Mary Berry urges households to chop veggies in certain way to slash cooking time
National treasure Mary Berry has uncovered a top cooking tip for anyone preparing vegetables.
The ex-Great British Bake Off host is a household name, and chances are you've followed one of her many recipes, When it comes to cooking, timing is important. Celebrating Mary's new series, Mary Berry's Quick Cooking Mondays on BBC Two, she shared some helpful tips when chopping vegetables.
When following a recipe that involves vegetables, it can get quite time consuming - especially during the cooking process. Mary Berry, who has written over 70 cook books, has the best tips and tricks to cut things shorter altogether.
Although chopping vegetables can take a fair bit of time, the cooking process is much faster. Plus, it gives a sense of accomplishment because of the time and dedication spent on preparing the dish, rather than just cutting random uneven sizes.
Cut it thin and nicely
When it comes to vegetables, if you don't own a vegetable chopper, you will have to use the old-fashioned way of using a sharp knife and a cutting board. BBC Food wrote: 'Mary often slices her vegetables and meats nice and thinly, so they cook quickly - or quicker yet, she sometimes doesn't cook her veg at all! Vegetables that are cooked in a flash tend to retain more of their nutrients too - win, win!'
When vegetables are being cut thin, because of the heat they're being exposed to, it speeds up the cooking process. If the vegetables are not properly cut, it's harder for the heat to penetrate them, and cook them accordingly. It also helps the sauces and flavour used to stick into the vegetable.
However, some vegetables don't need to be cut at all and can be just thrown into the cooking pan. Some of the many vegetables include cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes, baby carrots, lettuce, and Brussels sprouts. Of course, it also depends on what you're cooking.
Another tip the chef shared is to cook using a wide pan. 'The bigger the surface, the shorter the cooking time,' the site explained. When using a big pan, it allows the food to cook evenly, nicely and way faster.
By following this simple tip, experienced and non-experienced chefs can rest assured that their cooking time will be minimised by a lot of time, and the dishes will continue to be as delicious as ever. Happy cooking!
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