How to cook Brussels sprouts, restaurant style

That’s like the old Pacific Northwest recipe for serving shad:

  1. catch shad, put on ice
  2. Gut, cut off fins and head
  3. Slice into ~1" steaks
  4. freeze if necessary
  5. place shad steaks into crab trap and convert into crab
  6. cook and eat tasty crab!
4 Likes
  1. Place sprouts in deep pan. Add bottle of red wine. Roast at 450 for 5 minutes.
  2. Add bottle of white wine. Roast for 5 minutes.
  3. Add bottle of Spiced rum. Roast for 5 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven, pour small can of pineapples over the lot.
  5. Remove sprouts and discard. Drink gravy.
3 Likes

Who’s that little tiny dude in white shorts at the LH corner of the screen at 2:01??

1 Like

A single Brussels sprout concentrates the bitterness of an entire cabbage. IMO.

1 Like

NOTE: the title of the post is restaurant style.

You will never get proper crispy brussel sprouts by boiling them first. Dry high oven heat is what is needed to pull the moisture out of them. No chef would cook them in this manner…ever.

But you do you.

They’re definitely a bitter green. When raw they’re pleasantly bitter in the same way. When properly cooked most of that bitterness fades. And if properly roasted, fried, or otherwise browned. The bitterness becomes sweetness and nutty depth.

Over cook them and you might as well be licking an ash tray filled with campari.

1 Like

It’s called blanching

And the amount of time I’ve spent doing it in restaurant kitchens before roasting various vegetables is absolutely ridiculous.

2 Likes

These were shallow fried in the leavings from a butterflied leg of Lamb what had been basted with duck fat. Finished with butter and Thai basil.

Dig that classy plating.

5 Likes

I have asked you before to leave me out of anything you ever post. I have zero desire to engage with you. Please adhere to the BBS guidelines and do not engage with me.

Sproutwars.

I like my Brussels sprouts cut into quarters and caramelised in olive oil with salt and pepper and dry-roasted pine-nuts.

3 Likes

I cook em in the air fryer. Halved, for 20 minutes at 390 with oil, salt, pepper, stirring occasionally. The outside gets crisp and carmelized and the rest get cooked al dente. Douse them with a little lemon juice or vinegar, maybe a sprinkle of chopped pecans or walnuts. About the only way my family will eat them.

2 Likes

It’s definitely a different flavor. But, I’ve found I don’t need as much pancetta as I do bacon, so you can usually get away with using just a couple ounces.

Agreed. I normally pan cook them with a package of bacon, but I mash mine to shreds, and give them a dash of white or balsamic vinegar to cut through the fattiness.

There’s a Lapland joke about how to cook a loon.

  1. Catch, pluck, clean, and salt the loon.
  2. Take three quarts of water and boil the loon in it for half an hour. Throw away the water.
  3. Take two quarts of milk and boil the loon in it for ten minutes. Throw away the milk.
  4. Take one quart of vodka and boil the loon in it for half a minute. Throw away the loon.
  5. Let the broth cool down and drink.

I will eat hospital cafeteria sprouts, which shows you how much of a palate I have. Honestly I’d rather them more cooked than less; same with the other brassica.
I have had brussel sprouts raw in a salad; they were yummy

I will always remember the day I first had brussels sprouts done right for the first time after a lifetime of hating the slimy, weird, bitter, wet little things.

I was doing a website for a food stylist and she offered to make lunch as we went over ideas in her house. She cut a bunch of sprouts in half and put them face down in a cast iron pan with lots of butter & a few cloves of garlic over low heat, and just left them. We talked for a good forty minutes and I heard them gently sizzling the whole time. She plopped them over some greens and that was it. They were crispy, sweet, buttery, caramelized and wonderful, and it changed the way I thought about vegetables.

4 Likes

Yes, yes, the cooking stuff, but can we talk about how stores sell them on the stalk and they look like vegan war clubs?

image

1 Like

His apron says “rich creme sauce.”

Probably, we do not eat at the same restaurants.

  • in a heavy pan, sear halved sprouts in hot olive oil, tossing occasionally, until slightly browned
  • douse with chicken stock or salted water to cover bottom of pan 1/8 inch deep
  • simmer covered for several minutes, tasting occasionally, add liquid if needed
  • remove when done to taste

Never any leftovers.

If using stock, guest of honor or chef drinks the cooking liquid.

Works great for broccoli too.

1 Like