Put the sprouts on

[kiloran]

I got a rather poignant reminder from my Google calendar this morning.

Mum died in May. She became a bit forgetful in recent years, so asked me to remind her a month before christmas to put the sprouts on the boil ready for christmas dinner. She couldn't stand undercooked food.
I live 300 miles away from mum, and I swear I could hear her sprouts screaming for mercy every christmas.

--kiloran

[DrFfybes]

That's organised, I usually waited until a fortinght before.

[stevensfo]

I got a rather poignant reminder from my Google calendar this morning.

Mum died in May. She became a bit forgetful in recent years, so asked me to remind her a month before christmas to put the sprouts on the boil ready for christmas dinner. She couldn't stand undercooked food.
I live 300 miles away from mum, and I swear I could hear her sprouts screaming for mercy every christmas.

--kiloran

She couldn't stand undercooked food.

Yep, I grew up in that Britain. It wasn't till I went to work abroad that I discovered - shock, horror - that meat didn't have to be 50% black carbon and vegetables didn't have to be boiled to death. Okay, apart from a roast beef, where my dad loved it nice and pink inside -thank goodness!

Fortunately things have changed. A salad is now a bit more than a piece of lettuce, a radish and tomato. We have decent coffee now. Remember Camp Coffee?

Oh and what is this long running joke about everyone hating sprouts. I love 'em!

Steve

[stewamax]

We have decent coffee now. Remember Camp Coffee?

Ah...the coffee bottle with a label showing a standing turban-clad Sikh bearer serving a seated Gordon Highlanders officer with coffee (presumably containing sugar and chicory). The label was much later changed to one more democratic showing the two both seated and each enjoying a cup. The bearer is perhaps less on edge as depicted in the later label as the officer's vicious-looking 1828-pattern sword has vanished.

[CliffEdge]

Think we had the same bottle of Camp Coffee with Chicory in the cupboard for all of my childhood and teenage years.

[mc2fool]

Oh and what is this long running joke about everyone hating sprouts. I love 'em!

Par boil (well, soften up a little in the microwave), then slice in two vertically and stir fry with the usual garlic, ginger & chilli, adding some teriyaki glaze for the last few seconds.

[kiloran]

Oh and what is this long running joke about everyone hating sprouts. I love 'em!

Par boil (well, soften up a little in the microwave), then slice in two vertically and stir fry with the usual garlic, ginger & chilli, adding some teriyaki glaze for the last few seconds.

Sounds interesting, but might spoil the flavour of the sprout. I'll give it a try, though.
I just pop in boiling water for 10 minutes max and they're perfect.

--kiloran

[mc2fool]

Par boil (well, soften up a little in the microwave), then slice in two vertically and stir fry with the usual garlic, ginger & chilli, adding some teriyaki glaze for the last few seconds.

Sounds interesting, but might spoil the flavour of the sprout. I'll give it a try, though.
I just pop in boiling water for 10 minutes max and they're perfect.

--kiloran

Complements, my dear fellow, complements. Not spoils.

Boiling/steaming sprouts is best if you want maximum bitterness. All veggies have sugars in them and roasting/sauteeing/(stir) frying is good for bringing those out. (Hmmm ... I think I'll try them in my recently acquired air fryer). Teriyaki glaze is sweet itself so my method above ends up with a nicely contrasting sweet-and-bitter (and spicy) dish of sprouts.

[kempiejon]

Oh and what is this long running joke about everyone hating sprouts. I love 'em!

Par boil (well, soften up a little in the microwave), then slice in two vertically and stir fry with the usual garlic, ginger & chilli, adding some teriyaki glaze for the last few seconds.

We have sprouts often, I usually fry them as there's generally teriyaki in my cupboard I'll try that.
My favourite way for Christmas is with chopped streaky bacon fried until crispy and set aside, I keep the fat in the pan to soften onions, split the sprouts half-wise and fry in a hot pan cut side down until they just colour, add back the bacon, onions and a handful of cooked chestnuts sprinkle nutmeg or other Christmassy spice.

[mc2fool]

Par boil (well, soften up a little in the microwave), then slice in two vertically and stir fry with the usual garlic, ginger & chilli, adding some teriyaki glaze for the last few seconds.

We have sprouts often, I usually fry them as there's generally teriyaki in my cupboard I'll try that.
My favourite way for Christmas is with chopped streaky bacon fried until crispy and set aside, I keep the fat in the pan to soften onions, split the sprouts half-wise and fry in a hot pan cut side down until they just colour, add back the bacon, onions and a handful of cooked chestnuts sprinkle nutmeg or other Christmassy spice.

Yeah, that's a pretty good traditional way of doing them too.

BTW, to be clear, I did mean Teriyaki Glaze, although they're pretty good with Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade too. The glaze is much thicker and sweeter than the marinade sauce. Hoisin, sukiyaki and just regular soy sauce are all worth trying too, with their varying levels of sweet & salty.

[kempiejon]

BTW, to be clear, I did mean Teriyaki Glaze, although they're pretty good with Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade too. The glaze is much thicker and sweeter than the marinade sauce. Hoisin, sukiyaki and just regular soy sauce are all worth trying too, with their varying levels of sweet & salty.

