Today’s top tip – a very quick and simple rule for cooking vegetables.
Under the ground, start cold. Potatoes, carrots, celeriac, parsnips – anything that grows under the ground goes into cold salted water and is brought to the boil. Root vegetables take much longer to cook, so starting them cold means the outside won’t go mushy before the inside is cooked. The longer cook gives an even result all the way through.
Above the ground, start boiling. Beans, cabbage, broccoli – anything that grows above the ground goes into salted boiling water. They don’t need long, so drop them in and pull them out as soon as they’re done.
The exception. When you’re parboiling potatoes for roasties, put them into hot water. For roast potatoes you actually want that slightly mushed-up outside – that’s what gets crispy.