On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 553
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There are many different ways of cooking
vegetablesandfruits.Whatfollowsisabrief
outline of the most common methods and
theirgeneraleffects.Theycanbedividedinto
threegroups:moistmethodsthattransferheat
by means of water; dry methods that transfer
heatbymeansofair,oil,orinfraredradiation;
andamoremiscellaneousgroupthatincludes
ways of restructuring the food, either turning
it into a fluid version of itself, or extracting
theessenceofitsflavororcolor.
HotWater:Boiling,Steaming,
Pressure-Cooking
Boilingandsteamingarethesimplest
methodsforcookingvegetables,becausethey
requirenojudgmentofcookingtemperature:
whetherwaterisboilingonahighflameor
low,itstemperatureis212ºF/100ºC(nearsea
level,withpredictablylowertemperaturesat
higherelevations).Andbecausehotwaterand
steamareexcellentcarriersofheat,theseare
efficientmethodsaswell,idealfortherapid
cookingofgreenvegetablesthatminimizes
theirlossofcolor(p.280).Oneimportant
differenceisthathotwaterdissolvesand
extractssomepectinandcalciumfromcell
walls,whilesteamingleavestheminplace:so
boilingwillsoftenvegetablesfasterandmore
thoroughly.
Boiling In the case of boiling green
vegetables, it’s good to know the pH and
dissolved mineral content of your cooking
water. Ideally it should be neutral or just
slightly alkaline (pH 7–8), and not too hard,
because acidity dulls chlorophyll, and acidity
and calcium both slow softening and so
prolong the cooking. A large volume of
rapidlyboilingwaterwillmaintainaboileven
after the cold vegetables are added, cut into
piecessmallenoughtocookthroughinabout
five minutes. Salt in the cooking water at
