Steam Explosion - Flash Boiling in Cooking

Flash Boiling in Cooking

There is also a cooking technique called flash boiling, in which a smaller amount of water is used so as to quicken the process of boiling. An example of this technique is used to melt a slice of cheese onto a hamburger patty, whereby the cheese slice is placed on top of the meat on a high-heat surface (e.g., a hot frying pan), and a small quantity of cold water is thrown onto the surface near the patty. A vessel (such as a volume-rich small pot or frying-pan cover) is then used to quickly seal the steam-flash reaction, which disperses much of the steamed-water on the cheese/patty. This results in a large release of heat, transferred via vaporized water condensing back into a liquid (a principle also utilized in refrigerator and freezer production).

Read more about this topic:  Steam Explosion

Famous quotes containing the words flash, boiling and/or cooking:

    When the cross blue lightning seemed to open
    The breast of heaven, I did present myself
    Even in the aim and very flash of it.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    ‘Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch,
    That nearer, every Day,
    Kept narrowing its boiling Wheel
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

    A man’s destination is his own village,
    His own cooking fire, and his wife’s cooking;
    To sit in front of his own door at sunset
    And see his grandson, and his neighbour’s grandson
    Playing in the dust together.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)