Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cutting Vegetables

So this little discovery happened by accident really.  Let me first clarify, this was not my first attempt at cooking with vegetables.  I often flavor dishes with bell pepper, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, etc.  So last night I had bought a ham (fully cooked) and baked it on low with apricot jam smothered on it.  Then I decided to saute some leftover veggies from earlier this week.  I start chopping as I am reading a book (multi-tasking!)  and realize that I am chopping my bell pepper and zuchini into small pieces when I really want them to be chunky as a side to the ham.  So I finish chopping, finish the ham, and sit down to eat.
I taste the veggies, which actually are tasty, yet I notice something.  The ones that are chopped into tiny pieces taste different to me.  The flavor is different or something.  Then I hear my grandmother's voice in my head, "the way you cut your vegetables makes a difference."  Now let me first explain that when a recipe calls for "minced" or "julienned" or whatever else, all my veggies basically get cut the same because I don't know what all those words mean in the cooking sense.  Yet due to a mistake I made in chopping my vegetables, I now understand that it does matter at least in size of the vegetables as to how you are cooking them.
Another new discovery in the kitchen!  What have you discovered lately?

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