Cut food the same size
Heat moves into food from the outside, slowly. A piece half as thick cooks through in roughly a quarter of the time. Thin slices cook fast, and big chunks take much longer.
Small pieces brown more
Browning happens on the surface, and small pieces have more surface for their size. Roast 2 cm cubes for lots of crisp edges, or 5 cm chunks for soft centers and less crust.
Match the cut to the food
Foods cook at different speeds. Dense carrots take longer than soft zucchini, so cut the carrots smaller or add them to the pan first. The goal is for everything to finish at the same time.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
You roast diced potatoes, some 1 cm and some 3 cm. After 30 minutes, what do you find?
The small ones are dark and dry, and the big ones are still firm. Thin pieces cook through fast while the centers of big ones lag behind.
True or false: Carrot pieces of different sizes in one pan will finish cooking at different times.
True. Thin pieces cook through sooner than thick ones, so different sizes finish at different times.
What went wrong? You chop carrots into uneven pieces and roast them. The small pieces burn while the large ones stay undercooked.
The pieces were not the same size. Small pieces cook through fast and burn before the big ones soften.
Fill the blank: Cutting a piece to half its thickness reduces its cooking time to about ___.
Cutting a piece to half its thickness reduces its cooking time to about a quarter. Cook time grows with thickness squared, so half as thick takes about a quarter.
You're dicing carrot and zucchini for one sauté. What should you do?
Cut the carrot smaller than the zucchini. Dense carrot needs more time, so smaller pieces help it keep pace.
