Delicious Cooked-to-death Vegetables

When I was growing up my mum always over-cooked vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, turning them into sulfurous mush. So I thought the solution was to cook them to barely tender or even crisp-tender. Unfortunately, I don't really like some vegetables cooked until just tender, like kale, collard greens and green beans. But the other day I discovered a technique that transcends what my mother did by cooking these kinds of vegetables even longer! I found recipes for cruciferous vegetables and green beans slow-cooked in oil for 1 1/2 - 2 hours! Wait... what?!

According to Dr. Keith Harris, assistant professor of food science at North Carolina State University, "...when vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables, are cooked, the damage to the plant's tissue brings about reactions between compounds that are usually kept separate." That's when you get the sulfurous odor. But it seems, when you continue to cook these foods, "at a certain point the aroma will dissipate, and you'll end up with the flavor compounds left in the plant, including its sugars—especially if it's cooked and served in a way that the sugars aren't poured out with the cooking water." Who knew?!

But that last bit about not throwing out the cooking water is important. Long-cooked vegetables are not cooked in a lot of water; instead they are generally cooked in fat or oil and just enough water to keep them from burning, or the water is cooked off as part of the process. This seems to be a type of braising. It can be done on top of the stove or in the oven. Or in the Instant Pot? Oooh!

Oh, just realized that any pot liquor is sopped up with cornbread in the South. So, for us low carbers, we need to reduce the liquid 'cuz we don't have anything to sop up the juices! But we could serve them over mashed veggies, like cauliflower, celeriac (celery root), rutabaga (Swede), diced eggplant, etc. Yum!

Apparently almost any low-carb vegetable can benefit from this technique: celery, broccoli, broccoli rabe, artichokes, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens, collard greens (e.g., Southern style greens; gomen wat), turnip greens, spinach (e.g., saag paneer), green beans, green/red cabbage, savoy cabbage, Napa cabbage, fennel, bell peppers (e.g., marmouma), zucchini, summer squash, snap peas, eggplant, endive, shallots, onions, leeks, etc. And what about all those amazing Asian greens, like gai lan, bok choy, tatsoi, etc.?

Carb-heavy vegetables are also great cooked like this, e.g., carrots, parsnips, winter squash, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, tomatoes, peas, etc. However, if you are living a low-carb lifestyle, use these vegetables sparingly, or make them for family and friends who are not low carb.

Resources:

• Vegetables: the Soft Approach
• Delicious "Cooked-to-death" Vegetables
• NYTimes: Long-cooked Vegetables
• Braising Vegetables
• Cooking Summer Vegetables Until They Fall Apart
• Southern Style Collard Greens
• Instant Pot Collard Greens
• African Braised Greens
• Slow-cooked Green Beans
• Instant Pot Collard Greens and Sausages
• Andrea Makes Slow-cooked Veggies for the First Time!