---
title: 'Give me 31 minutes and I''ll change the way you cook Vegetables.'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=NZrh2_AS8a0'
video_id: 'NZrh2_AS8a0'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1916
---

# Give me 31 minutes and I'll change the way you cook Vegetables.

> Source: [Give me 31 minutes and I'll change the way you cook Vegetables.](https://youtube.com/watch?v=NZrh2_AS8a0)

## Summary

This video breaks down common vegetable cooking mistakes through a food science lens, exploring how cutting, cooking methods, and flavor properties (taste, aroma, texture, physical sensation, sight, and human element) transform vegetables. The creator demonstrates that cooking vegetables is about understanding flavor outcomes rather than following rigid rules, encouraging experimentation at home.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Vegetable Cooking Mistakes** [[0:00]] — The video promises to break down five common vegetable cooking mistakes from a food science perspective, ordered to build on each other.
- **Sponsor Mention - Made In Griddle** [[1:00]] — The creator introduces their long-term sponsor Made In and a carbon steel griddle they've used for years, emphasizing its utility for home cooking.
- **Mistake 1: Setup vs. Skill** [[2:16]] — The first mistake is thinking vegetable prep is about skill when it's really about setup. A good setup involves the three S's: sturdiness (cutting board doesn't slide), space (dedicated spot, large board), and sharpness (sharp knife, maintained with a whetstone).
- **Mistake 2: Understanding Vegetable Flavors** [[5:17]] — The second mistake is not knowing what flavors vegetables provide. The video breaks down flavor into six properties: taste, aroma, texture, physical element, sight, and human element.
- **Six Flavor Properties - Taste** [[6:09]] — Taste includes sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Sweetness in vegetables (e.g., carrots, sweet potatoes) becomes more noticeable through cooking due to evaporation, structure breakdown, chemical conversion, and reducing masking flavors.
- **Aroma Categories** [[10:57]] — Aroma is more complex than taste, with categories like sulfurous (onions, garlic), green/grassy (celery, spinach), earthy (potatoes, mushrooms), sweet/nutty (peas, corn), fruity/floral (tomatoes), and herbaceous (parsley, basil).
- **Texture and Physical Elements** [[14:18]] — Texture (crunchy, crispy, tender) and physical elements (temperature, pungency, astringency, spiciness) are key to vegetable enjoyment. Contrast in textures makes dishes like lo mein work.
- **Sight and Human Element** [[17:46]] — Sight (color, shape) and human element (emotions, memories, culture) influence how we perceive vegetables before tasting. Bad childhood experiences can affect preferences.
- **Mistake 3: Cutting Changes Flavor** [[19:01]] — Cutting affects flavor by breaking cells, increasing surface area, and changing shape. The video tests three onion cuts (whole, large dice, grated) in tomato sauce and shows clear differences in sweetness, aroma, and texture.
- **Mistake 4: Cooking Methods** [[26:19]] — Cooking techniques control reactions (e.g., Maillard, caramelization, pyrolysis) by affecting what, how much, where, and how fast they happen. Nine potato cubes (three cuts x three methods: boil, sauté, fry) demonstrate different outcomes.
- **Mistake 5: Fear of Experimentation** [[29:32]] — The final mistake is being afraid to experiment. With 40+ vegetables, 8 cuts, and 15 cooking methods, there are 4,800 possible outcomes. The creator encourages buying unfamiliar vegetables, trying unconventional cuts, and experimenting with cooking methods.

### Conclusion

Cooking vegetables is about exploration and understanding flavor science, not rigid recipes. By mastering setup, flavor properties, cutting, and cooking techniques, home cooks can create thousands of unique dishes and discover new favorites.

## Transcript

Chopping and cooking with vegetables is
something we do almost every time we
cook. But the way we're taught about
them is completely backwards because no
one ever tells you what vegetables are
actually doing in a dish. Seriously,
have you ever wondered why does an onion
taste different from a carrot, a potato,
a bell pepper, or leafy greens? And then
beyond that, what's the point of all
these different cuts? Why would you
finally mince something versus dicing it
versus just leaving it whole? And why
can the same vegetable taste completely
different all depending on how you cook
it? Well, in this video, we're going to
break down the five mistakes that most
people make when it comes to vegetables,
but we're going to do it from a food
science perspective. And I specifically
order the mistakes in this way because
each one builds on the prior one. And by
the end of this video, I promise you'll
never look at vegetables the same way
again.
