Along with steaming, blanching vegetables is a basic technique every cook should know. Briefly boiled and then plunged into ice water, these bright and tender-crisp vegetables may be used in crudité platters, salads, sushi rolls, and stir fries, or refrigerated or frozen for later use. Just about any vegetable can be blanched. Here's how…
What You Need
Ingredients
Vegetables
Water
Ice
Salt
Tools
Large bowl
Slotted spoon
Plate lined with a cloth or paper towel
Large pot
Cutting board and knife
Instructions
1. Have ready a large bowl of ice water (known as an ice bath), a slotted spoon, and a plate lined with a cloth or paper towel.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Doing this just before blanching prevents oxidation. Cut them into uniform pieces to ensure even cooking.
4. Just before blanching the vegetables, add couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water. Salt helps to maintain color and improve flavor, but it may be omitted if you wish.
5. Add the vegetables to the pot in small batches so that the water continues to boil. If blanching more than one type of vegetable, blanch each one separately and blanch lighter colored ones first, as darker colored ones will tinge the water and subsequent vegetables.
6. After about 30 seconds, test for doneness. Remove one piece, dip it into the bowl of ice water, and taste. Keep tasting every 30-60 seconds until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Most vegetables take between 2-5 minutes.
7. When the vegetables are done, quickly remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. (This is called "shocking.")
8. When the vegetables are completely cool, remove them from the ice bath and drain on the towel-lined plate.
Additional Notes:
• To cover or not to cover the pot? See Blanching Veggies with the Lid On or Off: Does It Make a Difference?
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(Images: Emily Ho)
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I started blanching and shocking when I began making pesto last summer, and have found, especially with greens and veggies that cook quickly, it's much easier to remove and shock veggies to put them into a colander and submerge the container into the boiling water. Helps get everything out neatly and quickly!
if salting your boiling water for flavor, also salt the ice water! otherwise, the simple rules of osmosis will remove most of the salt from the veggies while their in the ice bath.
*they're - sorry.
I'm still not exactly sure why one would blanch veggies for something like salads, etc...does it improve the flavor, or do they last longer?
Man, could we also have a post about how to julienne them so nicely? Those are very pretty, and mine never look like that.
Remember, blanching isn't used just to cook vegetables. I blanch to maintain flavor like basil in case you don't like brown pesto.
Blanching is great, it really makes a difference
heres another great article
http://www.guidery.com/article/view/how_to_blanch
You were right the first time. It's "their" bath, where "they're" not going to lose their salt from the cooking. And to have a place to put them after they come out of the ice bath — they'll be happy waiting "there." (And if you're salting your boiling water first, be sure you don't over salt.