Steaming and Boiling
Cooking Skills: Vegetables 1
Chapter 2 · Steaming and Boiling
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The basics
Boiling and steaming are the simplest ways to cook a vegetable, and the easiest to get wrong. Done well, they give bright colour, a little bite, and a clean flavour that you can then season. Done badly, they give grey, soggy vegetables. The skill is mostly timing and stopping at the right moment.
Boiling or steaming?
| Boiling | Steaming | |
|---|---|---|
| How it cooks | The vegetable sits in the hot water | The vegetable sits above the water, in the steam |
| Flavour and nutrients | Some vitamins (C and the B group) and flavour dissolve into the water | Less loss, because the vegetable isn't in the water |
| Speed | Fast: water is a very good heat carrier | A little slower |
| Best for | Leaves and greens in a big pan of salted water; root vegetables you will mash or glaze | Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, fish and anything delicate |
| Equipment | A big pan | A steamer basket or colander over a pan, with a lid |
If you do boil, use the cooking water: it is a stock in waiting for soups and gravy.
The rules that make the biggest difference
- Greens go into boiling water. A big pan of salted, rolling-boiling water cooks them fast, so they stay bright. Putting them into cold water and heating slowly makes them olive-grey.
- Roots start cold. Put carrots, parsnips and other dense roots in cold, salted water and bring to the boil, so the outside doesn't overcook before the middle is soft.
- Salt the water (about 1 teaspoon per litre). Salted water seasons the vegetable as it cooks. It is not about cooking faster.
- Cut to the same size so everything is done together. Cooking Skills: Knife Skills 1 shows how.
- Cook uncovered for green vegetables: the acids that escape in the steam would otherwise stay in the pan and dull the colour. Cover for steaming.
- Drain well, and serve straight away, or refresh in cold water if you are cooking ahead.
- Test, don't just time. Taste a piece a minute before the end.
Telling when it's done
Vegetables are done when a fork or sharp knife goes in with a little resistance (tender-crisp) or easily (soft), depending on the dish. Most green vegetables are best tender-crisp. Root vegetables for mashing or glazing should be soft.
Try it
Steamed broccoli with lemon
Steaming cooks the vegetable in the steam, not in the water, so less flavour and fewer vitamins wash away. All you need is a pan with a lid and a steamer basket or a colander that sits on top.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 200 g broccoli
- 1 tsp olive oil or butter
- ½ lemon, a squeeze of juice
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Cut the broccoli into florets of about the same size, and peel the tough skin from the stalk, then slice it into coins. Wash them.
- Put about 2 cm of water in the pan and bring it to the boil. Put the broccoli in the basket above the water (not touching it), cover, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Test a thick stalk piece with a fork or a taste. You want it bright green and just tender, with a little bite.
- Toss with the oil or butter, a squeeze of lemon and seasoning, and serve at once.
Boiled and refreshed green beans
Green vegetables in a large pan of salted boiling water stay bright. Dipping them in cold water afterwards (refreshing) stops the cooking, so you can cook ahead and warm them up in a minute.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 200 g green beans, topped
- 1 tbsp flaked almonds or seeds (optional)
- 1 tsp olive oil or butter
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- Fill a big pan with water, add about 1 teaspoon of salt to each litre, and bring to a rolling boil. Have a bowl of very cold water (with ice if you have it) ready.
- Cook the beans, uncovered, for 4 to 6 minutes, until tender but still with a snap.
- Drain, then plunge into the cold water for a minute. Drain again.
- To serve, warm the oil in a pan, toss in the beans and nuts for 1 to 2 minutes until hot, and season.
Glazed carrots
A classic: the carrots start cooking in a little water and butter, then the water boils away and leaves a shiny coating. It is boiling and finishing in one pan.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 300 g carrots
- 15 g butter
- 1 tsp sugar or honey
- 100 ml water
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley (optional)
- Peel or scrub the carrots and cut them into even slices, about 5 mm thick (or batons).
- Put them in a wide pan with the butter, sugar, salt and water. The water should come about halfway up the carrots.
- Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 8 to 12 minutes, until the carrots are just tender and the liquid has reduced to a glossy glaze.
- If the carrots are tender but still watery, turn the heat up and boil for a minute or two. Toss to coat, scatter with parsley and serve.
Buttered greens
Dark leafy greens are cooked for just a few minutes in a big pan. The trick is draining thoroughly, so they glisten rather than swim.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 250 g spring greens, cabbage or kale
- 10 g butter
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 1 pinch grated nutmeg (optional)
- Wash the leaves. Cut out any thick stalks and slice the leaves thinly.
- Boil a large pan of salted water. Add the greens and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still green.
- Drain in a colander, pressing with a spoon to squeeze out the water.
- Return to the warm pan with the butter, nutmeg and seasoning and stir until glossy.
Experiments
Salted or unsalted water
What does the salt do?
- Boil two small pans of water, one with 1 teaspoon of salt per litre and one with none.
- Cook a handful of green beans in each for 4 minutes and taste them with no extra seasoning.
Look for: The beans in the salted water taste seasoned all the way through. The unsalted ones taste flat, and you will want to add salt on top.
Lid on or lid off
Colour of green vegetables.
- Boil two pans of salted water and cook broccoli florets in each for 5 minutes, one with the lid on and one with it off.
- Compare the colours.
Look for: The covered pan tends to give a duller, more olive green. Uncovered stays brighter. Compare in daylight.
Cold start or boiling start
Roots in cold or hot water.
- Cut 2 carrots into the same slices. Put half in a pan of cold water and half into a pan of boiling water.
- Cook both until a knife goes in and compare the texture of the outside and the middle.
Look for: Cold-start slices cook more evenly. The boiling start can leave a softer outside and a firmer middle, especially with thick pieces.
Steamed or boiled
Side by side.
- Cook the same amount of broccoli, one steamed for 4 minutes and one boiled for 4 minutes.
- Compare flavour, colour and wateriness.
Look for: Steamed broccoli is often a little firmer and tastes more of itself. Boiled can be a little softer and more diluted. See which you prefer.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steamed broccoli | ||||
| Boiled and refreshed green beans | ||||
| Glazed carrots | ||||
| Buttered greens | ||||
| Salted vs unsalted | ||||
| Lid on vs off | ||||
| Cold vs boiling start | ||||
| Steam vs boil |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Grey-green, dull colour | Overcooked, or covered, or started in cold water | Cook less, uncovered, in boiling water; refresh in cold water |
| Soggy vegetables | Cooked too long, or not drained well | Taste a minute early; drain and shake or press dry |
| Raw middle, soft outside | Pieces different sizes, or roots started in boiling water | Cut evenly; start roots in cold water |
| Bland vegetables | Unsalted water | Salt the water; finish with butter, oil, lemon or herbs |
| Glaze won't set | Too much water | Turn up the heat and boil off the liquid, stirring |
Knife safety: cut on a stable board (a damp cloth underneath), tuck your guiding fingertips back (the claw), and cut round or slippery vegetables on a flat face so they can't roll. A sharp knife is safer than a blunt one. Never catch a falling knife. Cooking Skills: Knife Skills 1 covers all of this.
Leftovers: cool cooked vegetables quickly (within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once.
- I know to put greens into boiling water and roots into cold.
- I can salt the water and cut vegetables to an even size.
- I can test for tender-crisp and stop the cooking by refreshing.
- I can make a simple glaze.
- I know when steaming is better than boiling.