Now, before we get too deep into the
food science and some of the other
experiments we're going to do in this
video, I need to tell you about my
history with this carbon steel griddle
that is about to turn four years old.
And it comes from today's sponsor, Made
In. This exact carbon steel griddle
first appeared in a kebab video of mine
on June 24th, 2022. And ever since then,
it's become a recurring character on the
channel. Whether that's breaking down
burger science, learning about why you
need to cook frozen meat, running spice
experiments, or most recently cheese
steaks along with about 20 to 30 other
videos on my second channel in the past
year. And the reason I keep using this
is simple. It just makes cooking at home
a lot easier. The griddle spans two
burners, so you've got tons of space to
cook multiple things at once without
overcrowding. So if I'm testing
different versions of something or just
cooking a lot of food at once, it solves
that problem immediately. And the best
thing I can say about it is I just keep
reaching for it day after day, week
after week, and truly year over year.
So, you can check out the Carbon Steel
griddle and my other favorite cookware
from Maiden by using the link in my
description to save on your order. And
thank you again to Maiden for sponsoring
this video and being a longtime
supporter of the channel. And I think
what we both do well is just making
cooking easier and more approachable.
And this is exactly what we're going to
get into with mistake number one when it
comes to chopping vegetables. So, let's
break it down. The first mistake we need
to fix is thinking vegetable prep is
about skill when it's really about
setup. And when most people try to learn
how to chop vegetables, they think being
able to chop really fast, having perfect
technique, or mastering a bunch of
different cuts is what's important. But
for a home cook, what actually matters
is much simpler. It just shouldn't be
miserable to chop your vegetables on a
daily basis when you need to cook. And
if you don't like chopping vegetables or
think it takes way too much time, you
probably just have a bad setup. At home,
my vegetable prep usually takes three to
six minutes depending on the dish. And I
have a second channel with over 50
real-time videos where you can see that
I'm not rushing, just talking to the
camera. And when I have a good setup,
chopping vegetables is generally one of
the parts of cooking that I enjoy.
However, there is one situation where I
am forced to cut vegetables very slow
and it's an absolutely miserable
experience and that is when I go to an
Airbnb because every time it's the same
story. There's typically two tiny
cutting boards in a drawer, a knife that
hasn't been sharpened in 8 years, and
suddenly I'm chopping very slowly,
frustrated, and wondering if I'm about
to slice my finger open. And this is not
a skill issue. This is a setup issue.
So, the two questions you probably have
are, what are the fundamentals of a good
setup? And secondly, do I need to spend
a lot of money? Well, the answer to the
second question is no. Because if every
Airbnb had this $40 cutting board, this
$20 knife, and a way to keep it sharp
like a wet stone, I would be perfectly
happy. Because a good setup comes down
to the three S's: sturdiness, space, and
sharpness. If you have these three,
chopping vegetables becomes faster,
easier, and way more enjoyable.
Sturdiness means your cutting board
shouldn't move. Use a drawer liner or a
damp towel. Just lock it in place so
you're not fighting it. Space is
twofold. First, you should have a
dedicated spot for your cutting board so
you're not constantly needing to set it
up and put it away. It's more important
than any other appliance on your
counter. And secondly, you need enough
room on your cutting board to be able to
work with multiple ingredients. And I
believe that a 24-in or 60cm wide board
is the optimal size for most home cooks
because most counters in the US and
Europe at least are 25 in or 63 cm deep.
