Why Is My Cooking So Slow?

How is it possible that whenever I cook food, it takes much longer than anyone else doing the same cooking? I don't mean the preparation part, I mean the time things need to be in a kettle of boiling water.

It takes me at least 30 minutes to make a hard-boiled egg. Boiling potatoes takes so long I don't even set a timer for it, since they can easily boil for several HOURS before they're properly cooked. How is this possible, and why is this happening?

Do you live in a high elevation?

Either your stove is broken/old/shitty or you aren't using it the right way.
Tell us what stove, appliances, heat settings etc. you're using.

Thanks for the quick replies.

No, almost at sea level actually.

I have lived in three houses, one of which even had a gas stove instead of electric. I usually use the setting 3/6, but isn't the water boiling already sufficient temperature for cooking?

It's interesting that potato would take so long to boil since the water is boiling anyway.

Maybe you only get really resilient cultivars of potato where you live? Such a strange issue.

Like I take forever to cook things, that's just because I'm slow as shit.

once you add things to the pan the pan will lose heat

if you add things to boiling water and it continues to boil then that isn't the issue

you can try to cut potatoes into smaller pieces and they will cook faster and more evenly but eggs will hardboil if you put them in cold water and bring to boil and then turn off heat immediately and let them sit for ~12 minutes

right now I think the most likely explanation is that your perception of time is wrong

So you're saying that the water is at a 100°C, it is bubbling and steaming, you plop in your egg, and then it takes 30 minutes to get hard?
That's physically impossible. There must be something that you are not telling us.

I've had at least two kinds of potatoes - I know because some of them have become mush while others have cooked properly.

>eggs will hardboil if you put them in cold water and bring to boil and then turn off heat immediately and let them sit for ~12 minutes

I didn't know that. I always put the eggs in cold water, turned on the heat to the max until it starts boiling after five minutes, and then let it boil on 3/6 heat for 25 minutes more. Does it really get hard quicker if the water isn't heated during that time?

Also, I thought you were supposed to flush the eggs with cold water right after cooking them so the shells would come off easily.

Maybe you just have a different perception on when things are done, for example when potatoes are soft or when an egg is hard.

What country do you live in OP

I've thought of that too, but my main requirement is being able to cut the eggs with a slicer like this one.

Finland.

Sounds weird.
Try as mentioned above the 12 minute method. Time it with your cell phone, once the alarm goes off, tip the hot water out and replace it with cold tap water a few times to cool the eggs then peel and slice them.

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how big are your potatoes? cut them up into smaller chunks, I find just under 1 inch cubes cook in about 15 mins for soft varieties. How are you boiling your water? is it tiny little bubbles that don't raise of the bottom of the pan or a rolling boil where the surface of the water rises by an inch or two from the volume of the bubbles? Do you live on the edge of space? Do you just have a fucked sense of texture and your judgement of "cooked" is very different to everyone else's?

execute all fins

Test done! Apparently having the temperature on for the 12 minutes didn't matter, but the result still wasn't as hard as well-done eggs tend to be.

I consider water to be the properly boiling when large bubbles rapidly form in all depths of the liquid. Although I admittedly use the biggest potatoes I can find, as it means less peeling for the same mass of food.

When boiling an egg, do not wait for the water to boil before putting in the egg.

Put the egg in the cold water when you put the it on the stove and turn on the burner. When it gets to boiling, turn off the heat and cover. After a few minutes, typically about 6 at sea level, cool off the egg and peel it.

I repeat -- do not start the egg in boiling water.

I would bet that his "boil" is what we would call a "simmer".

Do you boil the potato whole or do you cut it into chunks or slices?

I usually slice mine about 1/8 to 1/6 inch thick. At my elevation, the boiling point of water is low enough that it takes a while to boil.

Figure about half a degree lower for the boiling point of water per 500 feet in elevation. Also, the more salt you add, the more it raises the boiling point.

In New York, they have a thing called salt potatoes where they cook small new potatoes in a boiling brine (i.e. as much salt as the water can dissolve) and then eat with butter.

I did add the eggs to the cold water right from the start even in the test. Speaking of cooling the egg, does it also harden WHILE cooling, as in does it matter that I peeled and ate the test egg after just one minute in cold water?

I also do all the boiling with the lid on.

No, it really is as hot as the water gets, steaming and bubbling out of the kettle.

Whole potatoes. I peel them afterwards, which is why I've never salted the water either.

normally I only lurk but OP is fucking weird. Where did your sense of adventure & experimentation go? If this happened to me I would be buying all kinds of weird shit to boil an egg as fast as possible.

that's why your potatoes take forever to cook you mong, you're not supposed to boil whole potatoes, they cook much faster if you cut them up.

After trying to put the eggs in cold and boiling water and now trying to turn off the heat when the water started boiling, I don't know what else I could try.

Whole boiled potatoes like the pic related is how Finns have made them for all my lifetime, and apparently no one else needs to cut them before boiling.

>the difference is size between them.

wash your dishes wtf

shows what you know, they have containers for microwaving eggs that takes only a few minutes and they taste just the same.

1) Boil water first, keep boiling for entire operation
2) drop in eggs
3) set timer for doneness:
--A) soft boiled = 6:30
--B) medium = 7:00
--C) hard = 7:30
--D) well done = 8
4) Remove from boiling water and drop into ice bath for a few minutes
5) peel and serve

That IS a hard boiled egg m80.
The yolk isn't runny anymore.
It's just not rock hard.

No kidding.

"Why does it take almost 20 minutes to get my egg yolks green?"

op confirmed for overcooking and not dicing his potatoes