R6 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
BY G. DANIELA GALARZAA recipe for “Brussels Sprouts
Salad” published in The Washing-
ton Post in 1936 instructed the
cook to combine boiled sprouts
with salt, lemon juice and lettuce
and then “cover with mayonnaise
dressing,” promising it would be
“a novelty at any dinner table.”
Now, 84 years later, sprouts are as
common as broccoli and kale,
and the only still-novel thing
about them may be how they
grow.
Gardeners and farmers market
regulars will know the surprising,
wondrous way Brussels sprouts
look before they’re harvested:
They bud atop the long leafed
branches of a thick, almost two-
foot-tall stalk. Nestled between
stalk and branch, each sprout
grows to between half an inch
and just shy of two inches in
diameter. Once harvested, the
doll-size cabbages can be sold still
attached to their stalks or, more
commonly, in bags or cartons,ready for trimming and cooking.
In North America, they’re gen-
erally available year-round,
though they’re at their peak from
early fall to early spring, and
they’re sweeter after spending a
frost on the stalk.
Though they’re miniature cab-
bages, they’re not as sturdy as the
larger variety, and benefit from
more gentle care. Because they’re
similarly bite-size, it’s tempting
to treat Brussels sprouts like
green beans or baby carrots, but
they’re nothing alike when it
comes to taste. Here’s how to pick
and prepare them, whether you
plan to serve them at a holiday
feast or for a weeknight dinner.
Choose. If buying a whole
stalk, check the spaces between
the sprouts and the stalk for mold
or dampness. On or off the stalk,
look for sprouts that are compact,
with tight leaves. You’ll be able to
tell how freshly cut sprouts are by
examining the stem end: It
should look dry, but not brown or,
worse, moldy.Store. Marian Morash, writing
in “The Victory Garden Cook-
book,” calls Brussels sprouts
“miniature perfection,” but notes
that they “‘ripen,’ picking up a
strong flavor during storage, so
it’s best to use them as soon as
possible.”
Chef, culinary activist and au-
thor Preeti Mistry notes that if
you buy them on the stalk, you
can keep them in a dry, cool place
for a few days without having to
refrigerate them. Once off the
stalk, you’ll want to keep them in
the fridge.
Barbara Sibley, the chef and
owner of La Palapa in New York
City, watches the tender baby
leaves that are on the outside of
the bud; they’re especially sweet,
and are the first to wither. “Some-
times I’ll put about half an inch of
water in a shallow container and
stand the sprouts up in it to keep
them crisper,” Sibley says.
“Though they’re hardy, remem-
ber that they’re plants, so treat
them gently like the sprouts that
they are.”
To freeze, Morash suggests
blanching washed and trimmed
sprouts in boiling water for three
to five minutes, depending on
size, chilling on ice, draining and
allowing to dry completely before
freezing in bags or containers.
Sprouts can then be seasoned and
cooked right out of the freezer.
Cook. Like many other mem-
bers of the cabbage family, Brus-
sels sprouts can be eaten raw,
shredded and dressed or mari-
nated, especially when very fresh.
If you’re buying them from the
grocery store, or you know they’re
more than a few days old, cooking
— blanching, steaming, roasting,
grilling or sauteing — will help
temper some of their strong fla-
vors.
Halved sprouts can be tossed
in oil, salt and pepper and roasted
until browned. Morash suggests
cutting a small crosshatch into
the trimmed ends before steam-
ing or blanching so that their firm
cores cook more quickly. Steamed
sprout petals can be added to
soups as a garnish; add blanched,
quartered or halved sprouts to
soups or stews in the final few
minutes of cooking. Overcooking
them tends to render them
mushy and brings out their acrid
flavors and smells.
Both Mistry and Sibley note
that one of the reasons many
people tend to enjoy the Brussels
sprouts they eat at a restaurant is
because of a two-step cooking
process: “Generally we’d par-
cook them, and then finish them
to order,” Mistry says. “So I’ll cut
them into quarters, roast just
until they’re cooked through but
not browned, and finish them onthe stove to order. If you try to
saute from raw, you end up
steaming them instead of crisp-
ing or caramelizing.”
To speed up the cooking proc-
ess, you could cut them in half
and then slice them into thinner
pieces before sauteing quickly,
Mistry says. They’ll cook evenly
in one pan, and can get crispy
over high heat, though they’ll lose
the varied texture they retain
when cooked in larger pieces.
“I like to put them in tacos, and
not unlike a tender meat, I want
there to be a nice bite left to them,
right at the core,” Sibley says. “I’ll
quarter them and give them a
quick blanch, and then finish
them in a pan.” That ensures they
retain some texture and absorb
any flavors added in the way of a
sauce or seasoning.
Season. Some prefer their
sprouts seasoned simply with salt
and pepper, but the vegetable’s
strong flavors mean they pair
well with stronger or comple-
mentary seasonings and sauces.
