To be pissed off he won't stop touching stuff when I am trying to cook?!

[VelveteenBunni]

DP is really trying my patience. I'll be cooking something and leave it to simmer or whatever, and DP will come along and turn it all the way down!

It winds me up a bit because it's usually potatoes which means when I come back after 15 mins and should normally find basically cooked potatoes, I'm finding raw ones bumping around in tepid water (my hobs go LOW)

I bloody snapped at him today. I don't understand why he keeps doing it when I've asked him not to?!

I always loved HoneyDragons threads

Very amusing

Whatever happened to her?

Oh I loved her too.

The definition of “simmering” something is for it to be on a low heat so it’s “just” boiling.

You say your husband is coming into the kitchen, presumably while you aren’t in the kitchen because you mention leaving the potatoes to “simmer” and he turns the hob all the way down - but not off.

By definition your husband has done the correct thing by correcting the heat & turning it down to a simmer.

As you describe it, the heat must have been on at least midway and at boiling point.

You shouldn’t leave a pot unattended like this. It’s really dangerous, I knew a set of twins at school one one had scald burns all over her face/neck/arm from pulling a pot off the stove as a toddler.

@Shinygoldbauble

Overground start in boiling water, underground start in cold water. If you start potatoes in boiling water the outside cooks too quickly and the middle will be undercooked. Secondary school home economics but has always served me well.

I've never boiled root veg in cold water and mine have never cooked too fast on the outside. This sounds like one of those things that people do but that doesn't really have any evidence behind it.

@vikingwife

The definition of “simmering” something is for it to be on a low heat so it’s “just” boiling.

You say your husband is coming into the kitchen, presumably while you aren’t in the kitchen because you mention leaving the potatoes to “simmer” and he turns the hob all the way down - but not off.

By definition your husband has done the correct thing by correcting the heat & turning it down to a simmer.

As you describe it, the heat must have been on at least midway and at boiling point.

You shouldn’t leave a pot unattended like this. It’s really dangerous, I knew a set of twins at school one one had scald burns all over her face/neck/arm from pulling a pot off the stove as a toddler.

My hob has 1-9 on the dial so to simmer I would use 4. If DH came in and turned it down to 1 it would be keeping warm not simmering.

*The definition of “simmering” something is for it to be on a low heat so it’s “just” boiling.

You say your husband is coming into the kitchen, presumably while you aren’t in the kitchen because you mention leaving the potatoes to “simmer” and he turns the hob all the way down - but not off.

By definition your husband has done the correct thing by correcting the heat & turning it down to a simmer.

As you describe it, the heat must have been on at least midway and at boiling point.

You shouldn’t leave a pot unattended like this. It’s really dangerous, I knew a set of twins at school one one had scald burns all over her face/neck/arm from pulling a pot off the stove as a toddler*

If my hob was on its lowest point it would keep something warm but not simmering. Maybe op doesn't have any small children or has a baby gate over the kitchen door? .

@Hangingover

If you start potatoes in boiling water the outside cooks too quickly and the middle will be undercooked

Oh so THIS is why my mash is always shit but my roasties are amazing. Thank you, I've always wondered this!

I have a spoony fucker too. He is generally not allowed anywhere near the kitchen because he'd burn it down but one time about three months ago I was feeling tired and said to him that I'd made the rest could he just do some rice. Thrilled he was! Bustled off to kitchen (not my kitchen at the time so don't care if burns it down). Comes back. Which rice and where is it? Either, it's in the dry food box in a bag with Rice written on it. Great! Bimbles off. Comes back... how long for? Read packet DP. Okay! Shambles off. Curious I go into the kitchen twenty minutes later to see DP at the stove triumphantly and continually stirring a pan of white cement in about a cm of water.

THIS MAN HELPED INVENT MOBILE INTERNET.

Stirred to within an inch of its life is a thing!! DH once made scrambled eggs. It was the smoothest emulsion I’ve ever seen. A silky egg sauce.

@Spaghettio

Mine is a tidy fucker. I turn around and find the spoon and the colander have been put in the dishwasher and the packet (and instructions)have gone in the bin! 🤬

When he cooks, I'm not even allowed in the kitchen.

My DH does this. He's been known to wash things up before I've actually used them - so I grab a spoon, turned round to pick up the thing I need to stir, turn back to pick up the spoon - only to find it wet on the drying rack.

This thread makes me wonder what a spoony fucker would do to an electric pressure cooker. Turn it off because it was hissing?

You shouldn’t leave a pot unattended like this. It’s really dangerous

Yep can lead to the murder of interfering spoony fuckers

I’m sure if OP has young kids she wouldn’t leave the kitchen

To be fair leaving a pot unattended is a really basic safety rule. We all know kitchen is one of the places in the home where accidents most likely to occur.

The way the OP describes it she had left the kitchen & I too would turn a pot down if it had been left unattended & not on low. It’s kind of common sense?

Of course if it as induction cooktop the lowest setting is only to keep it warm. This is a modern feature - However on most traditional gas or electric cooktops, the low setting IS for simmering & there is no “warming” setting.

To me common sense dictates - unattended pot = low setting.

@vikingwife You are that rare beast - the remote spoony fucker!

I always leave pots of water to cook themselves, you don't need to hover, just put a timer on.