Cooking Techniques | Double Boil vs Bain Marie

Chef Jodie talks you through two cooking techniques, the double boiler and the bain marie and their differences.
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[@derrickmancini4118]

The difference is that double boiler is always done with a heating source at boiling water temperature, and the condensation of the steam on the upper pot transfers heat to the food, but the upper pot can be exposed to temperatures close to boiling; while a bain marie places the second pot or container in the directly heated water, which can be at boiling, but can also be at lower temperatures: this allows extremely slow, gentle heating (heat transfer rate from steam condensation is much higher than from direct liquid contact), and the heating liquid can be held at temperatures below boiling, ensuring the upper pot is never exposed to higher temperatures. As a corollary, applying more-or-less source heat to a double boiler can control the heating rate while exposing to temperature of boiling water, while for a bain marie you can also control the temperature you expose the food to. Hence, the former is good for bringing something up to a temperature, but the latter can be very good for safely holding something at a lower temperature for extended times.

[@niedarle]

Thank you so much for this nice explination, I finally understand it!

[@marzsit9833]

there does seem to be a lot of confusion between the 2 techniques, i frequently see videos about bain marie cooking but they are actually doing a double-boiler....

[@Diddi150]

YES, me too.

[@aprilmeowmeow]

Yep, lots of people get it confused. Even what seem to be pretty educated cooks. I'm guessing it's because of the "water bath" moniker. People see a double boiler which, yeah, seems like a water bath, and also want to use the fancy term... lol

[@Diddi150]

This is the greatest video I found on this topic. Thank you very much.

[@VivecookingschoolAu]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tasxou5470]

Thank you :-)

[@DCFunBud]

It is interesting that you used the double boiler off the heat.

[@Melody-en6xn]

Does it matter if the bottom of the pot touches the water or not?

[@jean-luctan2253]

For the double boil method, if the bottom of your bowl touches the water it means that you will conduct a higher heat to your bowl and it's likely your bowl bottom will be hotter than the side resulting in uneven cooking. If you work with chocolate or a product that contains fat, it's a good idea to have an even and gentler heat as you may run the risk to split the fat. So try to avoid the boiling water to touch the bottom of your bowl. :)

[@derrickmancini4118]

@@jean-luctan2253 actually, it is somewhat the opposite. if you are boiling the water, you get better heat transfer (higher heat) when you don't touch the water, since condensation of steam transfers heat better than convection in liquid, but you can control the rate of heating by how hard you are boiling (reducing steam produced)

[@toiletpapermatters698]

Is the water touching the second pan? An important detail you forgot to add.

[@coeruleo]

yes. the inside pot is sitting on the bottom of the boiling pan on the bain marie method.

[@coeruleo]

for the double boiler, the water is below the bottom of the melting pan and steam is melting the chocolate. otherwise water could splash out. if your pan does touch the boiling water without making a mess, it will be ok. i've done it both ways, depending on how mine fit. now that i have an actual double boiler set, the top pan does not touch the water and it is just steam heating the inside pan. like a veggie steamer, just no holes in the bottom of the inside pan.