On the Food network they boil potatoes, but they poach carrots. They poach turkey, but they boil eggs. They sauté’ onions, but they fry eggs in the same pan. Likewise, they fry hash browns, but they sauté’ onions in the same pan before adding the potatoes.
I can go on for days.
Well a quick one is poaching vs boiling because it’s actually based on the water temperature itself. Boiling happens when water reaches its boiling point of 212°F where liquid water bubbles heavily and is at its hottest point. You’d cook things like pasta in this. Poaching is at a substantially cooler temperature of around 120°-180°F where you have smaller bubbles for a much gentler cook. You’d use delicate foods like shell-less eggs or fish or potatoes you don’t want to overcook or break. In between that you have a simmer, which is usually used to render a dish without overcooking it.
Frying usually means you are coating something pretty heavily in oils/fats which can be done to the point of immersion via deep frying. Fried ingredients typically need to sit longer to get a crust. Sautéing is a dryer way of cooking with oil where you use just a little to coat the ingredients and hit them with consistent heat and movement. This keeps things like vegetables from burning while still getting a good texture and flavor from the heat.
All good but I’d just like to point something out.
When you boil pasta you’re actually hydrating it, and it’s a process that occurs above 80C, you don’t need water to be boiling savagely.
In fact, it’s preferable to let pasta simmer, as full boiling is a bit too “violent” and tends to damage most kinds of pasta.
You know, when some pieces are broken and torn like when it’s overcooked? You can avoid that by keeping the temperature low.
Some people in Italy even turn the fire off after the water has started boiling ,as the water is hot enough to cook the pasta and keep it nice and firm.
You’re correct but it begs the question, why the hell would they poach carrots? If any vegetable can stand up to boiling it’s a carrot. Blanching I could see, (that’s a 2 minute dunk in boiling water, OP, with a quick cooldown) if you wanted to pre-cook them so they wouldn’t be harder than everything else. Maybe they were just being poncy.
Well it depends on the texture you are going for. A poached carrot will still have a little crunch and not be too soggy so they can pair well as a side dish or be a component that’s meant to stand out. Boiled carrots can lose a lot of flavor and texture since they’d be cooked too close to the core, meaning you wouldn’t serve them as a side dish or as the star of a dish. They’d instead impart their flavor and texture into things like soups or broths.
Firstly, I appreciate you breaking it down! I knew they were different terms, but never really knew them outside of the standard ‘poached eggs’.
Secondly, soggy carrots can get bent. If it doesn’t crunch it’s not for me.
Happy to help! It’s something I got frustrated with when I started cooking and wondered why my food turned out different than the times I’d ordered it or how the recipe made it seem.
Ah I wish I loved carrots. Sadly too much carrot flavor makes me feel sick and I’m not sure why. The crunch from a fresh one is immaculate. It’s unfair lol