How to cook the beets correctly, quickly, with the preservation of taste, color, vitamins

It would seem, among all the culinary tricks and secrets, cooking vegetables does not require any special knowledge and is subject to even quite ignorant, novice mistresses. Not everything, however, is so simple, for example, how to cook beets for vinaigrette or a bright borscht with a rich, flawless color, or a characteristic beetroot soup? To ensure that the proper crunchiness was present, and the elasticity and vitamins were preserved.

If the beet should be boiled for cooking on its basis or as an additional ingredient in a salad: a traditional vinaigrette, with apples, with garlic and sauce, with herbs and olive fragrant oil, for a beloved herring under a fur coat, etc., you need to get a bright vegetable , A certain rigidity. Hard enough (vinaigrette) or, on the contrary, soft (fur coat). The most common typical errors in beet roasting are stiffness, structural heterogeneity, pallor. Then how to cook beets correctly, in order to avoid them? It should be:

- To lay root crops is recommended in cold water, not in boiling water. In boiling water is also acceptable, however, vitamins are so destroyed faster and more.

- the water should cover the vegetables slightly, at the same time it is necessary to monitor the water level, and pour in periodically cold water, as the vegetables should be constantly in the water completely.

- when cooking several roots, they should be approximately equal in shape and weight.

Beet tail can not be cut.

- it is preferable to pick up root crops intact, clean them well before cooking from contamination, rinse.

- the most optimal form of beet for cooking whole (not for soups) - cylindrical elongated, saturated red, sweet.

- Cook should be on low heat, do not allow bubbling, under the lid.

- an unequivocal recommendation how long to cook beetroot, no. Everything depends on the desired degree of rigidity, the size of the root crop. On average, the process takes from 40 minutes to an hour, with large round roots and more.

- to check softness and readiness it is possible traditionally - a knife, a toothpick (to pierce). As a rule, beetroot is definitely ready, if root crops slip off the knife, it is not necessary to shake it. Just do not do this every four minutes. It's ideal to test your readiness once. Otherwise, the root crop will be all waste, the juice will flow out, the brightness and integrity will be lost. It should be quiet, do not worry about cooking beets for 40 minutes, after which you can check for readiness if the fruits are small or require a slightly harsh, crunchy texture.

- it is not necessary to salt water for cooking beets, firstly, it is practically useless, and secondly, it can somewhat affect the taste of the vegetable.

- often there is a need to preserve color, how to make beets bright and beautiful? To preserve the color, the boiled water can be acidified or sweetened. Add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar table or lemon juice, or sugar for 3 liters of one liquid (excluding the volume of vegetables). Suitable and citric acid or sour kvass.

- strict requirements are not imposed on the material of the glassware, but it should be understood that the broth is dyeing and saturated. However, it is not recommended to cook in metal dishes. To the size of the requirement is, the less useless the capacity of the tank, the better. Ideally, from the surface of the liquid to the cover there should be a couple of cm.

- when cooking beets, there is a certain specific smell, to get rid of it simply by putting a bread crust in the pan.

To ensure that the ready beet is easily and quickly cleaned, after cooking, you should rinse it or lower it for 8-10 minutes in cold water. Cook the vegetable separately from the rest, and the sliced prepared slices / cubes of the beetroot are oiled with vegetable oil, in order to preserve the color and not color the remaining salad ingredients.

If the beet needs to be cooked very quickly, you can boil and cut the peeled root crops. How to cook beets quickly? The main thing is a minimum of water, a small container, a closed lid. It's 15 minutes. After boiling, you should definitely add a spoonful of vinegar and mix it - the color will be restored. For salads, beets can also be boiled / baked in a microwave oven, stewed, baked in a conventional oven.