Hot or Cold?

[vinny200]

When you are boiling veg,Spuds etc. why do people always use Cold water ,Why not hot to cut down on boiling time?Ive worked in hotels and its always cold water.In fact ive never known or seen anybody use hot water.Must be a reason!!

[rja211077]

cos cold water comes straight from the mains, whereas hot water may have sat in a somewhat unhygenic tank for a considerable period of time.

[natalie_1982]

I was told that if it grows above the ground cook add to boiling water, if it grows below the ground then add to cold water and boil up.  I hope that makes sense, and I have no idea if it is true.

[Pinotage]

I think the reason that if you have to heat up the water anyway you may as well stick the veg in the cold water and heat them together.

You want fresh water, so from teh hot water tap won't do.

At home I boil water in the electric kettle  and pour that in the saucepan I am going to cook potatoes in, as its quicker than boiling water in a pan on the hob.

In a professional environment when their pans are huge it wouldn't ake sense. Also their hobs are hotter than the domestic ones so its quicker to heat water in apan.

[Greenbhoy]

I was always told "If the are old, it is cold, if they are not, it's hot". So new tatties are cooked in hot water from the start and old one aren't. It also adds to the cooking time.

The same could be asked about eggs. you are supposed to put them in cold water and then heat it up to boiling when you start timing them......why not put them in once the water is boiling? 

[vinny200]

Cheers everybody,Im still not sure why in some cases (Boiling eggs)you are suppose to use cold water.Mr Ramsey if you are reading this,give us your expert advice.

[dosset]

when i started working as a chef i was taught that cold water was for old potatoes and hot water (not from tap) for new potatoes.reason being the time difference needed to cook new and old potatoes(new ones do not need as long to cook)

[stoo_pid]

the reason for starting with cold water when boiling eggs is to prevent them from cracking.  I tried adding cold eggs straight from the fridge straight to boiling water once - didn't work very well!

[corganiser]

while true that eggs can crack when added to hot water, there is a trick to contain the spliiage of egg white that comes from the crack.............add a little vinegar to the hot water.....not sure why it works but it effectively seals the crack

[secretspirit]

There's a myth that putting potatoes straight into boiling water makes them go black but it's rubbish because I always use water from the kettle whether the potatoes are new or old and it makes no difference besides saving time.

[dive75]

the vinegar trick is true. I was told about it years ago and it has always worked, even when poaching eggs, the white doesnt stray.

[Ray the DJ]

Forget the answer about it coming from an unhygenic tank.
If you boil it it gets sterilised.