How Brussel Sprouts Forced Their Way Onto My Plate- Try Tuesday (T.T.)

MFH
May 27, 2015
3 min read

Let's start with a video.

Or how about this:

My childhood was plagued with commercials, tv shows, and movies, that always featured how gross vegetables were. In almost every single one, the leading culprit in the gang of vegetables was always the brussel sprout. "They're gross," they would say. "They smell funny," they would say. I remember a kid once telling me that they tasted like hot garbage. Hot garbage.

No wonder I stayed away from them for so long.

Unlike a lot of kids, my parents didn't really have a hard time getting me to ear my leafy greens. Green beans were one of my favorite foods, and broccoli was a close second. However, brussel sprouts were something that I could never quite rap my head around, and I gather that all the images of other kids saying how much they hated them swayed me.

It took me years to find that brussel sprouts taste quite wonderful. That is, if they are prepared the right way.

The first time I tried brussel sprouts that I actually liked, it was after my strictly vegetarian days, and I had them the was most people recommend trying them. With bacon. It was a marvelous experience.

The ones I had didn't look quite like that, but I imagine that they tasted just as good.

When I first tried preparing them on my own, I was left a little perplexed because I thought that just a little salt and pepper would do the trick (I tried boiling them too- not for me). But this only brought me to the greater realization about why I had avoided them for so long: no one I knew really knew how to prepare them (at least in a way that I could stomach). My grandmother only used boiling as a way to cook any vegetable at all; I didn't really know what I was missing until I started experimenting on my own in college. When you have to fend for yourself in the kitchen, there's a lot of wins and fails, but at least you get to learn what works.

There are a number of ways to fix brussel sprouts, I'm sure. I'm sure there's even someone out there who even likes the boiling method. However, if I'm not baking them in balsamic vinegar, I'm sauteing them in olive oil with something else like onions or garlic thrown in. For me, brussel sprouts only taste good when they're paired with something else (side note- this seriously got five stars?: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/basic-brussels-sprouts-recipe.html)

someone in the comments suggesting boiling with chicken broth instead. I'll have to give that a try).

Since my journey in forming a better relationship with these "little cabbages", I have cooked them as a side dish for holiday dinners, chopped them up and put them in salads, and I have even tried them in cheesy grits. They're versatile for sure, and worth the effort for whatever truly delectable dish they're in.

If you want to try something that'spretty easy (and bacon-y), this is a pretty simple, not too expensive recipe to make: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/pan-roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-bacon-recipe.html

Or if you want something easier, do what I do and line a pan with some foil and a little oil at the bottom, cut up a couple sprouts, drizzle some balsamic vinegar (and/or honey) on top, and in about a half hour you've got a quick and easy side dish.

SICT- "Eat Your Vegetables" ~ Childish Gambino

When I first made this for dinner at home with my family, this song came over one of my Slacker Radio channels. Took bad it has absolutely nothing to do with vegetables. My family and I both found the title hugely misleading.