Posted: 1/10/2009 1:28:37 PM EDT
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I was making spaghetti...as the noodles started to boil over the pan, I put the wooden spoon over the top to stop the foamy boil over from happening. I learned this from Mom years ago...why/how does this happen?
Does anyone have a scientific explanation? I googled it and nothing gave an explanation on this phenomena. |
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I know you can take a drip of grease from hot wings and makes the foam in beer go away. Don't know how it works. There's a trick to quickly getting soft drink foam to subside as well, but it's a bit disgusting. First, rinse your ice cubes in water before pouring soda into the glass. This reduces the foam subtantially. Then, rub your nose with your finger to collect some oil and touch the foam. You will see an immediate dissipation of foam where your finger contacts it, and as the oil spreads thrpughout, it will quickly eliminate the foam completely. |
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I know you can take a drip of grease from hot wings and makes the foam in beer go away. Don't know how it works. Same principle as above, break the surface tension. Damn. Now I'm hungry. For beer grease? That sounds great. OMG! Two of the best things! Like...bacon-beer or something. 
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It seems to me that it is *almost* the same principle.
The wooden spoon physically breaks the bubbles by touching them with a slightly rough surface. (a polished steel knife might or might not work... not really sure, that is a good question! Maybe if the surface is too smooth the bubbles will press up against it without breaking like they do on the side of the pan??) The chicken grease on the beer, or the nose oil(yuck!) on the soda make a surfactant and reduce the surface tension of the liquid, making it impossible for the bubbles to form (or at least making them much weaker). I have seen folks similarly put a dash of cooking oil in with spaghetti to keep the bubbles from forming... |
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Is the same true for elbow macaroni? ETA: With rapidly boiling pasta, the noodles come to the surface. Why aren't THEY breaking the surface tension? I think the starch(or something else from the noodles) adds to the surface tension. The oil/grease reduces the surface tension |
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oil, spoon, those things all do the same thing as people said, it pops the bubbles. Those bubbles have much higher surface tension because of the starch that comes of the noodles while cooking. This starch form a polymer-type net that allows the bubbles to remain and build ontop of each other. that leads to boil over. The absolute best and correct way (according to pasta experts) is skip the spoon and oil and never cook pasta in less than a gallon of water (less starch per unit water). Salt liberally too.
ETA: ok oil doesnt pop the bubbles. It lubes the starch particles though lessening their strength to hold together. |
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Quoted:
It seems to me that it is *almost* the same principle. The wooden spoon physically breaks the bubbles by touching them with a slightly rough surface. (a polished steel knife might or might not work... not really sure, that is a good question! Maybe if the surface is too smooth the bubbles will press up against it without breaking like they do on the side of the pan??) The chicken grease on the beer, or the nose oil(yuck!) on the soda make a surfactant and reduce the surface tension of the liquid, making it impossible for the bubbles to form (or at least making them much weaker). I have seen folks similarly put a dash of cooking oil in with spaghetti to keep the bubbles from forming... The oil is not to keep the bubbles from forming, it is to keep the pasta from sticking together in the pot and when drained. The spoon trick causes two reactions. As others have said, it breaks the surface tension of the bubbles, but more importantly is lowers the temperature of the water enough to break the rolling boil. Leave the spoon in there long enough and it will boil over again as soon as the spoon comes to temp. |