The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 972

Rule#5:ShocktheVegetablesin
IceWaterandDryCarefully

I’ve recently been reading conflicting reports on
whether or not shocking in ice water is essential. It
is, and it’s easy enough to prove: Blanch a big ol’
pileofpeas,takethemout,andputthemintoabowl
without shocking them in ice water. Let them cool.
You’llfindthatthepeasatthebottomandcenterof
the pile will be overcooked by the time you dig ’em
up.
This is because the reactions that cause a pea to


loseitsbrightgreencolorarenotinstantaneous.The
peas have to be above a certain temperature for a
certain amount of time to lose color. A single pea
cooling at room temperature will rapidly cool to a
safe zone. A pea in the middle of a pile of other
really hot peas, however, may stay hot for a good
fifteenminutestohalfanhour,dependingonthesize
of the pile.That’s plenty of time for the pea to lose
itscolor.
Moral of the story: if you are blanching more
thanonepeaatatime,youshouldshocktheminan
ice bath, or at the very least spread them onto a
largeplateorrimmedbakingsheetinasinglelayer
tocool.
Then, as soon as the vegetables are chilled,
remove them from the ice bath, let them drain, and
laythemonpapertowelsoracleankitchentowelto

dry. The dressing you’re going to apply to them
sticksbettertodryingredients.