So even if you're in a small kitchen,
you can rotate it vertically and still
have plenty of space to work. And
lastly, we have sharpness. Your knife
should be sharp and you need a way to
keep it that way with something like a
wet stone. This is what's going to make
chopping actually feel good instead of
frustrating. And that's it. If you get
the three S's right, chopping your
vegetables each night won't feel like a
miserable chore. Instead, it's something
you can experiment with. And this
mistake is a really important one to fix
in your kitchen because if you hate
chopping vegetables, you're never going
to want to learn what they actually
taste like in mistake number two. And
this is a shame because personally, I
think this is where things get a lot
more interesting and a lot more fun.
This might seem like a dumb question,
but if somebody asked you, "What flavors
do vegetables actually provide?" Could
you explain it? And this is where things
are going to start to break down because
what seems like a simple question is
fairly complex. For example, a carrot we
would typically say is orange, it's
crunchy, has kind of a fresh smell, and
maybe it's a bit sweet, but if you then
roast that same carrot, it's going to
have a completely different flavor. The
first thing you'll notice is it's now
soft instead of crunchy. But it's also
much sweeter on your tongue and has
deeply brown caramelized aromomas that
we can smell. And the problem is if you
don't know what flavor vegetables
actually have, you also can't control
them. So instead of being able to feel
confident experimenting with new
vegetables at the farmers market or
using what you already have in the
fridge to substitute them, this kind of
leaves you stuck following recipes for
the rest of your life. So to fix that,
we're going to break down the flavor of
vegetables into six properties. Taste,
aroma, texture, sight, physical, and the
human element. So let's start with
taste. Our tongue registers five core
tastes. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and
umami. Now overall, vegetables are
fairly mild in terms of pure taste,
which is why we often add things like
salt, citrus juice, MSG, and sugar sweet
sauces while we're cooking. However,
depending on the vegetable you are
using, one of the five tastes could play
a big role in the dish you are making.
And the question that I always had is
where do these tastes come from? Like
what signals in our brain that makes a
sweet potato sweet or arugula taste
bitter? And as it turns out, the taste
we experience are tied to specific types
of molecules. And vegetables, like all
food, are just made up of molecules. At
a basic level, most raw vegetables are
80 to 95% water, 3 to 15% carbohydrates,
which includes things like sugars,
starches, and fibers, 1 to 5% proteins,
0 to 1% fats, and about 1 to 3% other
vitamins and minerals. So, let's take a
look at what vegetables actually taste
like. Starting with sweetness. Sweetness
usually comes from sugars like fructose,
sucrose, glucose, and maltose. And both
the amount of and type of sugar matter.
And you might be surprised to learn that
in the United States around 55% of sugar
production actually comes from a
vegetable, sugar beets, because they are
high in sucrose. However, in order to
extract that sucrose, they are first
cooked with hot water before being
evaporated and concentrated down into
table sugar. And that's because when
raw, most vegetables don't taste
especially sweet. However, when we cook
with them, that sweetness can become
much more noticeable. And if you've ever
wondered why, there are usually four
mechanisms at play. First is
evaporation. As the water cooks off,
everything else will become more
concentrated, including the sugars. So
even though the total sugar doesn't
change, it tastes sweeter because
there's less water diluting it. Second
is structure breakdown. When vegetables
cook, their cell walls start to soften
and break apart. And this is going to
release sugars that were trapped inside
and make them easier for your tongue to
detect. Third is chemical conversion.
And this is a big one for certain
vegetables. For example, in sweet
potatoes, heat activates enzymes that
break the starches down into simpler
sugars like malttose. So, we are
literally creating more sugars during
cooking. And then fourth is reducing
masking flavors. A lot of vegetables
will have sugars but also have bitter
sulfurous and other harsh compounds that
can mask their sweetness. However, when
we cook with them, a lot of those
harsher compounds will mellow out,
making the sweetness easier to detect.
And one of the things that surprised me
in the onion deep dive I did a few
months ago is that sweated onions are
actually perceived to be sweeter than
caramelized ones because there are no
masking flavors. So sweetness can
definitely play a role depending on the
vegetable and how we cook them. But what
about the other for taste? And in
general these tend to play a smaller
more supporting role in the grand scheme
of things. Sour taste comes from organic
acid things like citric malic and oxylic
acid. And when we think of sour
vegetables, usually tomatoes or
toatillos may come to mind, but those
are technically fruits, which raises the
question, are there any true vegetables
that taste sour? Well, there are a few.
