A veteran chef of multiple Michelin-starred restaurants has taken to Instagram to share a pasta-cooking hack that can save money for consumers and reduce heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere. This method is remarkable because it requires no extra time or materials — and it won't impact the quality of the food being cooked.
According to the Clean Cooking Alliance, around half of global black carbon (soot) pollution comes from the energy needed to run household appliances and tools. Simple solutions, including the one introduced by this chef, are a great way to reduce individual pollution.
The scoop
According to this post from critically acclaimed chef and author Danilo Cortellini (@DaniloCortellini), you can do this with a technique called passive cooking.
By adding a lid onto the pot being used to boil pasta and turning off the stove, consumers can save money on their energy bill while still softening the noodles with the heat trapped inside the pot.
"This is definitely worth [looking] into if you cook pasta often," he wrote in the caption.
Cooking pasta with this method begins as it always does: Boil water on a stovetop and sprinkle in some salt. Then, throw in any kind of pasta.
Next, stir the pasta and let it boil for two minutes.
Finally, Cortellini advises covering the pot and turning the stove off to let the noodles cook for the full length of time recommended on the packaging.
After these simple steps, the pasta will be ready — and your stove will have been on for only a short time.
Cortellini says in the caption it might end up being a bit chewy by following the exact instructions he describes. It may require some customization to get it just the way you like it, but the point remains that with most cooking (not just stovetop), you don't need the device to be fully powered the entire time to get results. As long as anything like raw meat has been cooked to its target temperature for safety purposes, of course.
Cooking pizza in an oven is another great example. You're paying for that residual heat, so you might as well try to use it rather than pay for more energy toward the end when it isn't truly adding anything.
How it's helping
Different types of ranges are more or less expensive to run; however, all of them will cost less money to operate if they're used for a shorter time. This hack helps folks save money on their energy bill without any noticeable downside, though Cortellini did advise using high-quality pasta.
Furthermore, using a stove for shorter intervals is beneficial to the environment. Especially for cooks with gas stoves, this trick can help mitigate the health problems they are known to cause as well as ameliorate their inefficiencies.
What everyone's saying
Folks in the comments were excited to try this method and brought their own twists to the table.
"Good approach for energy saving," one user wrote, though they acknowledged, "I personally prefer the more Al Dente texture accomplished with the traditional boiling, no lid."
Another pointed out that changing times call for more energy-conscious methods: "Definitely one year ago it was a much different situation. Today it may be worth a second thought. … Using a clay (terracotta) pot may help as they keep the … heat inside [way better] than metal pots."
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