This involves placing food to be blanched into a large quantity of cold water, bringing it slowly to a boil, uncovered, and continuing to simmer it for the length of time specified. Following this hot bath, the food is drained, plunged quickly into cold water to firm it and to arrest further hot water cooking and then finished as directed in the recipe.

This is the process used to leach excess salt from tongue, cured ham or salt pork and to remove excess blood or strong flavors from variety meats. The cold water plunge after blanching effectively firms the more fragile variety meats, like brains and sweetbreads.