And one of the best examples is rhubarb.
It kind of looks like red celery, but if
you take a bite, it has a distinctly
tart flavor due to a mix of oxylic and
malic acids. And that combination gives
it that slightly rich sourness, which is
why it's commonly used in things like
pies. That said, sourness just isn't
very common across vegetables, which is
why when we're cooking, we often need to
add it ourselves in the form of vinegar
or citrus juices. Bitterness, on the
other hand, is a completely different
story and one that you need to be
careful with while you're cooking. A
bitter taste in vegetables often comes
from a wide range of defensive
compounds, and these are chemicals that
plants produce to protect themselves
from being eaten. And these are very
common in vegetables, especially leafy
greens and things in the brasica family.
You'll find bitterness in kale, arugula,
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage,
mustard greens, and ridiculio. But the
intensity can vary quite a bit. And this
is something you need to be aware of
because most humans generally do not
prefer dishes that are overly bitter.
Cooking can help mellow out the
bitterness, but many times we'll also
balance it by pairing bitter vegetables
with things that are salty or sour to
help mask that taste and make it more
enjoyable. And this brings us to our
next taste, salty. Saltiness primarily
comes from sodium, which is why we use
salt all the time when we're cooking.
However, vegetables themselves naturally
are very low in sodium. While they can
technically absorb some trace minerals
from the soil, the amounts are usually
pretty minimal. So, they're not going to
get much saltiness from them naturally.
And this brings us to our final taste,
umami. Umami comes from compounds like
glutamates and nucleotides, which can
create that deep savory flavor. And some
vegetables that are naturally higher in
these molecules include things like
seaweed tomatoes mushrooms corn and
spinach. However, similar to sweetness,
you usually won't notice much umami in
vegetables until they're cooked down or
combined with other ingredients, which
is why MSG is a popular seasoning added
to so many different dishes. So, really
what we're doing when cooking with
vegetables is trying to balance these
five tastes in different ways, but taste
is just one piece of the puzzle here.
What actually makes vegetables quite
distinct from one another is their
aroma. And as Harold McGee points out in
on food and cooking, most of what we
experience as flavor is actually the
odor or aroma. So let's talk about the
second flavor property of vegetables. At
a high level, aroma comes from volatile
compounds. And these are small
lightweight molecules that can easily
evaporate and become airborne, which is
how they travel from the food up into
our noses. And unlike taste, which is
limited to just a few core categories,
aroma is incredibly complex. There are
hundreds and even thousands of different
aroma compounds, and this is where most
of the unique flavors in our food
actually come from. Now, we could spend
10 hours going through what every single
vegetable smells like and how it changes
when we cut and cook with them. But for
purposes of this video, it's helpful to
think about the aroma of vegetables into
broad categories. Because once you start
seeing these categories, you're going to
notice two things. First, many of the
dishes we cook are often a combinations
of two or three broad aroma types that
complement or contrast each other. And
second, it makes substitutions a lot
easier. For example, instead of needing
to run to the store for an onion, you
can ask yourself, do I have something
that plays the same role as an onion in
this dish? And maybe reach for some
shallots or leaks instead. So, let's
quickly walk through these categories.
First are sulfurous and alien based
vegetables, which includes things like
onions garlic leaks scallions and
shallots. Second are green grassy and
fresh aromomas which includes things
like celery, spinach, green beans,
zucchini, snap peas, and green bell
peppers. Third are kind of earthy
vegetables. Think of potatoes, mushroom,
beets, parsnips, or sweet potato. Fourth
are sweet and nutty aromomas, which
includes peas, corn, squash, and
carrots. Fifth is fruity and floral,
which includes tomatoes and certain red
and orange chili peppers. And then the
last group is what I'd call the
herbaceious category, which includes
things like parsley, cilantro, basil,
dill, and fennel. And herbs aren't
technically vegetables, but they are
plant leaves that we use in very similar
ways to provide aroma to many dishes.
