51–60 of 528 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, how long would you soak rice to make it edible? I’d imagine it’s longer than 24 hours.
Backpackers typically use parcooked instant rice. Anywhere from like 30 minutes to all day will make it soft. A lot of folks put their cold soaking food in water at the start of the day so it gets jostled around and softened all day as they hike.
Not really "passive" cooking as you're just not actively pumping heat into already boiling water and just cooking pasta in steadily cooling water. You can actually soften pasta and many other similar foods by just leaving them in room temperature water for a much longer period. Some backpackers do this to reduce weight and it's been the only way I've ever prepared food while backpacking. Admittedly, cold noodles, oat…
Pasta needs to reach something like 80 degrees to "cook", if you just soak it at 35 it will not be the same result. The method described here (which has been around for centuries) instead gets you the same result as cooking in constantly boiling water, saving a lot of gas/electricity.
Water has really high specific heat capacity, and there’s a lot more water than noodles (by mass). You’re using a lot more energy to heat the water than the noodles. Most people switch to low heat (the water just has to stay boiling, how fast doesn’t much matter) at about the same time this would have you switch it off. So you’re saving a little bit of energy for the last maybe 25% of the process.
Not really "passive" cooking as you're just not actively pumping heat into already boiling water and just cooking pasta in steadily cooling water. You can actually soften pasta and many other similar foods by just leaving them in room temperature water for a much longer period. Some backpackers do this to reduce weight and it's been the only way I've ever prepared food while backpacking. Admittedly, cold noodles, oat…
Pasta needs to reach something like 80 degrees to "cook", if you just soak it at 35 it will not be the same result. The method described here (which has been around for centuries) instead gets you the same result as cooking in constantly boiling water, saving a lot of gas/electricity.
A 145 year old pasta company just published open-source 3D printing models, Arduino circuit layouts & code and a bluetooth-enabled smartphone app on its website, that too with a decent sized marketing push. All so that you can build an overengineered kitchen timer from scratch in your bedroom. This is exactly the wild future I imagined as a tech enthusiast building cheap PCs two decades ago.
Not sure what's so special. I would assume everybody knows that most of the energy during cooking is wasted: 1. By the water evaporating 2. By the hot gasses escaping without actually heating up anything 3. With the water poured away after cooking Which is why I: 1. Put a lid on the pot whenever I can. Once it boils it usually is enough to reduce the burner to absolute minimum to keep the simmer unless I am adding la…
Pressure cooker my friend! Chemical reactions at 115C will by ~3-4 faster than at 100C.
In my opinion, electric grids should give away free instant pots as a part of their energy conservation strategies.
The claim: reduces CO₂e emissions by up to 80%* The asterisk: water boiling phase excluded When I boil pasta, I use full heat to get the water boiling, drop in the pasta, then let it come back up to a boil, then drop the temperature as low as possible to keep a slow boil going--about medium-low. Guesstimating that the boil takes about as long as the time to cook the pasta, I'd say that the pasta cooking portion only…
You need an new stove. Edit: or a new pot
Interesting there are so many different names for these types of cookers. I've always heard this referred to as a haybox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haybox
According to Kenji, you don't even need boiling water to cook pasta: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boi... https://www.seriouseats.com/tips-for-better-easier-pasta "Want to get even more crazy efficient? Try soaking pasta in water as your prep your other ingredients. By the time your sauce is ready, you can just add the pasta (along with some of its soaking liquid) to the pan and, with a min…
I always wondered if you could just put spaghetti in your Nalgene while backpacking and it would be ready by the end of your hike. People always look at me weird when I suggest it but I am down to drink starchy water all day and then eat spaghetti when I get there haha.