# What is it with lay people & boiling?



## markv (May 16, 2003)

During a summer barbeque, while the steaks were on the grill, I was boiling the marinade to use as a sauce. As we all know, to employ the marinade that the raw meat was in, it must first be boiled. One of my non-cooking friends came out and said that my pot was boiling so she turned it down.

Tonight while preparing for my cooking class I was boiling balsamic to reduce it to make a syrupy sauce for shrimp. I stepped away momentarily to get some coffee and some guy came by to tell me that he saw "something boiling" on my stove so he turned it off. I almost threw my coffee at him and told him to mind his own business.

Where did non-cooks get the idea that boiling is some kind of disaster?  

Mark


----------



## castironchef (Oct 10, 2005)

Those people aren't cooks, they're "heaters." Once their "meal" is boiling, it's done.


----------



## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

In most of the kitchens I've a worked in ( a whooping total of 4 :blush: ) it was always part of the constant communcation. Since everybody was almost always busy, we always kept an eye on the stove just in case something was going to burn or boil over. We always had the other guys back.

Personally I'd rather have somebody tell me "Hey man, yo' &#$%'s boiling/thickened/whatever," then to have my Balsalmic Soy Gastric get torched.

Sometimes it can bust my fuse, but in the end I appreciate the proactivness on my coworkers.


----------



## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Reminds me of last Thanksgiving at my dad's house.....4 adult women, 3 teenage girls.....they all wondered why everything was taking so long to bake....gee could it be that every couple minutes one of them would walk by and open the oven to check!!!! whatever happened to turning on the oven light and just peeking through the door.

I'm so used to cooking by smell......


----------



## andrew hope (Feb 3, 2006)

I have know I used to always do that to my Chef and other cooks when they were busy and i wasnt sure what they were doing... I always believe in play it safe, You can always put it back on right?


----------



## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Kind of like what's been said by a couple, on the other side of the coin. I can't tell you how many times we would be on a break and someone comes out and says "*** is burning" to which we would reply "did you turn it off"? the usual answer was "No"


----------



## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

A watched pot never boils...

But an unwatched pot always boils over.

:crazy:


----------



## higjse (Feb 8, 2006)

people generally just dont cook with as high a heat as cooks do in a professional kitchen... and if they do, they just dont do it with such frequency... 

I know when I cook in my kitchen at home, which is rarely, the upstairs and downstairs people know... I have to open windows in my parents house.... People whom Ive done dinner parties before Lets face it, if you cooked in a home ktichen like you do in a professional kitchen itll smell for weeks. Amateurs just dont understand reducing, searing, etc....

On a positive note, it could help if the people who were at hands length of whats cooking knew what was going on....


----------



## markv (May 16, 2003)

Indeed. 

Mark


----------



## andrew hope (Feb 3, 2006)

After getting used to cooking with gas I never have the patenice cooking with electric at home... I don't feel like I have as much control.


----------



## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

I soo miss having a high volume vent food when I cook at home...
I also miss those warpy curved saute pans too.


----------



## shahar (Dec 15, 1999)

My mom always get angry at me for leaving the stove on.
Our house was always five seconds away from being engulfed in flames.


----------



## justfryit (Feb 24, 2004)

I've found that people usually cook with too much heat. 

Some things can be "boiled" but many times boiling and high heat extracts bitter flavors and ruins food. Boiling wrenches proteins and squeezes moisture from the cells never to return again.

I get what you mean though.


----------



## nicholas (Jul 22, 2004)

Since we're on professional cooking vs home cooking, what about the dishes?
I find myself reaching for a new spoon all the time, until the drawers are empty, and all my wares are in the sink.
Cooking "professionally" at home requires a professional dishwasher too you know!
The greasy floors and full sinks is something I'd have to handle afer cooking as such!


----------



## metrakay (Apr 1, 2005)

You could buy a couple dozen really cheap commercial teaspoons and just use them for tasting...? 

I guess I have best of both worlds -- my commercial kitchen IS my home kitchen, since it is a B&B. When I'm just cooking for myself, which is much of the time, the best parts of the kitchen is the the ventahood and the prerinse. If I ever live in another house, I'm putting in a prerinse. I'm not ever going to have one of those residential sprayers again.