And if you want to see a practical
example of me swapping in a ton of
different aromomas into a dish, the low
main video I just made is a great
example. I made three different versions
where I swapped out the aromatics using
only garlic in one, garlic and ginger in
another, then adding Thai chilies to a
third, while also changing up the bulk
of the vegetables. And each version
tastes and smells quite different
because of the vegetables I use. But all
of them work because I'm maintaining a
similar balance of the aroma. Now, there
is another reason why that dish works so
well. And that is also because I'm
balancing the textures. And this is our
next flavor property and one that's very
often overlooked. And a great example of
this when it comes to vegetables is
iceberg lettuce. Because iceberg lettuce
barely has any taste or aroma. But we
still use it all the time in salads,
sandwiches, tacos, and more because of
that crispy, refreshing crunch that it
brings to a dish. So, let's talk about
texture. At a basic level, texture is
how food feels when it touches your
lips, tongue, and teeth. And one of the
great things about vegetables is that
they have a really wide range of
textures. You can think about categories
like crunchy, crispy, snappy, tender,
soft, creamy, fibrous, juicy, and chewy.
Though there are definitely more. And
when it comes to texture, there are two
big things to keep in mind. First, many
vegetables actually have multiple
textures at once. For example, a
cucumber is both crunchy and juicy, and
a roasted vegetable might be crispy on
the outside, but soft in the middle. And
secondly, these textures will change a
lot depending on the ripeness and how
you cook them. And a big part of what
makes food enjoyable is the contrast
between the textures, which is why lain
works so well. The protein is tender,
the noodles are chewy, so you balance it
out with vegetables that bring crunch
and crispness.
Now, what if I told you there was a
vegetable in one of those lain dishes
that I didn't choose for its taste,
aroma, or texture, but for how it
physically feels when I eat it. And
those were the Thai chilis. I chose Thai
chilis because they are spicy and wanted
to feel a little bit of pain while I was
eating it. And this brings us to our
next flavor property, the physical
element. Now, the physical element is a
little bit different because it's not
technically a taste. Think about it. Why
do raw onions or garlic make your nose
sting? And why do chili peppers feel
like they're burning your mouth? These
aren't tastes like sweet or salty, and
they're not aromomas either. They're
sensations. Your body is literally
reacting to the food. And when it comes
to vegetables, there are kind of four
main physical elements to think about.
First is temperature, which is pretty
straightforward. It's literally just the
temperature of the ingredient. Pairing
something like a chilled cucumber salad
next to hot salmon creates contrast
that's way more enjoyable than if those
cucumbers were also warm. Next is
pungency. This is that sharp stinging
sensation you get from things like raw
onions, garlic, radishes, or mustard
greens. And these foods create reactive
compounds that irritate our eyes and
nose. Third is aringy, which is that
dry, slightly rough, puckery feeling in
your mouth. It's most commonly
associated with wine, but you'll also
find it in some vegetables, especially
leafy greens. And finally, we have
spiciness. My favorite. This sensation
comes from capsation, which activates
your pain receptors and creates that
burning feeling. And it's exactly why I
like that spicy beef lomain so much.
Okay, so I'm going to pause here for
just a second because we've covered a
lot of information so far as it relates
to the taste, aroma, texture, and
physical element of vegetables. And let
me know if some of this is starting to
click down in the comments below. Maybe
something is making a bit more sense
now, like why certain vegetables get
sweeter when you cook them, why carrots,
onion, and celery are often used
together, or why you prefer certain
vegetables because of their texture or
spicy elements. And while you're
thinking about that, I'm going to
quickly walk through our remaining two
flavor properties, sight and the human
element. And these are interesting
because they shape how we experience
food before we even take a bite. The
fifth flavor property is sight. And
vegetables play a large role here
because they bring a wide range of
colors, shapes, and visual contrast we
can see with our eyes. Think of bright
pink pickled onions, adding scallions to
braze meat, or choosing a number of
different colored vegetables, which all
will shape our perception of a dish
without needing to take a bite. And our
final flavor property is the human
element. We experience food through our
emotions, memories, and cultural
associations. And this is why the same
vegetable can feel completely different
from one person to another. For example,
if you had a bad experience with a
certain vegetable as a kid, you might
still avoid it to this day, no matter
how it's prepared. And on the flip side,
certain flavors can feel incredibly
comforting because they're tied to
something familiar or nostalgic. So, now
that we've gone through these six
properties, you should start to see that
flavor really has so many different
layers to it, and every vegetable is
going to contribute to those in slightly
different ways based on the molecules
they are made up of. However, as I've
been hinting at, these molecules don't
stay the same. They are going to change
based on how we cut the vegetable and
how we cook them. Which brings us to
mistake three. Because if you've ever
wondered why cutting changes the flavor
of vegetables, it's quite simple. The
more we change the structure of the
vegetable through cutting, the more we
change how these flavor properties are
going to show up. And to test this,
we're going to run a simple experiment.
