Put a lid on it!

[Merlin5]

Whenever I've got boiling water and then take the temp down to simmer and then put a lid on the saucepan, it always seems to spit or overflow water out the sides of the lid and drench the hob. My hob top temp number for boiling is 9 and I tend to simmer at about number 4. Should I be taking it down lower to stop water spitting out or is it unavoidable?


Also, when you wash veg like potatoes or mushrooms, do you just rinse yours or do you lightly scrub them? My fresh baked potato tonight which I bought today had blemishes all over and I scrubbed with my fingers which started to rub some of the top skin off. Never sure if I need to do that but it's sometimes hard to tell if it's a light layer of soil or just the way the skin looks.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks guys. Must buy some vented lids.

it not like boiling water wont kill any nastys

Yeah but I sometimes microwave my baked potatoes so I want any mud off them.

 

[Merlin5]

The problem with cooking on electric is that when I've taken the temperature control down after boiling, it takes a little while for the element to reduce/cool to the new temp. So perhaps I should wait a little bit before putting a lid on. And yeah, I'll also take the temp right down to the lowest while keeping it simmering.


When recipes say 'bring to the boil then simmer' does this mean the second the water boils to take it down or do you guys tend to let it boil for a minute or so before simmering?