A lot of people eat soup. It's tasty, that's for damn sure. But not a lot of people inquire too deeply into the physics of soup, specifically, the process of heat exchange that is so essential to its hot deliciousness*.
Well, I thought about it. Here are my conclusions, presented in the form of a series of drawings. I think you will find the facts they present to be quite inescapable.
STAGE 1.
See how cold everything is. In the drawing, cold is represented by blue, tinging ever redder as it warms. You're not eating blue soup! Blue just signifies cold. This is a general feature of science-based drawings, so if you don't want to live your life in ignorance - get used to it.
STAGE 2.
Ignition. But ho!: everything's still cold! This is because heat exchange is a process. It takes time. Space and time, and heat. Physics.
STAGE 2 1/2.
The metal heats up quickly! See how the soup itself is still cold, through and through. Intriguing. We will watch this pot closely, if for no other reason than to test the validity of an old, dubious saw.
STAGE 3.
We now see the liquid medium ("broth") begin to warm. The heat rises, creating circular arrows. This is called The Bessemer Process.
STAGE 4.
The broth is now quite warm, but look how cold the ingredients still are! The requisite heat exchange has not yet occurred.
STAGE 5.
The broth is hot. The ingredients are beginning to warm. DON'T STOP! Look, see how some of the thicker ingredients are still cool in the center. Ugh! To bite into that!
STAGE 6.
Everything in this soup is hot. The broth is boiling! Time to turn the heat down, stir, let everything finish heating evenly.
STAGE 7.
Okay, this soup is now way too hot to eat. PERFECT. Serve. Careful! It's hot.
We now move from the province of hard science to the softer discipline of etiquette. But our conclusions here can be no less unyielding! Soup should always be served just a little too hot to eat. This allows the eater to control the temperature at which they wish to consume their soup - tentatively at first, perhaps. Blowing on shallow spoonsful. Then, with ever-increasing gusto and rapidity as the temperature nears their ideal "GO! FOR SOUP CONSUMPTION" window.
That's all there is to it. Okay, except I haven't done the drawings yet.
Well, you can probably just imagine. Pretend it's like the old days, everybody gathered around the radio cabinet. Sippin' on hot soup. Imagining the visuals.
6 comments:
I can't eat nor enjoy real hot food. Especially soup which takes time to cool down. But it's interesting to know the heating process. :)
I'm sorry to hear that you can't eat/enjoy hot food P.T.! Is it a temperature-sensitivity issue, or just you don't want to waste time waiting for it to cool? Either way - perhaps for you, a nice cool gazpacho is just the ticket!
Totes.
When are you going to get on twitter?
I've been reading Conan O'Brien's tweets, but as far as getting on there myself I don't know if I can swing another social media outlet commitment right now!
I was gonna say, where is the drawing?
You're funny Dogimo, but you forgot about the veggies +/or meat to cook till they're done:)
my son eats pizza and noodles cold - the worst thing is: he doesn't mind!
@jeannette- well, this is just heating soup! I should have specified, sorry. This is heating soup which has already been previously cooked!
Yeah, I was originally going to do a drawing for each stage. But then I was like, "My readers are smart!" I don't have to draw you a picture.
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