I read the instructions for the frozen Brussels sprouts that I brought for lunch today. Included in the instructions is this sentence: “For food safety, cook to an internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer.” Do you think that any ordinary consumer has ever actually measured the internal temperature of his or her Brussels sprouts with a food thermometer? I haven’t and probably never will.
It is our ever more litigious society, the same one that makes manufacturers urge using safety goggles with a screwdriver.
“So you allege my client’s Brussels sprouts infected you with salmonella.”
“I do, yes.”
“And you heated them to 160-degrees before serving them?”
“I did, yes. I had them in the bag boiling on the stove for fifteen minutes.”
“But you did not actually measure the temperature, as instructed by my client before touching or otherwise plating the sprouts.”
“…I did not.”
“Move to dismiss, your honor.”
Yep. Lawyers.
On the side of our cooking spray, it says one serving is like 1/5 of second of spray. So anytime you bake cookies, you’re using like 500 servings.
Nah, the opposing side would probably point out that boiling for 15 minutes would bring the temp up above 160 even without a thermometer.
The litigation would probably be more around someone who nuked them to what they perceived as “tender-crisp” and then got food poisoning because they were actually 120 inside.
So they put that disclaimer on there just in case, so they can say “So you followed the directions, using your janky 350 watt microwave and got food poisoning? Did you also test the internal temp with a food thermometer?” and have something in the way of legal coverage. By warning the consumer to heat it to at least 160 internally, they’re essentially removing most chances of bacterial food poisoning and trying to push the responsibility onto the consumer to correctly cook the food.
(160 is sort of like an insta-pasteurize temperature as far as the USDA is concerned)
But yeah, it’s the tendency for idiots to sue that causes all the common-sense disclaimers on everything.
If prepared by immersing in boiling water then one could probably safely assume that the internal temperature as measured with a food thermometer of a single Brussels sprout is representative of all of the Brussels sprouts in the batch, especially if one chose the largest Brussels sprout in the batch for measurement. However, preparation in a microwave oven may result in uneven heating. This might require the measurement of the internal temperature with a food thermometer of each individual Brussels sprout in the batch resulting in an inordinate expenditure of time and resources. If the variation of internal temperature of each Brussels sprout in a typical batch prepared in a microwave oven were well known, can anyone devise a sampling plan with a minimum number of measurements to ensure that within a given confidence level all of the Brussels sprouts in a batch have been sufficiently heated?
Whoa. I’ve eaten brussel sprouts raw. Am I going to die?
Brussels sprouts instructions: These taste terrible. Throw in trash.
Roasted Brussels sprouts are delicious!
- many
Yes you are going to die.
But a little later, because eating vegetables is good for you.
Indeed, Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) likes them roasted to the point I would refer to as “blackened”. :dubious:
May I respectfully suggest that the OP switch to fresh Brussels sprouts?
Damn, I already cancelled my Holiday plans.
You would complain if you were to be hanged with a new sprout!
no, wait…
Moved to CS
Mmmm Brussels sprouts. You can boil 'em. fry 'em, nuke 'em, roast 'em, slaw 'em, raw 'em, sautee 'em, cheese 'em, bacon 'em, butter 'em, steam 'em, roast 'em, salad 'em*, spice 'em, dice 'em - Bubba coulda gone into sprouts if that shrimp thing didn’t work out.
*Few people know that the ancient people of Jerusalem actually yelled “Cruciferousify him!”, meaning “pelt him with rotten green leafy vegetables until he looks like a moldy Caesar salad”. The “crown of thorns” was supposed to be skewers for keeping the croutons from getting mushy but in the general confusion was made inside out. It was all an unfortunate misunderstanding that has given Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cabbage a bad name and made romaine the star of the dish to this day.
The only way I’ll eat them is if they’ve been caramelized enough that they approach (and maybe pass) “blackened.” A restaurant near us roasted them with garlic and balsamic and a few other ingredients, and I always picked out the ones with the blackest edges first. Yum!
Plus they’re more likely to be roasted all the way through and not have that nasty bitter rawness that made me hate them most of my life.
Instructions for the best way to prepare frozen Brussels Sprouts:
- Remove Brussels sprouts from freezer.
- Place Brussels sprouts in trash.
I wonder if Brussels Sprouts are one of those foods where there’s polarized genetic variation in taste sensitivity? They seem to arouse strong feelings in both directions.
I don’t have a problem with fresh Brussels Sprouts grilled, braised, or roasted. There is no way to make good frozen ones.