So, I took 3/4 of an onion. One I left
whole. The second I cut into a large
dice. And the last one I grated so it
would completely disperse into a tomato
sauce. And the question we are asking
here is how much does the onion flavor
actually change when we use the same
cooking method but cut it in three
different ways? So I'm going to let
these sauces cool down just a bit and
then get them set up for our taste test.
So while I do that, let's break down
exactly how cutting changes the flavor
of vegetables.
There are a lot of different ways that
you can cut a vegetable. For example, in
The Professional Chef on page 622, they
list eight standard vegetable cuts and
then there are five more on the next
page. However, even if you memorized and
knew how to perfectly execute all 13 of
them, the real question still remains.
How does the flavor actually change? And
how do I decide which of these cuts to
use at home? And as it turns out, all of
these fancy knife cuts are really just
changing three things that can influence
the flavor. First is how many cells
you're breaking open. When we cut or
slice a vegetable, it ruptures the cell
walls, which will then release the
water, sugars, aroma compounds, and all
the different molecules that we talked
about where they can then change and
react during cooking. Second is how much
surface area is created. So, the more
surface area will change how quickly
something cooks, generally meaning more
evaporation, faster browning, more
caramelization, and also more places for
sauces, fats, and seasonings to stick
to. And then third is the overall shape
and structure of the vegetable. This is
going to change the texture, the visual
appeal, and how it feels when you
actually eat it. And really, all these
cuts are just slight differences in the
flavor outcome. And this is why when
you're deciding how to cut your
vegetable at home, the question you
should not ask is what is the right cut
to use, but instead a more useful one is
what flavor outcome am I trying to
create? Because sometimes it's not going
to matter all that much. For example, if
a recipe calls for a medium dice and you
go for a larger dice, the difference is
going to be fairly small. But what I do
want to do is show you three different
examples that make a difference in how I
decide to cut my vegetables at home. not
because it's the correct way to do it,
but to explain my thought process behind
them. And the first one is cutting
vegetables to match the size of the
other ingredients. And a good example of
this concept was a cucumber salad I made
on the Cookwell channel a few weeks ago.
And when I cut up the cucumber, I chose
these larger kind of cube-like pieces.
So, why did I do this? Well, I wanted a
shape that would let me scoop up the
salmon and cucumber together with a
spoon and get everything in one bite.
And this is the same exact thought
process that I use for these tomatoes in
the pesto pasta, the vegetables I
chopped for my fried rice, or finally
mincing the red onion and tomato to
match the size of the corn in this
roasted salsa. This cucumber salad and
salmon still would have tasted fine if I
finally minced the cucumber or sliced
them into thin coins, but I wanted to
ultimately match the size of the salmon.
And additionally, this shape holds its
crunch for a few extra days in the
fridge rather than getting soft and wet
with really thin slices. Now, the second
example is cutting vegetables for big
texture contrast. And a great example of
this is the tomato in this breakfast
sandwich I made. So, I cut the tomato
slice very thick and a lot of people
were trying to flame me in the comments
for this. But hey, it's my kitchen and
there was a very intentional flavor
outcome that I wanted to create because
I'm trying to layer in the textures. So,
on the bottom, I've got the chewy
English muffin, then the creamy cream
cheese, thin, salty, and crunchy bacon
underneath. Then on top of that, I
wanted that beautiful summer tomato to
be a big, juicy, substantial bite,
almost imagining that I'm biting into a
big burger patty. And when I bite into
this sandwich, my tongue hits those
layers in order. The bread, the
creaminess, the salty crunch of the
bacon, and then that tomato really comes
through with its juicy, sweet, and sour
bite that balances everything together.
