3 Reasons Why Cooking With Soft Water Is Better
Do you consider yourself a foodie or simply someone who loves to enjoy quality food at home? We have good news: Getting clean, soft water can majorly upgrade your home-cooked food! While it might seem obvious that clean water lends itself to better food, here’s how it can affect all your dishes at home. IMPROVED TASTE In New York City, some people credit the hard tap water for the city’s famous, delicious pizza dough. While this may be true, the truth is that too hard of water can lead to stiffer dough, not better dough. When you cook with soft, filtered water, you’ll get food that’s free from minerals, which leads to more intense flavor from your ingredients. There’s a reason why Michelin star restaurants often serve and prepare with filtered water! BETTER, SAFER VEGETABLES Soft water makes vegetables not only easier to cook but also tastier! As mentioned, the minerals in hard water can often add a layer of flavor. Hard water also slows down the cooking process
because it can make your vegetables tougher. This may lead you to overcook your vegetables until they’re blander than they have to be. Cooking vegetables with soft water will be quicker while producing better taste and texture. MORE FLAVORFUL LIQUIDS When it comes to creating flavor in a cold drink or stock, hard water can’t absorb new flavors because it’s already stuffed with minerals and other impurities. If you’ve ever brewed iced tea, you may notice that hard water turns your tea cloudy after cooling down. Soft water doesn’t do that because it’s much cleaner and more effective at absorbing new flavors. One of the first things a homeowner will notice about their new water filtration system is that their coffee and tea tastes significantly better! This applies to your sauces, stocks, and gravies as well. Want to start upgrading your home cooking today? Give your local water experts at Watercure USA a call to get a free water testing appointment!
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The only problem with a Lyle gun is that your first shot really matters. If you miss, it takes a few minutes before you can fire again — and in the heat of battle, seconds mean everything. That’s why I trained every crew member on how to use the Lyle gun, hid the Lyle gun’s position on deck, and painted a discrete stripe on the deck that we referred to as “Lyle’s Death.” If an encroaching pirate were to cross that line, our crew would know to fire, and it was unbelievably effective at clearing an area. (Side note: Part of my inspiration for using a Lyle gun this way was the story of New York’s cannon artillery group that fought in the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg, specifically during Pickett’s Charge. Despite the Confederacy technically breaching the Union line, they couldn’t hold it due to the cannon fire.) Another method we developed involved life rafts. They’re usually in recognizable cylinder containers, but if you were to paint any other steel drum the same way, you’d think it’s a nonthreatening life raft container. That’s how we set up deceptive steel drums along the sides of our tanker, which did not have life rafts but diesel fuel.
our tanker more dangerous to climb, but it would also eliminate oxygen for boarding pirates.
It might seem cruel to some people that these measures would be necessary. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no amount of discussion that would stop a pirate attack — we were the Moby Dick to their whale hunt. Vigilance was extremely important to save as many lives on both sides as possible, and, should the worst come to pass, it was crucial for us to use our resources to stay alive. That’s why we designed and trained our crew on all our defenses so that if I or the senior officer were taken out, the men could still have the confidence and systems to keep themselves safe. Overall, we estimated that we could handle groups of 30–40 pirates at a time, and, thankfully, we never were attacked by groups of pirates larger than that. Merchant ships today may not need these improvised systems, since merchant ships are finally allowed to carry their own security detail. However, in my years as a captain, we found them very effective — and I can proudly say we never lost a single crew member’s life on board. –Captain Lance
Because diesel ignites so quickly and isn’t explosive, it was a perfect way of setting the sides of our ship ablaze. Not only would the fire make
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LANCE: 716-912-9939
DREW: 716-946-3598
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