“You want to play to the sprouts’
strengths,” Sibley says.
Sibley sautes quartered,
blanched sprouts in a sauce made
from chile de arbol (for heat) and
chile ancho (for smokiness).
“Once they’re cut and cooked just
until tender, the core stays a little
chewy and the leaves open a bit,
leaving little gaps for the salsa to
sneak into,” she says. Piled into a
tortilla with queso fresco and
crema, “it’s a meaty taco without
any meat.”
At home, Sibley says she might
use sweetness to offset the
sprouts’ bitterness by halving and
roasting them with piloncillo or
brown sugar, lime zest, a neutral
oil such as grapeseed, plus lots of
salt and pepper. “Make sure
they’re coated evenly, and roast
them on really high, tossing or
shaking the pan a little every 10
minutes, until they’re really
crispy all over,” she advises.
Mistry agrees that “really pi-
quant spices go well with
sprouts.” A recipe in their cook-
book, “The Juhu Beach Club
Cookbook: Indian Spice, Oakland
Soul,” pairs sprouts with a curry
leaf ginger butter, and Mistry
likes to play around with temper-
ing spicier flavors, say from mus-
tard or chiles, with tangy notes
from tamarind and citrus. “I
would actually just use my mus-
tard fenugreek spice blend, which
has some heat but also a deep
green herby-ness and some tart-
ness,” Mistry says, noting that old
Indian cookbooks refer to sprouts
as baby cabbages, and suggest
cooking them as such. “They
want spice,” Mistry says, “They
want tartness. They want flavor.”
[email protected]HOW TOSure they look like little cabbages, so use your head
TOM MCCORKLE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTBrussels sprouts will be a little sweeter after a frost.
BY MATT BROOKS, BECKY
KRYSTAL AND KARA ELDERThanksgiving 2020 will be a
holiday like no other, with rising
coronavirus cases across the
country forcing many families
and friends to forgo traditional
large gatherings in favor of small-
er and/or single-household
meals. Here are some of the ques-
tions we’re asked most frequently.
Recipes mentioned with capital-
ized names can be found at
washingtonpost.com/recipes.
Ask for more help in the special
two-hour edition of our weekly
online chat Nov. 25. Go to
live.washingtonpost.com and get
your questions in early. We’re also
available on social media via
Twitter (@wapofood) and Insta-
gram (@eatvoraciously), and by
email at [email protected].How big should my turkey be?
The Agriculture Department
suggests one pound of turkey per
person. We suggest 1½ pounds for
each diner to allow for leftovers.When should I buy and how
should I store the turkey?
A raw, fresh turkey should be
stored for no longer than two
days in the refrigerator. In theory,
a frozen turkey can last indefi-
nitely. But for the best quality, use
it within a year.Should I brine the turkey?
Brining helps poultry stay
moist and tasty. (Kosher or self-
basting birds should not be
brined.) Some people d ry brine
their turkey — rub it with salt,
basically. In that situation, salt
draws the meat’s juices to the
surface of the bird. The juices
then mix with the salt, forming a
brine that is then reabsorbed by
the meat. A few years ago, Bonnie
S. Benwick tried both methodsand decided she preferred a wet
brine, which required less effort
and resulted in more uniformly
moist and seasoned meat. But you
can achieve a moist, flavorful
turkey without brining at all.Should I roast a turkey breast
for my smaller gathering?
Size-wise, a turkey breast is
definitely a good fit for a small
crowd, and with the right recipe,
it can be a cinch to prepare. Try
our reader favorite Extremely
Slow-Roasted Turkey Breast. If
there are two of you, aim for close
to six pounds. Even then, you’ll
have leftovers. To satisfy those
who go for dark meat, consider
getting a small whole turkey. You
might have especially good luck
with a local farmer.It’s Thanksgiving Day and my
turkey is frozen, help!
You can put a frozen-solid bird
in the oven, and in less than twice
the time it would take to cook a
fresh one, have a perfectly deli-
cious roasted bird! Our Despera-
tion Turkey (From Frozen)
doesn’t get any simpler. You’ll
even be rewarded with lots of
crisp skin and plenty of pan juices
that will help season the meat
after it has been sliced.What if I like dark meat better?
Go for gold with Turkey Leg
Confit. The method is flexible —
poaching the legs in duck fat for
even an extra hour won’t hurt
them. Plus, you can strain the
cooking fat, freeze it for up to a
year and use it as a substitute for
other fats in potatoes, soup, pâté,
braised cabbage and so on. Want
the legs without the work? How
about a vibrant sheet pan of Ha-
rissa Turkey Legs With Sumac
Sweet Potatoes? It’s an all-in-one
meal that will substantially cut-
down on cleanup.FAQWhat to know about
cooking that turkey
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