This Is Gregory Gourdet's Top Tip For Cooking Veggies

Colorado.com describes Gregory Gourdet as a dynamo chef who was a top performer on his season of "Top Chef," constantly wowing judges with his "forward-thinking" prowess. Several years ago, when the article was written, the chef and former culinary director lived in Portland, but opened a fantastic pan-Asian restaurant in Colorado, bringing his old concepts to a new city. According to his Instagram bio, he is now the Chef, Owner and  Dishwasher at Kann in Portland, as well as a "Top Chef" All Star & now judge. With J.J. Goode he's written a cookbook, "Everyone's Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health," and collaborated on a burger sampler called Occo. Suffice it to say, the man has some experience.

According to One Green Planet, there are "over a dozen different ways to cook vegetables." And while they love a good steam or sauté, they recommend trying something new, with suggestions ranging from boiling to stir frying to braising and stewing and even frying or pickling. Each method creates a unique taste and nutrient profile. In addition to these great suggestions, Chef Gregory has some thoughts on what you should really look to do when cooking vegetables.

Gourdet's cookbook is all about his heritage, arduous journey to health, and embracing a new Paleo lifestyle. The Kitchn interviewed Gourdet about the cookbook and noted that the volume skews toward "gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free" — not quite vegetarian, but very vegetable-forward, making a non-veggie lover want to cook more vegetables than they had in their life. As they spoke to Gourdet about his journey in writing this new book, they found that Gourdet's advice for a perfect vegetable is charring.

Gourdet notes that charring (cooking things with the skin on) "is taking roasting one step further, and just getting really good color." He notes that most of the time you have to peel the skin off, but for sauces the process is even easier as "you don't have to peel it. You don't have to chop it up into a million little pieces. You can cook it at a higher heat or throw it on the grill, and ease that prep time." So this method seems to be a winner in flavor and saving of prep time. Will you try it?