How to boil Potatoes, Eggs, etc

It is really heartrending (at least for me) to see someone boiling potatoes or eggs, etc., with the pot full of water and with no lid on. This method is easy, doesn't need much thinking. But then, it takes up a lot of heat to bring the pot-full water to boil and keep the lid open, and u are letting a lot of hot steam escape into air.

The proper way to boil:

1. Once u wash the eggs/potatoes, etc., place them in the pot or utensil.
2. Pour water in the pot such that these items are only half immersed (unless the items are stacked on on another, in which case u have to pour water such that the top most item is half immersed).
3. Cover the pot such that no steam escapes.

Steam has more heat than water, so our aim is to boil these items in steam as much as possible rather than water. by immersing the items half in water, we are exposing the other half to steam, letting them boil quickly. And the lid makes sure the steam stays.

The same concept is used in pressure cookers except that they operate under high pressure. Steam at high pressures has higher boiling points and higher latent heat, thus making the process of boiling quicker.


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