The Cooking Process: Part 6

1. Simmer is to cook food submerged in liquid just below a boil, or to cook the liquid itself, at temperatures of 1 80°F (85°C) to just short of the boiling point. A simmering liquid has bubbles floating slowly from the bottom to the surface. There is some action in the liquid, but it is not agitated, as in a boil, and the surface is quiet.

2. Poach is to cook food submerged in liquid at a temperature of roughly 160180°F (7085°C). A liquid at this temperature will have bubbles on the bottom of the pot, but they will tend to stay there and not disturb the body of the liquid.

In all these methods, the temperature range is the most important factor. You do not measure the temperature; you tell how hot it is by the way the liquid behaves.

Above sea, level the temperature of water at the boiling point drops in proportion to the altitude, at a rate of 1°F for every 550 feet above sea level (1°C for every 300 meters). This means that it takes longer to cook something at a boil in the mountains than it does at a seaside resort. Poaching and simmering temperatures will also produce more action in the water at high altitudes than at sea level. Turning up the heat does not make a boiling liquid any hotter at any altitude. The boiling point is the temperature at which the liquid turns to vapor, and boiling it harder simply makes it evaporate faster.

Boiling is seldom used as a cooking method. The lower temperatures and gentler action of simmering and poaching produce much better results and give the cook greater control. The boiling point, however, is very useful. It is customary in many instances to bring a liquid to a full rolling boil and then turn the heat down until the liquid reaches the desired degree of action. The rolling boil does two things: it brings the full pot to the same temperature throughout, and it provides a point of departure from which to turn the heat down to maintain a lower temperature. Some times getting the right degree of action in the pot takes several adjustments. Adding a food to the liquid lowers the temperature and the action, and heavy pots and electric heating coils respond slowly to change.

Many foods are cooked at a simmer such as vegetables, shellfish, stews, soups, and sauces. Poaching is used for shelled eggs and the delicate flesh of fish, which cook quickly even at low temperatures and retain their shape better in a calm liquid. Boiling is used mainly for pastas; with this product, the vigorous action of the liquid keeps the strands of pasta from sticking together.

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