Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Barilla passive cooker

barilla.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 528 posts

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#201

Post by throw_m239339 »

sulam wrote: post #53
riffraff wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Couscous is pasta and “cooks” just fine for in a cold soak. Doesn’t even take that long.

You don't need to cook Couscous and it is often pre-cooked in retail. In fact, that's how one prepares Taboulé. For Pasta it is absolutely not the same thing at all. Uncooked pasta isn't good for your stomach. If you don't want to cook pasta, then buy instant ramen, they are already cooked.

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#202

Post by ar_lan »

askvictor wrote: post #99
jiggawatts wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better way to save energy is to use an electric kettle to get the water up to boiling. This is about three times as energy-efficient as a gas hob. Combined with passive cooking it could save real money… Technology Connections on YouTube has a good video about how electric kettles are the superior way to boil water: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c

Americans don't really do electric kettles, largely on account of using 110V mains, which limits power to around 1100W, making it a lot slower than ~2000W electric kettles in the 200+V world.

I wonder how I’m making my Chemex every morning…

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#203

Post by yawnxyz »

dctoedt wrote: post #84

Low-energy prep of steel-cut oats for several breakfasts: 1. Boil water in an electric kettle — we have a gas stove-top but we buy wind power for electricity; it's a Texas-grid thing. 2. Pour boiling water into a pot, add oats, bring back to a boil on the gas range, then immediately turn off the gas. (I use a ratio of 1 cup of steel-cut oats to 3 cups of water.) 3. Put a lid on the pot, put the pot on a trivet, cover…

I boil water in a kettle, then pour it over raw oats into a glass jar (e.g. peanut butter jar) enough to "wet" everything without covering the oats. Ten minutes later and the oats are perfect

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#204

Post by mattmaroon »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #110
mattmaroon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a mistake though from a cooking perspective. You use a lot of water because you want to have a very high ratio of thermal mass of water to thermal mass of noodles. You want the noodles to heat up as fast as possible so that the outside gets soft while the inside stays a little firm (al dente) and if you use less water, you’ll take longer to cook the noodles, allowing more even heat transfer because it’s a dif…

Pasta are cooked in boiling water over a heat source. The water stays at the boiling point all along. There is no loss of temperature due to cooking the pasta. The thermal mass doesn’t matter only the surface covered so as long as all the pasta are covered you are fine.

The water does not stay at the boiling point when you put the pasta in if it’s a small amount of water. That’s why instructions always say to return to a boil.

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#205

Post by mertd »

mattmaroon wrote: post #67
mertd wrote: post #24

You can reduce the energy consumption drastically by boiling way less water than "a large pot" as every packet recommends. Just enough to cover the pasta + some evaporation margin is good enough.

This is a mistake though from a cooking perspective. You use a lot of water because you want to have a very high ratio of thermal mass of water to thermal mass of noodles. You want the noodles to heat up as fast as possible so that the outside gets soft while the inside stays a little firm (al dente) and if you use less water, you’ll take longer to cook the noodles, allowing more even heat transfer because it’s a dif…

I recommend doing your own blind test. There is no noticeable difference for me.

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#206

Post by VectorLock »

Cupertino95014 wrote: post #141
CrazyStat wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to cook pasta in a lot of water. Just enough to cover the pasta is fine.

Right. And in fact, it's better that way. There's more starch in the water, which makes it more useful when you add some to the sauce in your sauce pan. What, you don't finish your pasta by heating it with the sauce??? Hang your head in shame.

Or just cook your pasta in the sauce.

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#207

Post by bilekas »

The idea of Passive cooking has always been interesting, but the device itself really feels like an April Fools bit.

It's basically just an alarm.. That needs to be paired with a smart phone. Really ?

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#208

Post by code_duck »

bilekas wrote: post #207

The idea of Passive cooking has always been interesting, but the device itself really feels like an April Fools bit. It's basically just an alarm.. That needs to be paired with a smart phone. Really ?

The device seems absurd to me, too. Why would I need anything like that just to time some pasta?

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#209

Post by ErikCorry »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #200
bmitc wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once introduced, it's hard to downplay the usefulness of an electric kettle.

While traveling through Europe, most AirBnBs had electric kettles and they all had gross scale deposits in them so I ended up boiling water in a pot.

It's calcium. It won't hurt you, and you can't taste it.

Re: Barilla passive cooker

#210

Post by Avicebron »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #200
bmitc wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once introduced, it's hard to downplay the usefulness of an electric kettle.

While traveling through Europe, most AirBnBs had electric kettles and they all had gross scale deposits in them so I ended up boiling water in a pot.

Adding a little vinegar and water and boiling it will often remove most of the scale. Maybe hard when you're travelling, but at home it works fine.
Post reply on HN