I felt in the need for something easy and warm this evening, so I cooked (meaning "heated up") a batch of store brand, frozen mini cheese raviolis for supper. I've head them before, but today I happened to pay more attention to the preparation instructions.
Bring 4 quarts of water for every pound of pasta to a rolling boil. Add frozen pasta to the boiling water. Once the water and pasta return to a rolling boil reduce the heat to low and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Simmer for approximately 4-5 minutes, until pasta floats or to desired tenderness. Drain pasta and serve with your favorite sauce.
So far, so good. I basically ignore all that and just set a timer for 5 minutes after I drop the raviolis into the boiling water, but ... whatever works. But after the cooking instrructions I found this gem:
FOR FOOD SAFETY, COOK TO AN INTERNAL TEMPERATURE OF 165* F.
NOTE: COOKING EQUIPMENT MAY VARY AND COOK TIME MAY REQUIRE ADJUSTING.
Really? 165 degrees for pasta and Ricotta cheese? And how am I supposed to measure that -- pull one out of the pot after 4 minutes and stick a meat thermometer into its cheesy little heart?
How much variation can there be in cooking equipment when the instructions say "boil"? I know the boiling temperature varies with altitude, but boiling is boiling. They didn't say to bring the water to 212 degrees F -- they said "rolling boil." And then they said "simmer."
I suppose the product liability lawyers tell them they have to say something, but that something could at least be something slightly related to the actual process involved.