Cooking by Color: Vegetables

You know when you were little and you were taught to never judge a person based on the way they looked? Well that rule still applies. When it comes to vegetables, however, all bets are off.

I am not sure how many of you watch some of these cooking competitions on TV where chefs are given an item or a basket of items out of which they are to compose a meal, and every so often they look at one of those items and go, "I don't know how I'm going to do this. I've never worked with [item x] before." Then seemingly, through some kind of TV magic, they end up turning out a decent meal. Well, after this post, you can consider yourself one step closer to hosting and dominating your own episode of Chopped.

So let's begin:

• Green: What makes a vegetable green? Chlorophyll. What is chlorophyll? A pigment/acid that converts sunlight (heat) into energy for plants. And what happens if plants get too much sunlight without enough water? They turn brown. Therefore, green vegetables are extremely sensitive to heat. So what does this tell us about the best way to cook them? In order to obtain that bright, almost fake, green color you need to blanch them in a large, heavily salted pot of boiling water. The key here is to make sure you have more than enough room and water for the vegetables. Why? As soon as you throw the veggies into the heat they begin to excrete the chlorophyll (which is acidic). The water helps to dilute the acid and prevents it from turning the vegetables brown. So once you've cooked your vegetables to your desired point, you can them shock them in an ice bath to stop them from cooking any further. This process would actually be great for making meals ahead of time because after we did this in class we briefly sautéed them with garlic and oil and then served them. So you could blanch and shock your vegetables earlier in the day, put them aside, and then once you're ready to serve, quickly sauté them. Sautéing them for the entire cook time would turn them brown. Steaming them is also an alternative ideal for similar reasons. 

• Red-orange: These vegetables are fat soluble, meaning they break down when cooked in fat. You can simmer a pot of tomato sauce for hours and it will retain its bright red color, but sautéing red/orange/yellow peppers for tacos will break them down and they will begin to turn brown. There is no best way to cook these vegetables because it really depends on what you are trying to do with them. You may want them to turn brown (i.e. for brown sauces served with many red meat dishes) in which case you now know you'll need high heat and some fat!

• Blue-red: These are more along the lines of raspberries, blueberries, red cabbage, and the like. These guys are sensitive to alkaline and will turn color, break down, and sometimes taste funny if not exposed to acid. Ever have blueberry pancakes and notice green/blue rings around wherever the blueberries are placed? Well think about how pancakes are made ... flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, etc. Baking powder is alkaline (when mixed with the acid in the milk it makes your pancakes rise!) so when it comes into contact with your blueberries, it begins to break them down causing those rings to form (and can sometimes break them down to the point where they have this chewy texture and funny aftertaste). So whenever you are preparing your mixed berry salad or boiling a pot of red cabbage for dinner, add some acid (i.e. lemon juice) to keep them intact and retain their color. (For the pancakes, try adding your blueberries right when you put them on the griddle to avoid prolonged exposure.)

• White: When we think of white vegetables we often think of potatoes, but some produce that are actually deceptively white are artichokes and avocados. These guys are sensitive to oxygen. So acid and water, or just water, will help them from breaking down. That's why after you peel your potatoes you throw them into a pot of cold water. Or 5 seconds after you open your avocado you squeeze lemon or lime juice on them to prevent them from turning brown. As an aside, leaving the avocado pit in your guacamole will not keep it from oxidizing. It's just an old wives' tale.

So those are the general categories for cooking by color. Now go to the market and pick out a fruit or vegetable you've never used before and give it a try!