Roasting Red Bell Peppers

FAILING is just another way of learning how not to do something.

Dad wanted to roast whole red peppers recently for use in red sauce. He had the temperature too high (425 F.). They burned. He lowered the temperature to 350 and they did nicely thereafter.

He will cut off the burnt parts.

Applying heat to the cell walls of vegetables (proteins too), causes them to excrete water. Likely the water entrained in the cells expands as it changes phase from liquid to condensation (what we normally call steam). Anyone who knows differently feel free to leave an explanatory comment below. Some of it evaporates, much of it re-condenses in the pan below. That water has flavor. Still it is largely lost. Dad wants to capture that lost water, well the flavor anyway. He is doubtful that roasted red peppers would flavor his red sauce as well as as uncooked peppers simmered directly in the sauce.

Also, removing water from the vegetables concentrates its flavor. The sugars are really easy to taste after cooking.

While cooking, his eyes teared up from the arerosolization of capsaicin. Who knew bell peppers had any? He would recommend keeping little ones away and using plenty of ventilation.