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To Boil Green Vegetables

Boil green vegetables with salt and soda, then strain immediately.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Green Vegetables

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add salt and soda.

  2. Add the green vegetables to the boiling water with the lid off.

  3. Boil young vegetables for about 20 minutes and older vegetables for 35 to 40 minutes.

  4. Once tender, strain the vegetables immediately to prevent loss of flavor and color.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Green vegetables
Provide the main substance; cooking time depends on whether they are young or older.
Soda
Raises the water's alkalinity, which helps green vegetables keep their bright color during boiling.

The step that matters

Strain the vegetables as soon as they are tender. Vegetables keep cooking in their own residual heat, so leaving them in the water can make them overcooked, dull and soft. Draining promptly preserves texture, color and flavor.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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