Roasting Vegetables to Char: The Caramelisation Threshold

Ottolenghi's approach to vegetables — roasting at high heat until genuinely charred at the edges — was influential in shifting restaurant and home cook practice away from the timid roasting that produces steamed, pale vegetables. The technique is not about burning; it is about taking the Maillard reaction and caramelisation to their maximum point before carbonisation, producing deep flavour complexity unavailable at lower temperatures.

Vegetables roasted at high heat (220°C+) with sufficient oil and spacing to achieve genuine caramelisation and edge charring — not browning, but the deep mahogany to near-black edge colouration that signals maximum flavour development without carbonisation.

Char on vegetables is a flavour amplifier — caramelised sugars, Maillard compounds, and the slight bitterness of controlled carbonisation create depth that no amount of seasoning applied before a timid roast can produce. Against tahini, yogurt, or pomegranate molasses, charred vegetables read as complex, intense, and fully realised.