Blanching

This is the name given to a technique of briefly plunging an ingredient into boiling salted water, such as when cooking green vegetables, but it can also refer to the process where an ingredient is placed in cold water and then brought to the boil. Garlic, for example, is sometimes blanched from a cold-water start to soften its flavour, and this may be repeated several times until the desired result is achieved. A similar technique is used for purifying - for example, to release congealed blood from chicken carcasses when making stock, or to extract some of the saltiness from corned beef or other pickled meats.