When you’re in a rush, it might feel like it takes forever to get a pan of water to boil.
But according to an Oxford University engineering professor, the key to speedy cooking is a bit of rocket science.
Dr Thomas Povey is an expert on jet and rocket engines, particularly the techniques used to manage and transfer engine heat in the most effective way.
Now he has brought the benefits of his knowledge to the nation’s kitchens, dreaming up a new saucepan design which knocks a minute off a boiled egg’s cooking time.
From start to finish, it would normally take around six minutes to boil an egg – three minutes for the water to boil plus another three minutes of cooking time.
But Dr Povey’s patented new design could reduce this by roughly a minute, which might prove useful for people who need to cook a quick meal in the morning. Called the Flare, the saucepan works best with gas hobs. It has a series of fins which direct flames quickly and evenly up the side of the pan, holding the heat far more effectively than traditional versions.
The main body is aluminium but the handles are made of stainless steel, so will not reach the same searing temperatures as the base.
Flare pans, which can also be used with electric, ceramic and halogen hobs, reach the right cooking temperature around 34 per cent faster – and use 28 per cent less energy than conventional pans.
The Oxford Professor of Engineering has now formed a partnership with Lakeland homewares to turn his prototype into a finished product. The new range will be available in the UK exclusively through the firm’s stores and website.
But the cost of joining the kitchen space age comes with some pretty galactic prices – the designs range from £49.99 for a milk pan to £59.99 for a ten-inch frying pan, £64.99 for a saucepan and £84.99 for a top-of-the-range stockpot.
Dr Povey said: ‘A lot of tests have been done comparing Flare pans to conventional saucepans and they have proved to be at least 30 per cent faster in coming to the boil.’
The pans go on sale next month starting at £49.99.
