robrambles.com
Default

Ingredient

carrot

Also known as: Carrots, carrot fine chopped

A root vegetable, usually orange, with a sweet, earthy flavor; eaten raw, roasted, boiled, or used as a base aromatic -- along with onion and celery -- in many soups and stews. Its sugar content means it caramelizes well under dry heat, and its firm structure holds up to long simmering better than most vegetables without turning to mush.

Buying guidance

Choose carrots that are firm with smooth, unwrinkled skin -- limpness or a rubbery bend means moisture loss and a less sweet, more fibrous result. If leafy tops are attached, fresh, unwilted greens are a good freshness sign, but trim them off soon after buying since they pull moisture from the root.

Substitutions

  • Parsnip -- similar sweetness with a more perfumed, peppery edge; slightly starchier.
  • Sweet potato -- close in sweetness when roasted, softer texture.
  • Turnip -- similar size and cooking time as an aromatic base, but earthier and less sweet.

Tips & common mistakes

Cutting carrots into uneven sizes for the same dish means the thin pieces turn soft well before the thick ones are done, more noticeably than with less dense vegetables, since carrots are dense enough that thickness alone drives most of the difference in cooking time. For a stock or braise where the carrot itself won't be eaten, peeling is usually unnecessary -- carrot skin doesn't carry the bitterness some root vegetable skins do.

Storage

If the leafy tops are still attached, remove them before storing -- left on, they keep pulling moisture from the root even after harvest, and carrots stored with tops on go limp noticeably faster than ones sold or stored topped.

Used in 23 recipes