Posted on 04/20/2018 8:33:07 PM PDT by SamAdams76
All my life I’ve had a thing for the underdog. Be it the passed over toy as a little girl or the loser boyfriend as a teenager, I guess I took the ugly duckling fairy tale to heart. Now in my adulthood, I have taken the poor, rejected, locally grown vegetables under my wing—the underutilized, the newly-trendy, the formerly beloved fallen out of modern favor, or the just plain weird.
In the case of Brussels sprouts, they are a vegetable all too often cooked very wrong and, hence, tend to carry a bad rap. Who wouldn’t hate Brussels sprouts if all you’ve ever experienced were boiled, slimy, sulphurous mush-balls? To appreciate these poor, abused little sprouts, you first have to know not to over-boil them. You then need to be willing to experiment. And it helps to get them fresh from a local grower right after a nice fall frost.
Like fall-harvested carrots and overwintered parsnips and spinach, freezing temperatures cause the sugar content of Brussels sprouts to shoot up, acting as anti-freeze—what a tasty survival mechanism! Not only is this the cheapest time of year to buy Brussels sprouts, but it’s by far the tastiest. Look at your farmers market for whole stalks with their little sprouts still attached, and you’ll get to walk around feeling really cool with this bizarre, knobby, green club sticking out of your bag (please don’t use it as a weapon, no matter how tempting).
If you think those harvested stalks at the market look rad, you should see a field of Brussels sprouts at maturity. Resembling exotic, Jurassic-park-like, mini palm trees, the three- to four-foot tall plants have a single stem covered in Brussels sprout “buttons” spiraling up from its base to the umbrella-like leaves. (If you crawled around on the ground between the rows you could pretty easily pretend you’re a dinosaur.)
If you simply must have off-season sprouts, you can buy them almost year-round if you look hard enough—central California, with its perfect-for-brassicas long, cool, humid growing season produces them June through January, and Mexico picks up the slack from December through June. Personally, I like to get my fill of them during our local, frost-sweetened sprout season in October and November so that I’m not tempted by the nine dollar per pound, bitter, pale ones in March.
Timed right, Brussels sprouts will hold out in the field through many light frosts, extending the harvest for several weeks. If harvested on the stalk, they will keep in a 33 to 34 degree root cellar, basement or garage for a few weeks, depending on conditions. If plucked off the stem, keep them unwashed and untrimmed in plastic in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the bottom back shelf) for up to 5 weeks.
Hate to break it to you, but cabbage is just an overblown brussel sprout imitator.
I second the Brussels sprouts slaw! I also use them in the potatoes for bangers and mash. Pulse the in the food processor, quick sauté to crisp them, and they hold up far better than cabbage— it is nice to get the brighter green color poking out.
Nope. I still refuse to touch the horrid little fake cabbages. Give me the real thing!
“...just boiled topped with lots of butter..”
That’s always been my favorite, and mushy is good - same with cabbage.
Rather than boil them I’m actually steaming them, but I like them soft.
I do like the roasted ones too - bacon is good with anything - but there isn’t a right and a wrong way. It depends how much you like the taste of Brussels sprouts.
If you don’t like the taste, then of course you’ll prefer to hide the taste with bacon, olive oil and toasted garlic. But that doesn’t mean plain cooking them is “wrong”
For example, I have a friend who is a chef and he hates fish although he won’t admit it. He is so proud of his fish recipes because he manages to get rid of the fish taste.
I like the taste of fish, so as long as it’s fresh it can be poached, grilled, baked, broiled - topped with lemon, butter, scallions, horseradish, teriyaki, whatever! Or just fried in a skillet.
His fish recipes hide the taste of the fish and are over priced.
That sounds good. I stuff my Thanksgiving turkey with Burwell sprouts. Everybody fights over them.
My understanding is that there’s a genetic component to not liking brusse sprouts. Sure some people have just had poorly prepared ones - but apparently there is also a substance in them that certain people perceive as bitter.
Thank you for posting that. I must have the genetic thingy you mentioned.
glucosinolates - that’s the compound I was thinking of which tastes bitter to some people, and has no flavor at all to others. Genetic.
Kind of like now asparagus quickly changes the odor of urine. Many people can’t smell the change and others are very sensitive to it. I’m in the latter camp.
“Asparagusic acid, as the name implies, is (to our knowledge) only found in asparagus. When our bodies digest the vegetable, they break down this chemical into a group of related sulfur-containing compounds with long, complicated names (including dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl sulfoxide and dimethyl sulfone).”
You are doing it just right!
Just as weird as I! : )
I have never really been a fan of sauces on most dishes.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a57237/smashed-brussels-sprouts-recipe/
My wife loves sprouts quartered and pan fried with Lowes seasoning salt. Me... meh...
That sounds great
Nuke halves till still crisp. Then to a pan with olive oil, bacon bits and pine nuts till lightly browned.
A DIL never liked them till she had them this way.
If I could only have one vegetable for all time, it would be cabbage. There are so many things you can do with it as compared to other vegetables.
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