My carrots won't cook?

Question

I'm not new to the kitchen. I know carrots take longer to cook than other vegies. For this reason when I cook carrots with other vegies I cut the other veggies very large to equal out the cooking times. I made a pot roast today and I had to sepperate out the carrots and boil them in the juices. They have been boiling for like 20 minutes after bing in the oven for an hour and a half. They are still raw. What's going on here? Has this happened to anyone else?

Next time I'll put them on the bottom. I usually just mix them up with other other veggies. I use onion, carrots, potatoes and today I used yams. Yams are great cooked in meat juice--beaf, chicken, or turkey.

The carrots wern't old. I noticed this last time I cooked some from this bag. The bag is gone now so that's good. They finally did cook after half an hour of boiling in the juices I roasted them in. OH well.

Answer 1

Yes, this did happen to me many years ago. They must have been just very old, tough carrots. It can happen with those larger bagged type. The fresh bunches are always fresh and younger. Those tiny prepared carrots are sometimes cut by machine from older, tougher carrots, to suit microwave cooking, and lose a lot of taste and nutrients in the process. I also discovered that adding carrots and potatoes to curries take much longer to cook, and solved that problem by precooking them in the microwave before adding them to the curry. They still take up the flavour of the sauce. I also discovered that cutting the carrots SMALLER, in relation to the size of the other veggies, ensures that the carrots cook at the same time. Next time try putting the carrots in a layer on the bottom of your roasting pan, and put the meat on top of them. That should settle their hash! Hope it works! Good luck.

Answer 2

That might mean your carrots were too old! The one time that happened to me, I was chancing the lifetime of the carrots & they took FOREVER to cook & still didn't taste right... they were just a little dry in the bag & cracking on the sides. Was this your case?

Answer 3

No this has never happened to me, try roasting them instead, or whenever I put them in the roast I put them in the bottom with the potatoes etc on top. And don't put too much liquid in with the roast, because the carrots won't get that nice brown on them.

Answer 4

I have never had that happen to me. Try to cut the carrots smaller, or use "microwavable" carrots. I have seen these at Publix, all they are is smaller versions of hte baby carrots. You still get all the benefits, but in half the cooking time

Answer 5

I believe they have bred carrots to last a long time in the warehouse without rotting. It also makes them very hard to cook to a soft consistency. Use ORGANIC carrots.

Answer 6

It might be the amount of fluids available to the carrots while in the oven. if you have a pretty dry dish..and put uncooked carrot in there.. it will just dry out and go harder...and then they will not take in the fluids they need to cook.... only thing I can think of.

Answer 7

Cut the carrots smaller, thats what I do when my potatoes take to long to cook and it works perfectly

Answer 8

I love raw carrots. Try saying it.