Salted Water for Boiling Is Most Commented-on Recipe on Epicurious
Salted Water for Boiling is easily Epicurious' most commented-on recipe, with 801 responses at last count.
The thread has become a treasure trove of sarcastic comments:
I am frustrated with these "advanced" recipes. Does everyone think we're ALL professional chefs?? I can't tell at what point to add the salt, and what kind of salt? Kosher? Fleur de Sal? Iodized? And then what kind of water? Tap? Distilled? Artesian? How long do I boil it? I am so confused. Please, Epicurious, screen your recipes better.
Don't waste your time on this one. I substituted leftover hot dogs for the salt, and used a combination of maple syrup and salsa instead of water, and it didn't turn out at all!! I'm very disappointed.
As Nicole Richie’s chef, I prepare this on an almost daily basis.
Of course, the funniest (saddest?) thing of all is that, despite the sarcasm, many people have no idea how to salt their water for boiling pasta! They put a pinch of salt in a vat of water and then wonder why their beautiful sauce tastes flat once it's tossed with the underseasoned spaghetti. Would-be satirists, take heed: You really do need 1 tablespoon of salt for every 4 quarts of water. (And I might as well put an end to a particularly insidious piece of pseudoscience while I'm at it: No, salt does not make the water boil faster. It flavors the food, and that's that.)
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15 Comments:
I had to "Favorited" this, the paragraph about all the substitutions for the salt and water gave me one of the biggest laughs I've had in a long time.
dmcavanagh at 8:55PM on 01/22/09
I need to read them all when I have the time. Thanks for the story - so funny!
PerkyMac at 11:32PM on 01/22/09
Also of relevance is the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Boiled Water.
mschlock at 1:53AM on 01/23/09
According to my sister's HS Science fair experiment, salt makes the water boil more slowly, so add it after the water comes to a boil and before the pasta goes in. As the Italians say, it should taste of the sea. That's a fair amount, folks.
When the Joy of Cooking 75th anniversary edition was released there was a fair amount of hand-wringing about the dumbing down of recipes. Seems one person did not understand greasing bottom of pan meant inside pan. Yes. Way.
Here are my thougths on the issue if anyone's interested: http://gourmetfood.suite101.com/article.cfm/happy_birthday_joy_of_cooking
Cooking more, togehter, with friends and family is our only hope...
jacquelinec at 3:39AM on 01/23/09
Adding salt also increases the boiling temperature of water. See http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem03720.htm
gschaefer at 7:30AM on 01/23/09
@mschlock - that was VERY funny. Thanks for posting the link. Because you know what? If Kimball had written it, that's about how it would come out. Loved it.
I'd seen the epicurious recipe a while ago and spent hours pouring over the reviews. My fave will always be "As Nicole Richie’s chef, I prepare this on an almost daily basis."
chisai at 8:44AM on 01/23/09
It does bring the temperature of the water up about 2 degrees, helping to cook the pasta faster, while also flavoring it.
dyella13 at 9:26AM on 01/23/09
@gschaefer - If you read the link I included in the post, you'll see that, while adding salt to boiling water does technically make it boil faster at sea level, with the quantities we are dealing with in home cooking, this speeds up the cooking time by all of half a second.
@dyella - It's not two degrees. It's about seven hundredths of 1 degree F.
Sigh. Why is this misinformation so persistent? :/
Michele Humes at 9:46AM on 01/23/09
I'll add one important factor ~ I ruined a pot by putting in the salt (kosher, I think) before the water boiled and it pitted the bottom.
The Nicole Richie one hurled me to the floor, too. Can't wait to read them!
PerkyMac at 10:29AM on 01/23/09
@michele - what source are you using? just curious for future reference. . .
dyella13 at 11:24AM on 01/23/09
I've interviewed several chefs about this subject and they all seem to use the metaphor "as salty as the ocean" to describe how salty the water should be. Seems pretty apt if you've ever accidentally gulped a mouthful while playing in the waves!
- KAB, GoodStuffNW
GoodStuffNW at 12:05PM on 01/23/09
@dyella - A combination of 'What Einstein Told His Cook' by Robert Wolke (relevant excerpt is here) and my science editor boyfriend explaining it to me in a painstaking manner.
Michele Humes at 12:42PM on 01/23/09
朝日新聞1986年4月3日夕刊（東京版）に「テレホンクラブ」（テレクラ）の記事が掲載されており、内容はテレクラで男性客とデートをしていた家出中の女子高生が補導されたというものである。同記事によれば、テレクラは1985年秋頃から新宿・渋谷などに急増し、この頃までに100軒ほどあったという。テレクラ【出会い専門】
khehvhiuy at 6:44AM on 07/02/09
Adding salt to water raises its boiling point. Chemically speaking, this is a verifiable fact. Salt does raise water’s boiling point (and lower its freezing point—which is why home ice cream makers use rock salt).
Iknow at 4:32PM on 08/26/09
@Michele Humes, you are just as incorrect as gschaefer.
o raise the boiling point of one liter (34 ounces) of water by 1°C (1.8°F) requires about 58 grams (2 ounces) of salt.
timhood at 5:16PM on 08/26/09