Originally Posted by
ePressureCooker
"Mushy" vegetables may be the result of overcooking, but with certain vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, etc., you can help keep them "firm" by adding a small amount of vinegar to the cooking water. Vinegar actually reinforces the pectin in the cell walls of certain vegetables.
I find lemon or lime juice is more versatile when cooking vegetables. I do use vinegar occasionally, but that's only when I specifically want to add a vinegar taste. A drop of mirin and sake (together with a tiny little bit of lemon juice and grated rind which I add for flavour) as well as some dashi are fantastic for kabocha pumpkins.