DIFFERENT Ratatouilles

Q. [In his recipe for ratatouille,] My chef friend Jean Claude Cavalera . . . recommends cooking each ingredient separately to really bring out the individual flavors before mixing them. What do you think of that approach? ~ Lee

A. I've made ratatouille the traditional way, cooking all the ingredients together in one pot. But, to my taste, yes, I prefer Cavalera's approach.

One recipe that I post on this site is for the old-fashioned way, but another recipe on the site for Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille is more like Cavalera’s.

What I like about Cavalera’s way with ratatouille is in its consumption: each bite allows for the full flavor of a different ingredient so that, in a carousel-like way, the eating of the ratatouille makes for many distinct flavors. It's a more "dynamic" ratatouille than one made by cooking everything together in one pot from the beginning.