Cooking Veggies (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

Tuesday Tips are back, and we're covering the kitchen - until I run out of material or tire of the topic, whichever comes first.

Covered or Uncovered?

Should you use a lid on the pan when cooking veggies? 

According to one of my vintage community cookbooks, old-fashioned wisdom dictates that any vegetable grown underground (carrots, beets, potatoes...) should be cooked covered.

Veggies that grow above ground (peas, beans, greens...) should remain uncovered. Further research leads me to believe that this helps retain the bright color of your green vegetables (all of which, of course, grow above ground).

Of course, if you're one of those city slickers who's not sure which veggies grow where, this isn't going to be very helpful advice, is it? I once witnessed a "sandwich artist" at Subway stumble over a vegetarian customer's request for a sub with "everything that grows in the ground" -so you might surprised what some people don't know about their food! 

Cold or Boiling Water?

Apparently, those who came (and cooked) before us also knew that the root veggies should start off in cold water, while those grown above ground should be placed in water that is already boiling.

How could I have cooked for thirty years (and read cookbooks and homemaking magazines for longer than that) and not learned that? 

Do you have a veggie-cooking tip to share?