Several questions I hope you can help me with:
-- Should we add salt before or after cooking? This question is about the impact of the salt on the ph of the cooking environment and so the speed and texture of the finished veg.
-- Similarly, what about baking soda? I suppose not because this would shift the ph too far and produce mushy veg?
-- What about fats? Does adding butter or olive oil before cooking help or hurt? This is about whether the butter (lets say butter) infuses into the veg or if, in contrast, fat soluble flavours in the veg get drawn out into the fat in the bag.
-- Finally, can one create the persistent firmness that McGee describes in his section on cooking vegetables by cooking first at 60 degrees celcius for say 10 - 15 minutes and then 80+ degrees for the remaining cooking time?
