[Sca-cooks] OT:new question

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> I don't remember being taught that it needed to be hot *or* cold. And my
> dad (the family pasta cooker) was more apt to put a bit of oil in the
> pasta water than salt, to keep it from sticking together.  I suspect
> there's a reason for the salt, above-and-beyond the possible flavor from
> the salt (?), but I don't know what it is.  Maybe it alters the boiling
> temp of the water or something?

Salt in the water changes the heat characteristics, so it is a bit hotter (a
few degrees) when it boils.

Also, hot water from the tap not only has the metals dissolved in it, if you
have metal pipes, but has also had the oxygen evaporated out, so that when
it cools, it tastes "flatter". That's true of water boiled on the stove,
also, of course, but most people want to start with good-tasting water.

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....