Once upon a time, cooking of vegetables was apt to be a two-part process. First, Grandmother parboiled the vegetable. Then came Step II, when the real cooking took place: creaming, mashing, soufflé, au gratin.

Today we tend to stop with the parboil operation. This is not only - or even primarily - because of time constraints. The world now seems to think that simply cooked vegetables taste better, and retain more of their nutritive goodness. This kinder, gentler cooking is both challenge and opportunity for the busy home cook.

A Note on Tasting:
Don’t Fight the Vegetables

For any method that you use, for whatever vegetable, be guided finally by taste.

The stock market has produced the mantra: Don’t fight the tape. This is a warning not to hold preconceived notions too stubbornly. If you have figured that the market should go up, but see stock after stock going by in a downward direction, put your concept on hold for the moment and watch what the tape is telling you.

So with vegetables. If you think a potato should be done in 20 minutes, and it doesn’t taste cooked, believe the potato. It will always be right.

A Note on Methods

Steaming

Steaming is a convenient general purpose method for many vegetables. For small quantities, it is not necessary to drag out the large, stacked steamer. A simple steaming basket, with the folding perforated wings, works well.

Pan-Steaming

Bite-size pieces of quick-cooking vegetables are candidates for pan-steaming. These include cauliflower, tiny boiling onions, and broccoli.

The vegetables are placed in a sauté pan, in a single layer, not too crowded. A film of water is added, the pan covered, and the water brought to a vigorous boil.

The method is quick. As defined by the Culinary Institute, it is different from braising, discussed below, in the small amount of water used and the vigor of the steaming. Rapidity of the action means that acids which cause discoloration do not have time to affect green vegetables. The residual liquid may be poured over the vegetables to moisten them and also to preserve nutrients.

Braising

Here liquid is brought half way up the vegetable, the pan covered, and the vegetables gently cooked until done.

Julia Child (The Way to Cook) uses the term boil-steam for this kind of braising, done on the stove. (Braising may also be done in a covered pot in the oven.) She identifies carrots, turnips, rutabagas, beets, and winter squash, as well as green peas and onions, as candidates for pan-braising. She thinks that carrots respond especially well. I have also often cooked potatoes this way.

During cooking, you control the amount of liquid remaining at the end. If you end with very little liquid, nearly all flavor and nutrients can be added back into the vegetables. If you end with substantial liquid, you may reserve for other uses such as dressing, stew, or stock pot.

Rapid Pan-Steaming

Many years ago, in a 1969 publication of Sunset Magazine, I read of a method for rapid pan-steaming, which the authors proposed for all vegetables.

This is for the brave because you start by heating a cast iron or stainless steel pan without any liquid in it.

You test as for a waffle iron, and when a drop of liquid hops around the pan, you do the following: place vegetables in pan, add a small quantity of water, press the cover down tightly. Immediately a great cloud of steam engulfs the vegetables.

I was intrigued and tried various vegetables, from carrots to green beans to zucchini, using the times suggested, a very few minutes. It worked! Sliced carrots were especially surprising, retaining a marvelous fresh taste with a brief cooking time.

In spite of those happy experiences, I fell away from the fold of rapid steamers, due to nervousness. A new and nervous cook, newly and nervously married, too often I feared that my attention might be diverted while the pan was heating. I might return to find the pan a molten blob while the vegetables wafted gently skyward in wisps of metallic smoke.

Pan-steaming and braising are similar, but less aggressive methods. I am surprised that rapid-steaming has not been more generally reported in cookbooks. For those who dare, and value fresh vegetable flavors, the method certainly deserves more attention than it seems to have gotten.

Stir Fry

This is a general method that has found favor with many. Heat plain cooking oil first so that it thins. Add vegetable and cook briefly. Sometimes stir-frying first, then pan-steaming, as recommended in some Chinese recipes, can be used to good effect. That is, the combination produces a nutty quality missing in pan-steaming (braising) alone.

Toaster Oven

This produces the opposite effect of the water-based methods above, a totally dry heat. The toaster oven is extremely useful for small quantities of certain vegetables, notably mushrooms and roasted red peppers. Zucchini, or even thin egg plant slices, may be done in this way.