Skill 15 of 16

Building a soup

Soften, season, simmer, and it tastes like it cooked all day.

What it means

Sweat

Sweating means cooking vegetables gently over low to medium-low heat until they soften and release their juices, without browning. It builds a sweet, mellow base for soups and sauces.

How you’ll know: They look glossy and soft with beads of moisture, and they haven’t turned brown.

Fragrant

Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.

How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.

Simmer

Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.

How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.

Wilt

Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.

How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.