Could I have sliced it thinner?
Absolutely. But would it have been as
memorable? Definitely not. Then the
third example is cutting aromatics based
on whether you want their flavor to stay
concentrated or spread throughout the
dish. And this is exactly what we're
testing with our onion experiment. So on
one end, I left the onion in one large
piece. We broken the fewest amount of
cells, released the least amount of
aroma, and the onion flavor is going to
stay concentrated in that individual
piece. Then on the complete other end of
the spectrum, I've grated the onion into
a pulp. We've broken open the most
cells, release way more aroma compounds,
and that onion flavor is going to be
spread evenly throughout the entire
sauce. So, instead of having one big
sweet onion, the whole dish will kind of
start tasting like that more intense
onion flavor. But let's see how big of a
difference this really makes. Okay, so I
have the three different sauces. Let's
give them a taste and see how different
the flavor really is.
Good. pallet cleanser,
man. Started with the grated and then
what I like to do is go to the opposite
ends first. So, we'll do a normal just a
spoonful of sauce first.
That is so cool.
I'll tell you why in a second.
Man, this is truly a test I think you
all should recreate at home because it
totally drives home all of what we've
talked about so far. So, right away, the
sweetest sauce here is going to be the
grated one. Why? Well, it makes a lot of
sense. Onions, again, we talked about
water and sugar. So, all of that
sweetness is evenly dispersed in this
first sauce. So, right away, you can
tell when you get down to here, when
it's in the big onion pieces, that the
sauce on the end is much more sour. A
lot of sugar is still in these big onion
pieces, which helps perfume the sauce,
but it doesn't actually disperse the
sugars that are inside them. So you can
take these out, blend them up, or just
eat them as a snack.
So obviously there's a clear difference
in terms of the pure taste, but
additionally there's big differences in
terms of aroma and the texture. So in
the grated onions, remember we crushed
up all of those cells. None of that ever
happened in the big onion pieces. So we
get those really nice kind of mellow
onion aromomas all throughout every bite
of this first sauce. compared to the
whole onion. It kind of tastes lightly
perfumed of onion, but it's definitely
not as kind of onion forward, if you
will. And then from a texture
perspective, too, obviously, you know,
the the grated onion is kind of
integrated within the sauce. The middle,
there are these big chunks that you can
kind of still feel, and then you have
the bigger onions on the end. And all of
this ultimately is just down to
preference. But it just goes to show
that how you cut your vegetables really
does matter. And ultimately what you're
trying to do is control the flavor
outcome. Okay, so we've seen a clear
example here of what happens when you
keep the vegetable and the cooking
method the same, but change how it's
cut. So the next natural question is how
much does the flavor change when we keep
the vegetable the same, change how it's
cut, and also change the cooking method?
And that's exactly what we're going to
test with nine different cubes of
potatoes. And this brings us to mistake
four. So let's break it down.
There are so many different ways you can
cook a vegetable. And here are 15 quick
examples. Bake, blanch, boil, char, deep
fry pickle poach sauté sear shallow
fry, smoke, steam, stir fry, and roast.
And looking at this list, it seems like
all of them are completely different.
However, what if I told you they have
way more in common than you think?
Because every cooking technique is just
triggering different physical and
chemical reactions. things like cell
wall breakdown, evaporation,
dehydration, gilation, the mayor
reaction, caramelization, and pyrolysis.
And most people completely ignore these
or don't even realize they're happening.
