A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Gattopardo]

Can you tell the difference between a turkey and a capon?

'Cos I can't.

We have a capon not a turkey.

[rafletcher]

These days a capon is just a big old chicken - the "proper" castrated cockerel version disappeared years ago (partly at least because chemical castration was being used). Should be moister in general than turkey.

[Gattopardo]

It was lovely.

Think it was a strange breed as it still had a few feathers and the meat was a dark colour and the skin yellower than chicken in the shop.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Multiple people in my household like sprouts. No, really, they like them. They fight over who gets the last one.

We had some really nice ones on a stalk, lovely purple green colour. Lovely and fresh, just braise them in a little water and they'd be done.

My son, the chef, took over cooking xmas dinner. The sprouts turned up on the table in an orange and onion sauce. Most got thrown away.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I love sprouts. For Christmas dinner, we usually parboil them, then finish them in the oven with olive oil, nuts and garlic.

[citoyen]

I like sprouts. Ideally steamed until just cooked, so still a bit crunchy, and served au naturel. They don't need embellishments - especially not orange and onion sauce.

I've discovered that they take well to being roasted too - I roasted some with carrots and parsnips to serve with the leftover turkey risotto I made the other day. Surprisingly good.

[ian]

I like all the brassicas, so sprouts are fine. We had baby ones this year on the grounds we're awfully middle-class Waitrose shoppers. Lightly steamed. Perfect.

I hate parsnips with a passion though.

[Kim]

My son, the chef, took over cooking xmas dinner. The sprouts turned up on the table in an orange and onion sauce. Most got thrown away.

While I commend his innovative, if ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to make sprouts palatable^[1], this is pretty much the same reason I avoid hairdressers.


_{[1] Or perhaps it was the culinary equivalent of a hazmat warning sign.}

[menthel]

Spraaaaaarts should be shredded finely and sauteed with bacon and butter. Only then are the evil little bastard cabbages edible.

[Kim]

TBH, I regard sprouts much as I do celery.  The only way to make them edible is to feed them to a herbivore, and then eat the herbivore.

[menthel]

TBH, I regard sprouts much as I do celery.  The only way to make them edible is to feed them to a herbivore, and then eat the herbivore.

Its all gone a bit Ron Swanson...

[rafletcher]

Spraaaaaarts should be shredded finely and sauteed with bacon and butter. Only then are the evil little bastard cabbages edible.

Braised in chicken stock and served with chopped chestnuts (with or without the bacon/pancetta) is quite good too. But generally we eat them boiled.

[ian]

I'm with Citoyen, do as little as possible with them, most brassicas just need a bit of steaming or a brief sauté. Anything that avoids the very British horror of extended boiling. God, to this day I fear the smell of boiling cabbage. Childhood Sundays were a gaseous eruption of mephitic cabbage. Put me off the stuff for years. I think we learned to fear veg tasting like veg. It's like the Americans, who now have to drown anything that looks like a vegetable in enough cheese that the vegetable content has to be measured in ppm.

[Chris S]

I mostly tolerate sprouts - but don't mind them at all when chopped and fried with a fucktonne of bacon and butter.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Tonight I am taking my new slow cooker for a test run, with a tagine recipe I usually make in a pan. Fingers crossed.

[hellymedic]

The archive button sprouts from our freezer were microwaved and unseasoned.
I like dull food!

[ElyDave]

sprouts finely sliced/shredded, with a bit of ham, spring onion make a great omelette, with a bit of double cream thrown in for good measure, a bit of cheese and finished under the grill. 

[mcshroom]

I'm with ian and citoyen. Sprouts are fine steamed to the point where they just start to give but are still quite crisp.

Only time they work cooked for any length of time is in a stew

[Mr Larrington]

sprouts finely sliced/shredded, with a bit of ham, spring onion make a great omelette, with a bit of double cream thrown in for good measure, a bit of cheese and finished under the grill.

Sounds delish.

Apart from the sprouts.

[T42]

sprouts finely sliced/shredded, with a bit of ham, spring onion make a great omelette, with a bit of double cream thrown in for good measure, a bit of cheese and finished under the grill.

My mum used to make an omelette in a whacking great cast iron pan and shove it in under the grill to cook the top.  It usually came out with black bits. Haven't seen anyone else doing that since.  I usually just fold them over, still runny, and let residual heat take care of cheese etc.

[ian]

I still do that. I like my cheese grilled and my omelettes thick.

[menthel]

I still do that. I like my cheese grilled and my omelettes thick.

Agreed, I like them like I like my women, thick, cheesy and not folded in half with runny bits in the middle. Goodness, I hope my wife never reads that!

[ian]

The archive button sprouts from our freezer were microwaved and unseasoned.
I like dull food!

It's not dull though. We're inculcated that veg is a dull side, only there because a slab of meat won't fill the entire plate and some vague quasi-religious conviction that repentance is a lukewarm green-grey sidedish. So much is our seething resentment that we punish our veg by boiling them utterly to death.

And if we do have to eat veg for our sins, then we have to hide it. It must swim in sauce, labour like Atlas under a heaven of cheese, be a slave to the bacon. We can't just eat vegetables. Veg is to be avoided, disavowed, snuck into plant pots and family dogs. To be dutifully and miserably chewed because it's good for us. So Sir Jimmy, says St Peter outside the gates, a bit of a chequered history I see. He glances back down as his clipboard. Oh, five-a-day. In you go, don't forget, complementary kale and wheatgrass smoothies at six. Broccoli is next to godliness.

It's a symptom of our odd relationship with food. We can't actually like veg for being veg. It can't taste nice on it's own, simply cooked and served. Be proud of your veg!

At the weekend, I tossed some padron peppers in a hot skillet, nothing more than a splash of olive oil. Served hot with a sprinkle of salt. Food doesn't get much better than that. If I ordered that in the US, they'd stuff the peppers with Monterey Jack and put bacon on top (and anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, they'd deep fry the lot).

[ElyDave]

those padron peppers are great like that.  I've had chard coming out my ears from the garden this year, great either sautéed in a wok with a splash of soy, or just lightly done in olive oil with a bit of salt.

I can't stand veggies either disguised with something else, or boiled to a mush.

[hellymedic]

those padron peppers are great like that.  I've had chard coming out my ears from the garden this year, great either sautéed in a wok with a splash of soy, or just lightly done in olive oil with a bit of salt.

I can't stand veggies either disguised with something else, or boiled to a mush.

I like my veg microwaved until it's soft but not dead.

I also like my vegetables dolled up as a treat if someone else is doing the cooking and weight reduction is on hold.

I am lazy, immobile and still trying to lose a bit of weight.