Thanks for the follow up I had missed the nuance and glaze isn't a store cupboard item of mine, I could knock sum up with a sweetened reduced marinade I expect. A chum does creamy sprouts au gratin with a cheese breadcrumb top.

Like kiloran's mum, my grandmother was a traditionalist and would put the veggies the month before and it wasn't until boxing day, hidden in mash that I liked her sprouts.

[XFool]

We have decent coffee now. Remember Camp Coffee?

Ah...the coffee bottle with a label showing a standing turban-clad Sikh bearer serving a seated Gordon Highlanders officer with coffee (presumably containing sugar and chicory). The label was much later changed to one more democratic showing the two both seated and each enjoying a cup. The bearer is perhaps less on edge as depicted in the later label as the officer's vicious-looking 1828-pattern sword has vanished.

This, from Wikipedia, is interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Coffee#History

"The original label, by William Victor Wrigglesworth, depicted a Sikh servant waiting on a seated Scottish soldier. A feature of that label was that the server carried a tray on which there was a bottle of Camp Coffee, which carried the same label showing a bottle of Camp Coffee, regressing to infinity. A later version of the label, introduced in the mid-20th century, removed the tray from the picture, thus removing the infinite bottles Droste effect, which was seen as an attempt to avoid the connotation that the Sikh was a servant, although he still waited while the kilted Scottish soldier sipped his coffee. Since 2006, the Sikh is depicted as a soldier sitting beside the Scottish soldier, with a cup and saucer of his own."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droste_effect

Then there is this. No pun intended, I trust?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_MacDonald#Cultural_references

[scotview]

She became a bit forgetful in recent years, so asked me to remind her a month before christmas to put the sprouts on the boil ready for christmas dinner.
--kiloran

That is a poignant and touching story.

Was there not a reminder early November for the neeps ?

[servodude]

Think we had the same bottle of Camp Coffee with Chicory in the cupboard for all of my childhood and teenage years.

The "oh that's not the HP" bottle that would be put back and forgotten until next lifted by accident

[nimnarb]

Make sure sprouts are dry, place in bowl and mix with olive oil, orange/lime pepper, salt, some breadcrumbs, and Parmesan plus a sprinkle of garlic powder or basically whatever you like and then pop in an air fryer for around 6-8 mins at around 375 degrees. Toss them around a few times. For blackened crispy buggers, very nice.

[DrFfybes]

Boiling/steaming sprouts is best if you want maximum bitterness. All veggies have sugars in them and roasting/sauteeing/(stir) frying is good for bringing those out. (Hmmm ... I think I'll try them in my recently acquired air fryer).

Over the years I have tried many ways of processing sprouts.

Like most here, my initial exposure was overboiled on a Sunday or at Xmas, but over time things progressed. They became 'boiled', which at lest meant some texture, hours spent stripping way the outside leaves and cutting an 'x' in the top. The the roasting fad arrived, a vast imrpovement, although there was always omesort of attempt to complement/disguise the taste by mixing them with Chestnuts, then bacon, the garlic. And latterly is the sautee or stir fry, halved, mixed with myriad other flavours and then tossed lightly in hot oil whist the gravy goes cold and lumpy.

We even tried to grow our own, visions of nipping down the garden on Xams morning to pick them fresh and return triumphant to the kitchen (rather like we did with the 'new' potatoes we buried on Xmas Eve when mum wasn't looking) . And you know what I have learnt from all this, the hours of peeling the fiddly buggers and scoring, cutting, chopping, slicing?

I've learnt that my favorite way of processing sprouts is "composting".

[Dod101]

Make sure sprouts are dry, place in bowl and mix with olive oil, orange/lime pepper, salt, some breadcrumbs, and Parmesan plus a sprinkle of garlic powder or basically whatever you like and then pop in an air fryer for around 6-8 mins at around 375 degrees. Toss them around a few times. For blackened crispy buggers, very nice.

And the result may be very nice mais ce n’est pas le sprout.

Dod

[SimonS]

I got a rather poignant reminder from my Google calendar this morning.

Mum died in May. She became a bit forgetful in recent years, so asked me to remind her a month before christmas to put the sprouts on the boil ready for christmas dinner. She couldn't stand undercooked food.
I live 300 miles away from mum, and I swear I could hear her sprouts screaming for mercy every christmas.

--kiloran

I'm not much of a cook, but isn't a month even on a low heat a bit long to cook sprouts? You would need a programmable cooker like a battery charger, cook for 30 days on a maintenance program then a quick burst to bring them up to fully cooked in the last half hour?

[kiloran]

I got a rather poignant reminder from my Google calendar this morning.

Mum died in May. She became a bit forgetful in recent years, so asked me to remind her a month before christmas to put the sprouts on the boil ready for christmas dinner. She couldn't stand undercooked food.
I live 300 miles away from mum, and I swear I could hear her sprouts screaming for mercy every christmas.

--kiloran

I'm not much of a cook, but isn't a month even on a low heat a bit long to cook sprouts? You would need a programmable cooker like a battery charger, cook for 30 days on a maintenance program then a quick burst to bring them up to fully cooked in the last half hour?

A month is too long for sprouts? For my mum? Be serious, that was an absolute minimum
No idea why she did not put me off sprouts for life, but I love them boiled for just 10 minutes.

--kiloran