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How vegetables are served in restaurants - boiled or cooked

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Latest post Thu, Oct 18 2007 4:49 PM by nona the brit. 2 replies.
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Anonymous  +  431991 Thu, 18 Oct 07 11:36 AM

Hello all!

I would appreciate comments from native English speakers on what would be the right adjective to use when describing vegetables immersed in boiling water for whatever time it takes to make them digestible offered as a side dish in a restaurant.

With potatoes I believe it is easy and there is no option but to say 'boiled potatoes' (apart from other ways of preparing potatoes - served as French fries, baked, etc.).

With other veg I am not sure - should it be 'boiled' or 'cooked' (possibly 'crisp-cooked') or still something different?

Let's take carrots - would one say 'boiled carrots' or rather 'cooked carrots' (as a side dish)? Similarly, cauliflower or green peas/beans or broccoli,  etc.

Goolging out the phrases 'cooked carrots' gets more hits than 'boiled carrots'. Same for cauliflower....

What sounds right to an English native speaker? Does anybody know if there are any regional preferences (US vs. British English)?

Any help much appreciated.

MD 
Anonymous
Mister Micawber  +  432074 Thu, 18 Oct 07 03:13 PM

Chefs may have subtler verbs, but immersing in boiling water until edible produces 'boiled' anything.  'Cooked' tells us nothing about the method and seldom or never appears on a menu.
Mister Micawber
Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004
Yokohama
Veteran Member 30,788
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'
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nona the brit  +  432109 Thu, 18 Oct 07 04:49 PM
We also tend to assume that vegetables have been cooked (by whatever method) so normally menus just list the vegetable without mentioning the cooking method, unless they want to make a big sales point of it. No-one reading simply 'brocolli' or 'carrots' will think they are to be served raw unless the description includes the word 'salad' or similar. If you want to point out the cooking method, then in this case you should use 'boiled'.
nona the brit
Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004
England
Veteran Member 11,713
The name says it all.
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