Why do restaurants serve nearly raw vegetables as cooked?
Discussion
Speed 3 said:
Fastchas said:
I'm not making this up...my Mum puts the veg on before putting meat in the oven.
I weighed 10st (6' tall)up to the age of 25 before I left home. I'm now 13st.
My Mum used to give them 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. Surprised there was anything left to spoon out after that. I weighed 10st (6' tall)up to the age of 25 before I left home. I'm now 13st.
I bet your meat spent at least 3 hours in the oven too
Steak is another story. I was never aware of the different stages of cooking, I thought it was just one - fecked!
mike80 said:
Speed 3 said:
My Mum used to give them 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. Surprised there was anything left to spoon out after that.
Same as mine. Me and my brother hated sprouts, but if she got a load cheap - or free - we'd have eat mountains of the bloody things that had been pressure cooked for hours...To answer the OP's question the answer is your veg weren't cooked when you ordered them...
They may have been blanched days (yes days) ahead and then refreshed to order. Literally a 30 second dunk in boiling water, or, depending on the establishment a 10 second ping.
In these instances cooking on is near impossible, they would have needed to cook again from fresh which they may not have been able to do. Busy service, none, prepped etc etc Again depends on the place.
As you have already found asking ahead of your booking should get the results you want although not everyone will understand the need.
I have to cook to al dente and soft, pureed and for liquid feeds.
They may have been blanched days (yes days) ahead and then refreshed to order. Literally a 30 second dunk in boiling water, or, depending on the establishment a 10 second ping.
In these instances cooking on is near impossible, they would have needed to cook again from fresh which they may not have been able to do. Busy service, none, prepped etc etc Again depends on the place.
As you have already found asking ahead of your booking should get the results you want although not everyone will understand the need.
I have to cook to al dente and soft, pureed and for liquid feeds.
condor said:
Thanks Tony, that makes things a lot clearer 
However, why can't pre-prepared blanched veg be boiled/microwaved for longer to ensure it's soft?
Some veg can but a microwave dehydrates the veg as it reheats so to cook beyond reheating starts to destroy the veg and refreshing in boiling water will cook the outside of the veg leaving the centre still hard.However, why can't pre-prepared blanched veg be boiled/microwaved for longer to ensure it's soft?
It will work for some veg but not all. Add in that its an unexpected request mid service in a restaurant and 9/10 chefs will be very dismissive and unfortunately you have experienced the end result.
Requesting soft veg when ordering food should not be a problem for any real kitchen. A pub where the KP pings everything while the chef is having a fag in the car park might give different results.
The Mad Monk said:
Has anyone ever told you that you are really asking for trouble?
No, no one did.I could have complained about how the table knife was so blunt it couldn't cut into the asparagus, which is why it was returned the 2nd time. Waitress wanted to know if it was OK, I said if the knife can't cut it...then no. Is woody asparagus acceptable too?
At home, I have table knives that cut food and I know how to steam asparagus ( 5 mins is fine).
Not quite sure why you're being served asparagus as it's completely out of season.
Asparagus served at the moment will almost certainly come from Peru - if you were to snap off the woody bits, you would have nothing left. It really is no comparison to British/French/Italian asparagus from May-June time. No matter how you cook asparagus from Peru, it will taste hard and fibrous (other than the spears).
Asparagus served at the moment will almost certainly come from Peru - if you were to snap off the woody bits, you would have nothing left. It really is no comparison to British/French/Italian asparagus from May-June time. No matter how you cook asparagus from Peru, it will taste hard and fibrous (other than the spears).
AndyHCZ said:
Not quite sure why you're being served asparagus as it's completely out of season.
Asparagus served at the moment will almost certainly come from Peru - if you were to snap off the woody bits, you would have nothing left. It really is no comparison to British/French/Italian asparagus from May-June time. No matter how you cook asparagus from Peru, it will taste hard and fibrous (other than the spears).
Exactly.Asparagus served at the moment will almost certainly come from Peru - if you were to snap off the woody bits, you would have nothing left. It really is no comparison to British/French/Italian asparagus from May-June time. No matter how you cook asparagus from Peru, it will taste hard and fibrous (other than the spears).
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