How to Blanch & Shock Green Beans

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Lori with Figs Catering in Austin, Texas on behalf of Expert Village today we are going to show you how to make a entire Thanksgiving meal. So now what we are going to do we are going to blanch our green beans so I got a pot of boiling water and it is to a roiling boil. Now that my water has boiled I'm going to add about a tablespoon of Kosher salt. That is actually going to help flavor the green beans as they cook. So next I'm just going to place the green beans into the boiling water and I'm going to let them boil for about 3-4 minutes or until they turn a bright green color. While that is working I'm going to fill my bowl with ice cold water. If you have ice that is really the best thing cause that is really going to stop the cooking. Now if your green beans are thick you want them to let them boil about 3-4 minutes or until they are a nice bright green color. If you are using thinner green beans like Haricots Verts a French green beans then you can bland them for about a minutes or 2. They should still have some texture to them whenever you bend them either way. Now my green beans have a nice bright green color to them. When I bend them they move just a little bit but there is still some texture to them. I'm going to slightly under cook them because whenever we cook them and reheat them for the Thanksgiving meal they are going to cook again. So you want to take that into consideration. I've got my nice iced water it looks like most of my ice is already melted and what that is going to do it is going to stop the cooking for me and it is going to set that nice bright green color. Now that these are done I'm going to go ahead and set them aside and that is how you blanch green beans. "