Shelf · Water & steam · Low heat
Double boiler
Setting a bowl over — never in — a pan of simmering water, and heating its contents through the steam.
- The temperature band
- The liquid · 60 to 80 °C
Why it works
The bowl can never get hotter than the water below it, so it is physically incapable of scorching. That ceiling is the whole tool: chocolate and custards sit in a narrow window between set and ruined, and a direct flame blows straight through it.
The tell
The contents warm slowly and evenly, and the bowl stays comfortable to touch at the rim.
No ladder here: the cue is a temperature under your hand, not a shape in front of your eye.
How it fails
Water touching the bowl base, or a hard boil below, pushes past the safe window and chocolate seizes or eggs scramble. Keep the water at a bare simmer and the bowl clear of it — and keep every drop of water out of melting chocolate.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
Learning is free on every plan.