Parboiling is a mid-point between blanching and fully cooking an item. Unlike blanching, you boil the item beyond just setting the color. Yet you still remove the item before it has been fully cooked.

This is a very useful technique for stir-frying and other dishes where you have to combine a variety of vegetables with different cooking times. Simply parboil the items that take longer to cook, then add them at the last minute along with faster cooking ingredients.

Par"boil` (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Parboiled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Parboiling.] [OE. parboilen, OF. parbouillir to cook well; par through (see Par) + bouillir to boil, L. bullire. The sense has been influenced by E. part. See lst Boil.]

1.

To boil or cook thoroughly.

[Obs.]

B. Jonson.

2.

To boil in part; to cook partially by boiling.

<-- the only def. in MW10. Also, used figuratively for "do (something) partly, incompletely" -->

 

© Webster 1913.

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