Answers to life's vexing cooking questions...
Avoiding Boil-Overs When Stacking Pots
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Q. I notice in the instructions for a recipe for Salmon Pasta with Parsley Sauce that it says to place the plate of salmon on top of the boiling pasta to cook. In my experience, the pasta water is going to foam up and boil over and make one whale of a mess. If you keep the heat down low enough to prevent that, the pasta does not have the full boil that it is supposed to have for cooking. If I'm mistaken, please let me know. But I realize there are some more-labor-intensive ways to cook the salmon. Anyway, the recipe sounds great, I'll be trying it, but I don't want to have a mess to clean up!A. Good point. Actually, we have a favorite Fettuccine Alfredo recipe that has you making the sauce over the pot of boiling water, too, and we avoid the mess by using a large, rectangular glass baking dish on top of the round boiling pasta pot. The shape of the dish allows it to sit securely on the pot, but there is space on either side of the dish to allow steam to escape without causing a boil over.
Another option is to add some oil to the boiling water, which raises the boiling point quite a few degrees. But you’re right though, you would certainly not wish to use a tight-fitting round plate that seals in the steam only until the explosive boil-over.
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