Once again, patience is the key.

  Though it's not really for me to be a judge of such things, I may be well on my way to rock star status. This is based on the shelves that I made by hand, myself, that you can see below and of which I am mighty proud. But enough of my self-important ramblings and on to food related wordery.

  Yesterday was all about a slow cooked tomato sauce based dish, and that's a useful link to some sensible advice. Though I've encouraged you to take your time when cooking meat, the same is true for vegetables but for a very different reason.

  It's obvious that the reason would be different, I know you knew that vegetables didn't have connective tissue that needs to dissolve so it falls off the bone. I just... (Get on with it. -Ed.).

  There are a couple of good reasons for cooking veg slowly. The first is to reduce the water content. As the vegetables cook, the water contained therein evaporates thus giving a more intense flavour and, especially in the case of sauces, a thicker, richer texture.

  Possibly more important, however, is the difference made to the flavour. Many vegetables have a slight bitterness when raw but a good simmering is all that's needed to bring out the sweetness. The best example is ratatouille. Many tomato based recipes ask for a bit of sugar, but if you let them cook properly you'll find it unnecessary. Add the rest of the usual suspects as you do in the case of ratatouille and unless you give it enough time over the heat it's the same as difference between spam and fois gras. You have been warned.

Kirk out

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