@andycarolan My pleasure. I worried in my explanation that I implied that somehow ‘extraction’ is in some way inferior to ‘cooking’ when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It can be wildly complex. For example, cold brewing espresso will likely never work well because the fine grind lets the water easily extract flavor compounds that no one wants to taste, whereas a coarser grind makes the job tougher because the larger granules means more surface area to soak into.

@andycarolan Basically no. Cold brewing coffee is extraction, not cooking. Increased temperature speeds up the same *basic* process that occurs at room ( or lower) temperatures (though heat’s more efficient at pulling out more bitter substances that we might not want) . The heat in boiling pasta actually converts the starches in the pasta to a different structure which makes the al dente texture possible. Moisture isn’t enough. The heat has to be there too.