Blanching

Blanching is boiling a food for a short period in order to partially cook it or to fully cook it to a firm texture. Today, most chefs use the term blanching to describe boiling vegetables in water to an à point or al dente texture, and then stopping the carryover cooking by refreshing them. The term boiling is used almost exclusively for starches such as potatoes and pasta.

1. To remove skins or peels. To remove the skin from a tomato or a peach, blanch it for a few seconds and then immediately refresh it. The skin slips off easily, and the flesh remains raw.
2. For par-cooking. Firm or hard vegetables are sometimes blanched to partially soften their texture before another cooking method is applied. You might blanch cauliflower before baking it in a gratin. Blanching also stops enzymatic browning and removes undesirable strong flavors from vegetables such as turnips.
3. To pre-cook for cold service or for reheating. For this purpose, vegetables are fully cooked, usually à point or al dente.