This simple method consists of bringing water to the boil in a pan, before adding the food. You let it cook for a few minutes and then turn off the stove, leaving the pan on the heat source and covering it with a lid so that the food continues to cook.

It’s a trick that works particularly well with pasta. That’s why the Italian scientist Giorgio Parisi, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, has recently brought the idea back into fashion.

Far from going unnoticed, this idea has incurred the wrath of many of his fellow Italians. So much so that the media have referred to the affair as “pastagate.”

However, the controversy has not put Barilla off embracing the concept.

Since October, the famous Italian pasta brand has offered a passive cooking guide on the back of its packaging, indicating the exact cooking time for each of its products.

But the method does not only apply to pasta. It also works with rice, vegetables or lentils, even if the cooking times can be longer than with pasta.

Passive cooking is similar to the concept of the Norwegian cooker, sometimes called a heat-retained cooker or a haybox.

Developed in Norway at the end of the 19th century, it involves cooking food with a vessel or pot, then removing it from the heat after a few minutes and placing it in an insulated box, thus allowing the food to continue to cook for several hours.

You can make your own Norwegian cooker, for example, by using a box lined with straw or a box covered with a thick textile material (the perfect solution for recycling old coats!).