What does “sancochar” mean in Spanish?

Sancochar means to half-cook something on purpose — parboil it — so it finishes later in the sauce or the stew. The dictionary definition is charming: to cook food “leaving it half-raw.” In the Caribbean the verb often just means to boil, and its famous relative is sancocho, the great hearty stew of Colombia, the Dominican Republic and half of Latin America.

The rancho cook uses it exactly by the book: her diced potatoes go into hot oil “a sancochar un poquito” — softened only, since they’ll finish cooking in the chile salsa. It’s everyday rural-kitchen Spanish you’ll rarely find in a textbook but constantly hear in cooking videos, usually right where an English recipe would say “parboil” or “blanch.”