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Cooking encyclopedia Techniques

Blanching

Also called parboiling

Brief cooking in heavily boiling water, usually followed by cooling.

100 °C (212 °F)

What it is

Use far more water than food so the temperature barely dips when the food goes in. Salt it properly. Lift the food out while it still has bite, and cool it if you are not serving it immediately.

Why it works

A short, very hot bath sets colour by driving out the air trapped in plant tissue, and stops the enzymes that would otherwise dull and soften the vegetable. Cooling immediately stops the cooking that residual heat would continue.

When to use it

Green vegetables before freezing or dressing; loosening tomato and peach skins; taming raw onion or garlic; par-cooking potatoes before roasting.

What goes wrong

Too little water, so the boil stalls and the vegetable stews grey; leaving food in the cooling water long enough to go soggy; forgetting to dry it before it meets hot fat.

Meridian cooking encyclopedia — Watchman Productions

More on this shelf

  • Blooming spices Heating spices briefly in fat or a dry pan to release their aroma before they meet anything else.
  • Braising Browning, then cooking slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
  • Deep-frying Cooking fully submerged in hot fat, usually 160–190 °C.
  • Deglazing Dissolving the browned residue in a pan with liquid, to turn it into sauce.
  • Emulsifying Dispersing fat and water into each other so they behave as one smooth sauce.
  • Grilling Cooking over or under direct radiant heat, close to the source.
  • Poaching Cooking submerged in liquid held below a simmer, around 70–85 °C.
  • Reducing Simmering a liquid uncovered to evaporate water and concentrate what is left.
  • Resting meat Leaving cooked meat off the heat before cutting it.
  • Roasting Cooking in dry oven heat, uncovered, so the surface browns while the inside cooks.
  • Sautéing Cooking small or thin pieces quickly in a little fat over fairly high heat, moving them often.
  • Searing Cooking a surface hard and fast to brown it, before or after the inside is cooked.