Dinner in 30 minutes?

[Mike Nolan]

I've seen some softball sized onions that weighed over a pound.

[cwcdesign]

The Vidalia onions we get in the store, I always assume to be equal to 2-4 onions depending on whether the recipe calls for medium or large.

Regarding cooking time on the stovetop - this is in real time - when a recipe says to bring something to a boil and lower the heat to simmer, they often say to lower the temp to low - if I do that on my stove, it will just be warm water. I’m simmering some farro right now and it’s between medium and medium low. If I have to simmer a large quantity, I use medium.

But, the other day I made my favorite vegetable barley soup and you put the lid on for an hour - it was bubbling hard on low - can’t wait to get a new stove.

[Mike Nolan]

A heat diffuser, sometimes called a flame tamer, might help. They make them for gas, electric and induction ranges.

I find when I'm making something like a large batch of soup or stock, I can't get my gas range down low enough to produce a light simmer unless I use a diffuser. If I put it on simmer, that's too low, and while there's some ability to adjust it in between simmer and low, it has a tendency to down to simmer, so I use a diffuser and then low works. I have two different types, sometimes I need both.

I have a similar problem with the induction burner, but I don't have a diffuser for it yet. Newer standalone induction burners have more temperature settings, but I don't think they make ones that have continuous adjustments, at least not for the home market.

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