Quotes from a Salad Master dealer

Quotes from a salad master rep who has been convinced that by turning down the heat you can create a vacuum. Regardless of all the facts and proof she still believes that the old fashioned method of waterless cooking retains all the vitamins.

‘And yes Mister Science that allows a semi-vacuum to be created after the temp has been turned to low.’ ‘Pretty much any pan that has a lid that seals well will go into a semi vacuum when the heat is turned down! Steam whistle is 232 (‘steam’ under pressure – 232. When you turn to low of course the heat drops! I never implied it didn’t. THAT is when a semi vacuum or vacuum is created. ‘

‘However we can cook well below steam in Saladmaster. 45 degrees below in fact.’

Here is the real facts.
Steam comes to 100 degrees. (212 Fahrenheit)
When you turn down the heat there is still the same heat inside.
As the steam is escaping through the flutter valves in the lids there is no pressure therefore there is no increase in the pressure like you can get with pressure cookers.

To create a partial vacuum the pan must be removed from the burner or the heat turned completely off. As the pan starts to cool the air wants to return to the pan and as the lid is completely sealed the air cannot, thus creating the vacuum effect. Remember that old magic trick to get a boiled egg into a bottle? A similar concept. Throw a lit match into a bottle and place a peeled hard boiled egg on top. When the match goes out the air wants to go back into the bottle then sucking the egg into the bottle. We did this in science class when I was a child.

If you boil water on top of a high mountain, the water will come to a boil at a lower temperature. This is due to the lack of pressure in the air. We use this same concept in vacuum cooking. By creating a partial vacuum the temperature inside the pan does not exceed 73 degrees (163 Fahrenheit). If we just turn down the heat the pan will still be filled with steam and steam is 100 degrees or more.

Regardless of how hard I tried to explain this to this Salad Master rep she is convinced otherwise and brainwashed to believe turning down the heat will create a vacuum in her pan.