To my knowledge, I do not this is an alternative that works for every individual.
Maybe it works if the spoon you are using is pretty wide and made of natural wood.
If it is made of real and pure wood, it will pop all the bubbles that were caused due to extra heat and will interrupt the boil-over.
This wooden spoon concept will not protect you for ages, it is just a one moment savior, you should revert back as soon as possible. It cannot be holding the boiling over liquid for a long time, it is just a momentary redeemer.
And for the people who have this wooden spoon concept successful, it may be either because of the pure wood or maybe they are not filling their vessels full of liquid up to the brim. That can be a reason for their liquid not boiling over.
So I am still skeptical about this hack, in my opinion, this might not work.
Tiny Drops of Oil in the Liquid:
Several studies proved and said that oil can be a great addition if you are trying to protect your liquid from boiling over and making a scene.
So what is with this oil?
Is it really that helpful to be proved by every single individual?
Yes, it is. Oil can greatly lend you a hand in shutting out your boil-over. The only disadvantage of oil is that it blocks the flavors from the ingredients, it will not let them combine. Oil can slide off all the flavors and sauces you are planning to add to your noodles or pasta.
It is true that oil can prevent the sticking of noodles to each other.
But please do not spoil your dish with your own hands put putting oil in the pasta water. If your idea is to stop the sticking then, add the oil in the end but not in the water.
And when it comes to the case boiling-over, the oil will cease the liquid from boiling over. If you haven’t observed, when you put drops of oil in water, that oil floats on the surface, it will not go down. This will interrupt the surface tension and so the foam and bubbles caused in the liquid, so it can easily prevent the boil-over.
Adding Salt to the Water:
I have often seen people adding salt to the water right before cooking. What can it be probably for? Is it to stop the sticking?
Is it for the boiling over prevention?
Or is it because you want to invite some flavor?
Yes, salt adds great flavor if you put some in the water before cooking. Imagine eating something without salt, not at all drool-worthy, right? Yes, we all know that alt is very essential, but do you think it will stop the boiling over?
No, adding salt has nothing to do with boiling over, the pinch of salt you are going to add cannot make any changes.
Actually the addition of salt will increase the boiling point of the liquid. It is just for the mere flavor, instead, it will cause it to boil faster. And adding salt will increase the time of boiling too. Salt just fits for enhancing the sweetness by interrupting the bitterness.
Placing Boil over Preventer Disk/ Pot Minder/ Spill Spotter:
Heard of the concept of boil-over preventer disks?
Not yet?
If you haven’t come in touch with this, please do come, because they work effectively in stopping a boil-over. Boil-over preventer disks are also known as pot minders or spill spotters. They are of round shape maximum, irrespective of the shape they can be the life-savers who interrupt your boil-overs and bring you up from the deep valleys of irritation. Boil-over preventer disks are made of glass, silicone, or ceramic.
These are also referred to as ‘pot watcher’.
They are heat-treated and non-porous as well.
The finest qualities required when working with heat and liquids. They will work effectively against absorption and bacterial growth.
The preventer disk will excellently stop the boil-over by modifying the bubbles and foam. It will nullify the formation of bubbles and foam right in the beginning which is a major part of boiling over prevention.
Even if you are not present in the kitchen, this preventer disk will notify you. It gives a rattling sound when the liquid inside reaches the boiling point. This will let you know that the liquid is about to boil over.
Well! Looking at this does not assume that this costs an arm and a leg, you can find preventer disks at cheaper rates online. They are very useful, and it is a dishwasher safe, microwave, and oven safe. This can also be used as a steamer basket. Get a boil-over preventer disk without a brainer, it will not bring out any “what if” questions in your head, because it is a perfect solution once and for all.
Other Alternatives to Prevent a Boil Over:
Some can be in a haste, some cannot afford to do these things, yes you are fortunate, you do have some simple alternatives to get through this chaotic boil-over.
Especially one should be careful when cooking starchy items like rice, or potatoes. When the water boils and produces steam, these starchy items can do nothing to prevent the steam, it causes more of it actually. So, the boil-over can certainly happen in these cases. If you cannot be alert enough, just rinse these starchy items well before cooking. This will help in removing the starchiness thereby reducing the chances for boil-over.
Remember how we blow a candle or birthdays and other parties?
Remember how we blow on a coffee when it is pretty hot?
Nothing seems relevant?
But if you think about it clearly, you can make use of that very well in the effort of preventing boil-over. When your water, milk, or soup is boiling over you can just blow on it in the way just you blow on the candle, it will provide some momentary relief from the boil-over by giving you some time turn the stovetop off.
People often increase the temperature while boiling water. A simple hack to interrupt boiling over is that lower your temperature. Why cooking with high temperatures when it leads you through the path of boiling over?
Keeping it low will solve the issue totally.
Want another simple and crazy hack?
Why do we always pick pots according to the quantity of the liquid we are going to put it in?
That will just land us in an easy boil-over. What we if choose some big pots? Bigger than enough? It might look dumb, but trust me boil-over will have no room if you do this. Even if it is way bigger, just use it. Boil-overs will not happen in bigger pots.
If you are getting a boil-over preventer disk, just forget about all these hacks. That is excellent enough to save you, sometimes hacks do not turn out well, very rarely tho. But aren’t these subtle and amazing?
This is how you can prevent a boil-over.
No ordinary man thinks that there is this much behind a boil-over, right?
Yes, there is so much. You will be willing to know all this, once a boil-over happens in your kitchen when you are in real haste. It is important to know some simple hacks when the mess takes over your kitchen.
And this boil-over mess is really unavoidable, I guess you all will agree with me in this statement because it is a real struggle. On the one side you have so much to clean and on the other side, you lost food.