1,526 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Brussels sprouts are very good

We are, as I write this, in the season of Brussels sprouts, a delicious vegetable that often suffers from a bad reputation, let's try to fix that.

9,951 4.7/5 (16 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Brussels sprouts Vegetables Cooking Preparation Raw

Last modified on: March 5^th 2022

For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend

Brussels sprouts are very good

Preparation

You have to start by recognizing that it's a bit long to prepare, it's not very big, but it requires a lot of handling before it's ready to cook, and you have to do it cabbage by cabbage.
Different methods are possible, but I always proceed this way:

choux de Bruxelles découpe de la base choux de Bruxelles retrait feuilles choux de Bruxelles découpe dans la hauteur

- First cut off the base a bit
- Then remove all the stained or spoiled leaves
- According to the size, cut in the height in 2 (small cabbages) or 4 (big)

- Do this for all the cabbages...

Once you have done this, the cabbage is ready to be cooked, there is hardly any need to wash it, the removed leaves will protect it efficiently.

CookingThis

is the problem that must be the cause of the bad reputation: the Brussels sprout must not be overcooked, otherwise it takes on a dull khaki-green color, and in addition it gives off unpleasant sulfurous odors.
This right cooking is true for all vegetables in general, but even more so for Brussels sprouts or others.
If you cook "à l'anglaise" (boiling salted water), the best indicator is the tip of a knife stuck in the heart, it forces => not enough cooked, it's tender => it's cooked, quickly stop, drain and refresh under cold water to stop the cooking.

choux de Bruxelles cuisson à l’anglaise

Well, there your cabbages are cooked, but you will reveal the flavours of it with a second cooking (of which I already spoke to you), by putting in a frying pan or saucepan on average fire a knob of butter or a spoon with soup of olive oil, then a chopped shallot, salt, one minute of cooking and you add the Brussels sprouts of the first cooking Cook for 2 or 3 minutes again and serve, it is ready as soon as it is hot enough.

This right cooking is in my opinion the best, taste and color are preserved, and it's really enjoying the Brussels sprouts in all their splendor.
But in some simmered recipes, like potée, you will have cabbage that has been cooked (very) long, so it has a dull color, but it is completely melting, it is another facet of the vegetable.

Raw

It is not very well known, but you can also eat raw Brussels sprouts, you just have to prepare them in the classical way, not to cut them but to pass them to the mandolin or to slice them finely with a knife in a salad bowl.
Add the zest of a lemon, the juice with the same amount of olive oil, salt, pepper, mix well and enjoy this delicious raw Brussels sprouts salad.

chou de Bruxelles crus en salade

Here is to finish a small challenge, or challenge, if you have children is to succeed in making them appreciate the Brussels sprouts.
But don't be fooled, if you go after the canteen, and its rata-cooked Brussels sprouts, it will be hard...

To sum up: You should not hesitate to take advantage of the season of Brussels sprouts, which can be eaten raw or cooked and in this case be very careful to cook them properly, especially not too long, to preserve color and taste.

Lasts posts

Oven height

When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.
October 8^th 20251,3165

The importance of sieving

In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?
September 3^rd 20256,8163

The grease spray

As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...
August 26^th 20256,2515

Cake moulds

When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25^th 20256,3595

Thinning out herbs

If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...
August 8^th 20254,5035

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

In praise of slow cooking

You will no doubt have noticed that in cookery, it's often the actual cooking process that gets neglected. This is understandable; it comes at the end of the recipe and getting the dish in the oven is something of a relief (ah, that's done!), which frees us to cope with what's left: tidying the...
February 9^th 201142 K4.2

Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.

Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure). ...
March 26^th 201244 K4.5

A few tips for effective kneading at home

When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.
June 23^th 2021282 K 23.8

Egg yolks and caster sugar

We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.
February 15^th 201881 K 24.3

Rosemary in recipes

Rosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb, one of the famous French "herbes de Provence", and is very effective in bringing a real taste of the Mediterranean to any dish. The classic way to use it in a recipe is to add a sprig or two and leave it in during cooking as a way of...
April 18^th 201823 K4.7