The blog of cooking-ez.com

Double cooking of vegetables


Double cooking of vegetables
When you cook vegetables, it's not easy to capture and preserve the flavours.
It is easy to undercook, but you can make up for it, or overcook, and then it is unfortunately a bit cooked (in the sense of "ruined").
But above all, how to get the maximum of the taste of the vegetable in the pan, then in your plate, and not in the air of the kitchen or the cooking water?
It's not easy, many cooks will tell you that cooking meat is relatively simple, but that vegetables...
15K 15 3.3
Grade this page:

Last modified on: July 12th 2019

Keywords for this post:CookingVegetablesBoiling waterSaltDoubleTip
Double cooking of vegetables
Add to all this that, in addition, it is difficult to generalize, that is to say that for such and such a vegetable it is better to do like this while for others it is better to do like that.

Insoluble?
No, not exactly, in fact there is a method that gives very good results for almost all vegetables, it is the double cooking.

How does it work?
The general principle is that we cook a first time in boiling salted water (cooking called"A l'anglaise", by the French), then a second cooking with a little fat, butter or oil for example according to your taste. This double cooking, even if it is a little longer, is the quasi insurance of a taste of the vegetable revealed and preserved.

But rather than discuss it, I'll take an example with Brussels sprouts, which are tasty vegetables (but that it is easy to completely mess them up by overcooking them, like at the canteen when you were little).

The double cooking of Brussels sprouts
1) Peel and wash

lavage et découpe choux de bruxelles


Peel, cut in 4 if the cabbages are big to have pieces not bigger than a sugar cube, and wash with water.


2) First cooking

première cuisson


The cabbages are plunged into a large volume of salted water (1 tablespoon of coarse salt per litre of water), and cooked until they are tender, but not melting, it is very important

3) Cool quickly

légumes refroidis et égouttés


Remove the cabbages from the cooking water with a skimmer and plunge them into very cold water, to stop cooking immediately, then drain carefully.

Note that the cooking water at this point is no longer simple salt water, it is already starting to be a vegetable broth, and you should keep it in the fridge after cooling, for other cooking of other vegetables.

4) Second cooking

Deuxième cuisson


In a saucepan or a frying pan, heat a large knob of butter or a little olive oil, once hot, add a finely chopped shallot, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute, without colouring. Then add the vegetables, well drained, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, hardly more. Serve immediately.

If you don't know, or have never practiced, you might be very surprised by the delicate taste of the vegetables treated this way. Making for example a dish with 3 or 4 different vegetables, in season, with this method, will give you a rather simple dish, just vegetables, but also exceptional in taste and finesse.

Some more info-
For an even more delicate taste, use instead of boiling water, a vegetable or poultry stock.
- For the seasoning, just salt and pepper you have seen, but some finesse is quite possible, like a little fleur de sel just before serving, or a sophisticated pepper.
- Obviously, and as always, it is much better with seasonal vegetables.

To sum up: The next time you have vegetables to cook, try the double cooking, boiling salted water, then pass in shallot, or onion, sautéed in butter or olive oil.

Back to top of page

Lasts posts
Divide and weigh dough into regular pieces
Divide and weigh dough into regular pieces
When you prepare dough for cupcakes in a pastry shop or bakery, at some point you're going to have to divide it, i.e. cut it into small pieces, which should all have the same weight. Sounds simple enough, but is it really that simple?
5735 May 30th 2023
How to sprinkle well?
How to sprinkle well?
When in a recipe you need to sprinkle something, that is to say to spread a fine layer of powder (flour, sugar, etc.) on something, powdered sugar on a pie for example, you will probably use a fine strainer or a sieve, this is the best way to proceed. But is that all?
7565 May 23th 2023
How to properly roll out a pie crust?
How to properly roll out a pie crust?
Very often in pastry making, you have to roll out a pastry before using it for a pie or another dessert. At home, of course, you get out your rolling pin and simply roll it out. Is there a way to get an evenly rolled out dough? That's what we will see in this article.
1,1354.8 May 10th 2023
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
You've probably already noticed that at the end of a pizza meal, at least half of the participants have left the crusts in the boxes or on the plates that many don't eat. Naturally, one would tend to put them "to the birds", or worse, to throw them away, and it's a shame because they are in fact...
1,8604.8 April 22th 2023
The long fermentation of bread
The long fermentation of bread
I had already told you in a previous article about the delicious little alchemy that happens when we make bread, let's try to go a little further this time, and try to discover what makes a good bread, in other words, which has taste. .
2,0464.8 April 13th 2023
Other pages you may also like
Chive flowers
Chive flowers
Did you know that? Chive flowers are not only a beautiful purple color, but they are also edible and delicious.
39K4.1 May 29th 2019
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
110K 13.9 February 7th 2017
85 grams of eggs?
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...
42K4.4 November 26th 2018
The right weight of pastry for a pie
The right weight of pastry for a pie
Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...
50K4.0 March 20th 2020
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...
60K3.5 March 6th 2013
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page