Let’s begin with the most elemental ingredient of all: water.
When I first started talking about this book with Matt, he asked me so many technical questions about how best to cook each type of vegetable that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Food writers all want to write about food like it’s one big secret that only they can unlock for you. Give me a break.
But he kept pestering me, so I finally told him the truth: My favorite way to cook a vegetable is the old-fashioned way—in a bath of boiling water.
I get it: Boiling isn’t sexy. At least, that’s the prevailing view. Roasting, frying, sautéing, grilling—that’s what people seem to love. There’s nothing fancy or eye-catching about boiled vegetables. (When’s the last time you saw someone Instagram a piece of boiled cabbage?)
But deep down I still believe that there’s nothing better than a humble vegetable cooked in hot water. It’s not just the purity of flavor; water gives you full control of the texture and seasoning of the vegetables. That’s why we chose to boil all of our vegetables à la minute at Beefsteak, and now we have people lining up out the door to eat them.
Water is the invisible hand of the culinary world, the quiet, tireless force that flows through everything we do in the kitchen. It’s a conveyor of heat, a vessel for flavor, a keeper of structure, a giver of life.
I want to teach you to be a Jedi, to channel that force in powerful ways that will bring balance to your universe. To be the Luke Skywalker or the Rey of the vegetable world.
Beyond seasoning properly, learning to manage evaporation during cooking may be the single most important kitchen skill of all. How long to simmer the tomato sauce? At what point is a vegetable perfectly soft and juicy? Do I cover a stew with a lid or do I leave it uncovered?
Here are a few pieces of water wisdom I’ve gained through my decades in the kitchen:
How much water you use matters. People love to tell you to cook vegetables in huge pots of water. But the second a vegetable breaks the surface of the water, it becomes a stock, a liquid that imparts flavor to whatever it touches. The more water, the less flavorful the liquid. We cook vegetables in just enough water to cover them.
Seasoning the cooking water is almost as important as seasoning food, since it will season the food added to it. The water should be noticeably salty, like ocean water. Taste your cooking water and adjust the seasoning in the same way you would do with a soup.
The cooking water can become a sauce. One of my favorite ways to cook vegetables is to use just enough water so that by the time the vegetables are tender, the water has reduced to a few fingers of rich stock that will anoint the vegetables.
Water can be a tool. Use it to deglaze a pan of sautéed mushrooms or zucchini. Or to help caramelized onions come into their own.
Know when to put a lid on it. A lid traps moisture, so use one when you want to create steam or when you want to maintain the same water level. At all other times, cook with the lid off, allowing the water to evaporate and the flavors to concentrate.
Never throw out the cooking water. That’s precious liquid you have there. In Spain we like to serve vegetables with their own natural cooking liquids. Or we save the cooking water and use it like a stock when making other dishes.