Food - Drink
Why It Pays To Boil Water With A Lid On
By STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN
Anyone who cooks frequently knows that instant ramen, pasta with jarred sauce, and boiled eggs are just a few extremely easy dishes that start with boiling a pot of water, a very simple task in itself. However, boiling water often takes much longer than we'd like, so here's a great tip to get your pot bubbling faster.
Putting a lid or other cover over your pot of water can make it boil much faster. Water releases vapor when heated, and water will only boil once it starts gaining more heat and energy than it is losing through vaporization; a lid ensures that less vapor is released, trapping heat into your water and making it bubble faster.
Other tips to help boil water faster include adding a little salt to the water, using a wide, shallow pot, or cooking on sunnier and hotter days, though you have little control over the latter factor. While these methods usually don't cut your boiling time down by a whole lot, every second you shave off of dinner prep is a victory.