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Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
Updated on 10/28/19
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Simmering is bringing a liquid to the state of being just below boiling. You'll see lots of little bubbles forming and rising to the surface. If your pot begins to boil, turn the heat down to maintain that gentle bubbling. It is a cooking technique that can mean the difference between fluffy and burnt rice and between tender and tough stew meat.
How to Simmer
Simmering refers to a specific temperature range, and it's a gentle technique that's useful for cooking vegetables, soup, stews, and even large cuts of meat. In the culinary arts, to simmer something means to cook it in liquid at a temperature ranging from 180 F to 205 F (at sea level, the temperatures will be lower at higher altitude). With simmering you'll see bubbles forming and gently rising to the surface of the water, but the water is not yet at afull rolling boil.
You will often see a recipe instruction to bring a liquid to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. This ensures the liquid has come up to the proper temperature. You would then reduce the heat and keep the pot at a setting where there is only gentle bubbling.
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When to Simmer
Simmering is usually used for things like cooking rice, where a boil is much too hot for the cook time. It's the ideal cooking method for making stocksbecause it's hot enough to break down the cartilage in the bones but gentle enough that it doesn't produce large bubbles. The agitation of a full rolling boil can disrupt the clarification process, leading to a cloudy stock. There's really nothing that needs to be cooked at a full rolling boil. Leave the agitation for the washing machine.
Simmering is also perfect for braising tough cuts of meat. The connective tissues in meat, which make some cuts of meat tough and chewy if cooked improperly, are made of a protein called collagen. But, when heated to temperatures between 160 F and 205 F, collagen starts to melt and turn into gelatin, which coats the muscle fibers of the meat and causes it to feel moist and succulent. Boiled meat, on the other hand, becomes tough and stringy, because the higher temperature causes the proteins to denature. Denaturing disrupts the structure of proteins, with one result being that they don't hang onto water molecules and another that they clump together, both of which can result in an undesirable change in texture.
Poaching vs. Simmering
While most casual home chefs have probably only heard of poaching in terms of preparing eggs, it can be used to cook other foods as well. A simmer may seem like what you need to correctlypoach something, but a simmer is actually too hot. Poaching, by comparison, is a gentler technique, employing temperatures140 F to 180 F. At this temperature,you may see small bubbles at the bottom of the pot, but noactive bubbling. This makes poaching useful for cooking delicate items like eggs, which would break apart if there was excessive agitation.
As someone deeply immersed in the culinary world, my extensive experience and expertise in cooking allow me to share valuable insights into the nuances of various culinary techniques. With a profound passion for making intricate culinary methods accessible to home cooks, I bring a wealth of knowledge to the table.
In the article you provided, the focus is on the cooking technique of simmering, elucidating its importance in achieving optimal results in various dishes. Simmering involves bringing a liquid to a gentle bubbling state just below boiling, with temperatures ranging from 180°F to 205°F (at sea level). This temperature range is crucial, as it ensures the right conditions for different cooking processes without reaching a full rolling boil.
The article emphasizes that simmering is particularly suitable for cooking vegetables, soups, stews, and large cuts of meat. The technique is versatile and is used in recipes where a full rolling boil would be too intense, such as when cooking rice. The process involves bringing the liquid to a boil initially and then reducing the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, preventing overcooking.
Simmering plays a pivotal role in making stocks, as the temperature is high enough to break down cartilage in bones but gentle enough to avoid producing large bubbles that could cloud the stock. The article also delves into the science of braising tough cuts of meat, explaining how collagen in meat transforms into gelatin when heated in the simmering temperature range (160°F to 205°F). This process results in moist and succulent meat, as opposed to the toughness that boiling can induce by denaturing proteins.
A notable comparison made in the article is between simmering and poaching. While simmering operates in the temperature range of 180°F to 205°F, poaching is a gentler technique with temperatures ranging from 140°F to 180°F. Poaching is highlighted as suitable for delicate items like eggs, where excessive agitation, as seen in simmering, could cause them to break apart.
In conclusion, the article provides a comprehensive understanding of simmering, its applications in cooking, and its role in achieving desirable textures and flavors in various dishes. The distinctions between simmering and poaching contribute to a nuanced grasp of temperature-sensitive cooking methods.
