Parboil: meaning, definitions and examples

Parboil is typically used in cooking when food, usually vegetables, needs to be boiled partially before being cooked through another method like frying or roasting.

• You should parboil the potatoes before roasting them in the oven to ensure they cook evenly.
• Parboil the green beans for a few minutes, then sauté them with garlic and lemon.

Partially boil is a more descriptive and straightforward term compared to 'parboil'. It is used to describe the same process but is often favored in casual or instructional contexts.

• It's important to partially boil the pasta before adding it to the baked dish.
• To make sure the carrots aren't too hard, partially boil them for about 5 minutes.

Precook refers broadly to cooking food partially or entirely before a later use or final preparation. It is often used in the context of preparing meals in advance or when referring to food industries.

• You can precook the chicken breasts and store them in the fridge for use in salads throughout the week.
• Precook the rice the night before to save time during dinner preparation.