False Boil

[ronniebuss]

Years ago my Aunt told me not to put a lid on a pot where I intend to boil water because it will cause a "false boil". I have Googled this and didn't get a hit. Anyone else heard of this or is it an old wives tale?

[Pluff Mudder]

I put a lid on a pot when I want to water to boil quicker. It's keeps the heat and steam in helping to bring the water up to a boil faster. But, never heard of a "false boil."

[MiseEnPlace]

Right, a lid makes the water boil faster.

I know you can super heat water in a microwave. I'm always warning one of my coworkers about heating water for her tea without putting a wooden skewer in the vessel.

Never heard of false boil.

[Bentley Green]

To coin the phrase, so they say, watch a pot and it won't boil.

But waiting for water to boil in a pasta pot can seem like an awfully long time because of the amount for water that's needed.

Soup stock takes even longer to come up to temp for me because I use a huge 17-qt stock pot and they say that you must start off with COLD water instead of hot water!

But no, I never heard of false boil either.

[cyberdoc]

It's not really a false boil. The reason the water boils quicker with a lid on, is that there is less heat loss. Thus, the water gets to 100 degrees C quicker.

[Bentley Green]

And the less water there is in the pot, the quicker it boils, right?