My guide to getting the most flavour from your vegetables
One thing you’ll notice if you watch me, is that I’m constantly working the vegetables, which I’m frying over a high heat. This is a process called sweating, which means driving the moisture out of the vegetables over a high heat, literally making them sweat. By doing this, I bring out the flavour of the vegetables. The secret to successful sweating is to keep moving the vegetables with a spatula or spoon all the time you are doing this. This is really important. If you don’t work them constantly, moving them and turning them, they will start to scorch, to catch, to singe. I’m always working them as if they start to colour or turn brown at all as this will give a bitter flavour.
Have a look at my recipes for Leek and Potato Soup, Leek and Potato Soup with Smoked Haddock and Bolognese Sauce and you’ll see the importance sweating the vegetables. One thing I’ve learned over the years, is that it’s attention to details like this that make all the difference to how your dish tastes.
