To chop or to blend?

Many dishes start off by finely chopping and then frying vegetables (usually onions, carrots, celery and maybe garlic) to get a good flavour base.

If you want to get the maximum flavour would it not be better to blend them all into a paste and then fry off the paste? (Assuming of course that they would cook away completely during the cooking anyway)

flavor cutting

Best Answer

There's nothing stopping you blitzing a mirepoix in a food processor, but what tends to happen is that the onions especially release a lot of water which can prevent them, and the rest of the mix, browning nicely.

For this reason, a nice small dice is usually the best way to proceed.

Pictures about "To chop or to blend?"

To chop or to blend? - Assorted vegetables placed on counter near jars with pasta

To chop or to blend? - Uncooked mushrooms and onion placed on table with fresh rosemary

To chop or to blend? - Ripe sliced grapefruit placed on blue surface

Can I blend onions instead of chopping?

Use a Blender Simply peel the skin off your onion and quickly cut it into quarters. Put these quarters in your blender, and pulse the onion until you're satisfied with the texture. Blenders that include a smaller container are perfect for this quick task.

Should I blend my mirepoix?

Also, by blending you massively increase the surface area of the mirepoix which will increase the rate of flavour extraction compared to just dicing and might possibly unbalance your dish unless you alter the vegetable ratios to compensate. There's a bit of a difference between a good food processor and a blender.

What happens when you blend onions?

By blending raw onions before you heat them, you release protective sulfur compounds which are one of the main benefits of onions.

Cut Off - Lonely (Original Mix)

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Images: Lukas, Sarah Chai, Flora Westbrook, Laker