----------



## castironchef (Oct 10, 2005)

Oh! And a walk-in too! :bounce:


----------



## metrakay (Apr 1, 2005)

I'd like one of those NOW!:talk: Unfortunately, the kitchen remodel didn't extend that far since it wasn't a requirement for licensing and the budget hasn't allowed it yet. I keep hoping.


----------



## jolly roger (Jan 27, 2006)

So many thoughts have been addressed here. If you're making a reduction of some sort...and there are others around that may not be in the know, pour yourself a glass of wine and stay next to your sauce! "Never trust someone to pack your parachute for you", is what one chef told me. I you have to leave it, than pull it of the fire yourself so nobody "worries". I've had servers walk through my kitchen in a drunken stupor and turn off the low flame I had under a 60 quart stock pot of working veal stock after the shift. One time I caught it...one time I didn't catch it and we trashed 100.oo bucks in veal bones. My take on this is, if you decide you actually give a sh*t about what's on the fire, find out who's in charge and ask questions, but don't touch it unless you know what it is and what to do with it.


----------



## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

This is really a pet pieve with me. The percentage of the flattop use is small compared to the ovens since we're a bakery. Most of our things require to be babysat. The only time you will here a grumble out of me if there is not a side towel on a sauce pan or a mitt on the oven door telling everyone that there is something going on in the sauce pan and something in the oven. We're crossed trained enough not to have timers or have to ask for a watch.


----------



## jenni belle (Mar 10, 2005)

I'll grumble too. Since I'm a one-woman show in my catering business, I don't usually have to worry about anyone 'messing with the goods'. But at home....well, that's a different story. My hubby drives me crazy in the kitchen. He's always turning down the heat on everything. 'Honey, this was boiling, I turned it off/down/whatever.' Erggg......'dear, it's called a 'rolling boil'....turn it back up!!' 

I think I've grumbled at him enough that he's finally gotten it. I hope.......


----------



## markv (May 16, 2003)

Jenni, I can soooooo relate.

Mark


----------



## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Hah! Yes  So true!


----------



## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

My problem has always been the opposite. It drives me nuts to see wine, stock or vinegar boiling. To make a proper reduction, a little finesse goes a long way, and a gentle simmer yields much better results. I'm usually the one in the kitchen screeming "Turn it down!!!"


----------



## ma facon (Dec 16, 2004)

OK, So you take all the time in the world to make the perfect stock, ( not reducing it under a vigourous boil as mentioned in previous posts )

Then when it comes to using that same stock on the line in a fastidius sautee do you think that all the care that was put into the original stock is lost with the intense heat it undergoes when being introduced into the hot sautee pan ? So do you think that the protiens are exploded/lost in the final dish ? Any food chemist want to explain this ? I think the customer already has.:lol: :chef:


----------



## ma facon (Dec 16, 2004)

Eat






Define each letter and reassemble them in your own way.:lol:


----------



## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Anything will boil quicker if a lid is placed on it. And AprilB is right a watched pot never boils........


----------



## ma facon (Dec 16, 2004)

:lol: Oh Boy !!! You do not comnprehend what is being conveyed.:lol:


----------



## ma facon (Dec 16, 2004)

I still like you either way.:chef:


----------



## markv (May 16, 2003)

Proteins don't "explode" when cooked, they denature. That means that at first they unwind and then recombine into new forms.

Proteins are also not "lost". Re-heating, or reducing a stock does nothing to the proteins that have been gelatinized. Basically you're evaporating more of the water and hence, intensifying the body and flavor of the stock.

Mark


----------



## chef_bob (Jan 13, 2005)

Is it just me? In school I was told the only thing that should ever be cooked in a full rolling boil is pasta. They way I look at it boiling is very violent and I don't like seeing stuff getting all bashed about. As for reductions, when they are boiling it is very hard to get any idea of the current consistancy. All of that being said, if I am cooking it and it is boiling, HANDS OFF. I am always open to advice and learning more, but jumping right in and taking over some ones cooking is a pretty big move in my books.


----------



## jolly roger (Jan 27, 2006)

Where did this go? Did Ma Facon lead us down a confused path??? Let the record show that I, Jolly Roger, never mentioned a d**n thing about boiling a stock! Ma Facon, is that how YOU were shown? Gosh, you must be a C.I.A. grad, or just unfortuneately uninformed. Yuck!


----------