But it's these reactions that are
actually driving the changes in the
flavor of the vegetables when we cook
them. And when we switch cooking
techniques, we're really just
controlling four things. First is what
types of reactions can happen. For
example, if you boil a vegetable, it's
never going to get hotter than the
boiling point of water at 212°. So, no
mayar reaction or browning is able to
occur. Second is how much those
reactions happen. So, if you only sear
or char a vegetable on one side, this
means you're only getting the mayar
reaction and pyrolysis on that single
side. Third is where they happen. So, if
you roast a vegetable, the outside can
brown and develop flavor, but the inside
is going to stay soft and relatively
unchanged. And then fourth is how fast
the reactions happen. If you sauté a
potato on low heat, it's going to
evaporate slower compared to dropping it
into hot oil. And if you want a more
detailed and specific example of this, I
actually broke this down in an onion
video of mine a few months ago where I
took onions through six different levels
of cooking. So in that I compared things
like evaporation, cell wall breakdown,
aroma development, the mayor reaction,
caramelization, and even pyrolysis,
showing how each one of these changes as
you cook them in different ways.
However, for today, I thought it would
be kind of fun to do a little test with
nine cubes of potato. So I have nine
equal-sized potato cubes, and I'm going
to cut them in three different ways.
First, I'm going to leave three as a
cube. Second, I'm going to cut three of
them into thicker, evensized planks. And
the last one I'm going to cut very thin,
almost like square potato chips. Then I
took those three cuts through three
different cooking methods. First, I
boiled them. Then I sauteed them. And
lastly, I fried them to create this
matrix of different flavor outcomes. All
by changing the cutting and cooking
method. So, let's take a look at what
these taste like. So, we can clearly see
how changing the cut, but also the
cooking method will dictate how these
potatoes are going to be used in
different dishes. For example, we've got
kind of our potato chips down here.
We've got French fries. The sauteed
potatoes you can maybe use for kind of
like a breakfast potato. And then the
boiled ones you can kind of mash them up
for mashed potatoes. And the big picture
takeaway throughout this entire video is
that there are so many different ways
you can experiment with vegetables. And
this brings us to mistake five.
So, we covered a lot of information in
this video. However, everything we
learned can really be summarized into a
single sentence. When you're cooking at
home, there are three main decisions you
need to make. First, what vegetable you
choose, second, how you cut that
vegetable, and third, how you cook it.
And as we've seen, those three things
are what can create thousands of
different flavor outcomes. Think about
it. If a typical grocery store carries
at least 40 different vegetables year
round and you have eight different ways
to cut them and 15 different cooking
techniques, that's 4,800 possible
outcomes. And that's before you even
start adding sauces, spices, fats, or
different proteins, which can feel a bit
overwhelming. However, I think the
bigger issue for a lot of home cooks is
being afraid to experiment. A lot of us
may think that there are right or
correct ways to cook something and just
always want to follow what the recipe
says. However, cooking isn't something
you can truly master. It's something
that needs to be explored. So, the next
time you're at the grocery store or
farmers market and see a vegetable
you've never used, buy it. If you want
to cut something in a way that feels a
little unconventional, do it. If you
want to try a cooking method that sounds
weird for the vegetable you chose, go
for it. Worst case, it's a little off.
And best case, you might discover
something you really like. And you can
tell other people about it. And this is
where I would love to hear from you down
in the comments. Let me know some
vegetables that I should try. Let me try
some weird ways you've cut things or
cooked things because that is what
cooking is all about. So, that's going
to wrap it up for me in this video.
Thank you again to Made in for
sponsoring this video. Seriously, if
you're ever looking for any cookware out
there, the griddle I use all the time,
but I've got a bunch of their other
stuff, stainless, it's all great. So,
that'll be linked down below. And then
the very last thing is our Cookwell app,
which we launched a few months ago and
recently did a new feature that we're
calling guides. So, there's a meal plan
on top. There's also some dedicated
ingredient guides that you can kind of
learn about the ingredient and then a
few different recipes to try out if you
want to go that route. So, that'll be
linked down below as well. But
seriously, thank you guys for watching
these videos. They're really fun to
make. I love going for these big
overarching topics and just yeah, I
mean, cooking is so cool. There's so
much to be explored. So, that's going to
wrap it up for me in this one. I'll
catch you all in the next one. Peace
y'all.