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Blanching/shocking Green Veggies

Colten_77064

Hello everyone! Something came to my attention the other day at work when I was blanching/shocking some green veggies. One of my sous chefs tasted my asparagus after I had blanched and shocked it and asked if I salted my shocking water. I have never been told to do so, neither in culinary school nor in real life applications. I tried to look up information about this practice in Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, but he did not have info on it either. Is it necessary? Any help is appreciated!

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Comments

seijoed

Keller talks about blanching water and huge containers being the saltiness of the ocean, I think it is mostly wildly book related bullshit. You cook something for 3 -5 minutes and then shock the living shit out of it, if you want it to be salty, put some salt on it.

tshewman

No salting is not necessary. Ask for the reason you are blanching. And asparagus doesn't do as well as other veggies (eg green beans) when blanched.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

Johan! Such sacrilege.....you should be ashamed...even if is, in fact, a load of bookshit .

.I am so upset Im going to have to have some wine...

Afonso_Tito_de_Morais_164825

When you shock it in an ice bath, if that ice bath is unsalted, you'll wash a bit from the saltiness acquired from the blanching water. I salt my ice water, even tho I've never seen my chefs at Culinary School do it.

tshewman

First, I'm not understanding "why" you are salting the blanching water? What is the purpose? Also if you salt your ice bath, why? To alter the freezing point? Which it does. But is that necessary? If to salt the product, how is that controlled? Ratios of icewater:salt:product?

Afonso_Tito_de_Morais_164825

Salting the blanching water gives the veggies a pre-seasoning, as for the icebath, were you not to season it too, as soon as the veggies got shocked they would lose all their seasoning from the blanching water. If the icebath is as seasoned as the blanching water you will prevent that. Ratios I don't do but am reading into it, but I usually do it until both waters tasty slightly salty. This is just a theory of mine tho haha but it defo seems to work.

tshewman

Would be interesting to see some objective way to measure it. Is there a reason salting just prior to service wouldn't be preferred? If the product is over salted in the blanch/ice bath as an example, how do you know? And then what do you do? One would lose the entire batch. Chemically if it's not going to do anything to he product, that's allot of salt used for guessing on amounts when a lower amount could be used closer to service time....? More control, more consistency.....? Maybe?