How do parboiling and blanching differ?

• A. Parboiling cooks partially in water; blanching cooks briefly then stops cooking with ice bath.
• B. Parboiling uses oil, while blanching uses water.
• C. Parboiling makes sauces; blanching thickens soups.
• D. Parboiling cools; blanching heats.

Answer: (A)

Parboiling and blanching are both water-based heat treatments, but they have different purposes and timing. Parboiling partially cooks food in water, starting the cooking process but leaving it unfinished so you can finish it later by roasting, frying, or simmering. Blanching, on the other hand, is a very brief cook intended to blanch the surface and set color and texture, then you immediately stop the cooking by plunging the food into ice water or very cold water. That rapid cooling halts carryover cooking and helps preserve bright color and a fresh texture.

So the statement that matches this is: parboiling cooks partially in water; blanching cooks briefly then stops cooking with an ice bath. The other ideas miss the actual purpose or the method—one misstates the medium (oil versus water), another assigns wrong outcomes (making sauces or thickening soups), and another confuses heating with cooling.