Re brussels_sproutsI can’t conceive of more delicious yet poorly prepared vegetable.
Why do people beat them into bitter stinkballs in cooking? All it takes is some judicious oversight in cooking times and proper garnishing and dressing and you have something amazing for the table.
Why aren’t we better people in how we handle this delicious vegetable? This wholesome gift of nature!
They are meant to be roasted, preferably with olive oil and sliced carrots.
MMMMMMMMM
For a long time, conventional wisdom was to boil or steam vegetables as a matter of course. Most vegetables can more or less handle that treatment. Brussels sprouts, well, turn into bitter stinkballs. So they fell out of favor because they couldn’t be prepared with the technique of the times, and they’ve only slowly been rediscovered as delicious when made well.
They’re definitely meant to be roasted, not steamed or boiled. Having said that, even when roasting, they smell so bad that I only do it when I can leave the windows open.
So what’s your idea of the best way to prepare?
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Sliced and lightly roasted with a bit of oiive oil is a superb vegetable base for use in lots of different dishes, even salads, and often in combo with onions or garlic. Sliced and added to various stews near the end of cooking so they do not overcook. It’s endless. They key is not to overcook them and (for my use) to slice them up a bit so they cook fairly quickly.
They also go nicely with various vinegar sauces and dressings used in moderation,.
I like them boiled but you have to stop cooking them and put them in a bowl when your fork still feels resistance when forking them. They’ll continue to cook in the bowl and then be at the perfect tasty and cooked spot when spooned onto your plate.
It’s important if you grow them to wait for the first good frost before harvesting them: kills off some of the bitterness.
It was a crappy year here in Iowa for BS and peppers (of all kinds) because it got so hot. This week we had a frost but in the last 2 weeks before that we actually had more pepper blooms turning into peppers and more BS nodules fleshing out then all summer.
Steamed, cut in half and quickly tossed in a frying pan with butter and slivered almonds.
Used instead of cabbage in coleslaw. Which I guess solves the cooking smell problem.
Just had wonderful Brussels sprouts for dinner tonight!
Hated them as. A kid because they were always boiled or steamed from frozen and disgusting. Now they’re one of my faves.
Halved, allowed to dry slightly, then tossed with bacon fat to coat and roasted in a very hot oven until the outside is crispy. Eat immediately. They are nowhere near as good if you dump them in a bowl and let them steam themselves soggy before eating.
And use fresh ones, never frozen.
Stir fried with a bit of creme fraiche and mustard. Yum yum.
I think it was thought at one time that the pungency of brassicas of all kinds (and their intestinal consequences) would be dealt with by boiling them to death (as in the old joke about people “putting their sprouts on in November” - for their Christmas lunch!).
I sprinkle them with bacon bits, drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and a little bit of maple syrup, and roast them.
Mmm.
mmm
Ever since I started roasting vegetables I’ve never gone back to steaming them.
Here are some more ideas
I think a big issue is that they are difficult to cook correctly: the perfect amount of doneness is slightly charred. Too much and they’re burnt, not enough and they are good not great.
Mrs Cad does not cook and this is one of the rare dishes she does. Hers are perfect with some balsamic vinegar.
And this is really the key regardless of cooking method. They should be cooked to just barely one step past crunchy and then you’re done. That takes longer when roasting than when boiling, but overcooked Brussels sprouts are inedible regardless of cooking method.
My own preference: stove-top cooking in a skillet with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and sliced onion. Get it hot enough to brown the outside edges of the sprouts and then get it off the heat. Top with Parmesan. (This happens to be the same way I cook zucchini). The onions are a nice touch because they turn sweeter when properly cooked and that makes a nice foil for the slight bitterness of the sprouts.
Even roasted the devils cabbages are little sulfur bombs.
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving two years ago and now I am not permitted to attend any family events unless I bring a doubled recipe of them with me. They are incredible.