This pet rat, named Dexter, hates broccoli and has no compunction about making his tastes known. And I have to say that I agree with him. This execrable and malodorous vegetable is palatable to me only when I cook it Szechuan style: with pork, fermented and salted black beans, ginger, garlic, and a bit of soy sauce and Chinese rice wine.
Now it’s inevitable that I’ll hear from all the folks who just love broccoli and can’t understand why I don’t share their taste.
It’s Broccilitown, Jake!
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I love broccoli and can’t understand why you don’t share my taste!
This may be urban legend but I heard its actually genetic. There’s specific receptors which will incline people to like it, and if you don’t have them, you generally don’t like it. The whole family (of vegetables) is impacted to a lesser extent. So if you don’t like broccoli, there’s a good chance you don’t like cauliflower either.
My sample of one (me) confirms this. 🙂 I like only two species in the entire family; cabbage when its well-cooked, and asparagus. Everything else (kale, collard greens, etc.) you can take.
When I was a teen my mom snuck some finely chopped broccoli into spaghetti & meatballs to test me. I gagged on the first bite. So whatever it may be, it isn’t psychological. There’s an actual taste component to my preference.
And asparagus aren’t even crucifers. (They’re in the lily family.)
I don’t think I’ve met a cruciferous* veggie yet that I didn’t like. They’re so full of flavor!
*No one says brassicacious, do they?
But I wouldn’t force them on a poor rat. Or professor. 😉
(Dexter’s such a cutie! Love his sweet little domicile.)
Same here. Raw or cooked (but especially raw). My wife loves broccoli, too, which has the downside that when we buy a veggie platter for parties, the broccoli doesn’t last very long.
It’s good for the marriage when both partners share a broccoli accord.
I thought it was Honda that made the Accord, and Broccoli the Bond…?
b&
Well, you only live twice…
(You’re a tough act to follow. :))
(But wait till Ant arrives…)
You mean the Ant with the golden tongue?
b&
And the gold finger.
Here’s how to make brocoli incredibly good. Boil it, remove the water, add Cheez Whiz as desired, wait till it melt, eat.
Its heavenly (and i’m an atheist by the way)
Here’s how to make brocolli incredibly good. Boil it, and then remove the water and the brocolli. Discard. Then put the Cheez Whiz on a Philadelphia steak sandwich. . .
lol!
One step beyond even homeopathic broccoli.
I was going to say something similar. The only way to get broccoli down is to smother it in a good cheese sauce! But removing the broccoli altogether in favour of steak is an even better idea!
Reminds me of a chili recipe. You grill a steak while heating up a can of chili, eat the steak, and discard the chili.
Well, there’s your problem. If the substance comes in a can, chances are good that the can tastes better than whatever’s inside it.
Especially beans, for example. I just finished the broccoli, and the pressure’s just about dissipated in the pressure cooker where the beans are…tonight, some mirepoix cooked in drippings from this morning’s bacon, some garlic, a sliced-up homemade Frankfurter from a family Polish deli, blackeyed peas, various herbs and spices, a splash each of sherry and vinegar, and some leftover broth from last night’s chicken soup. Should be good, and I’ll know in just a minute….
b&
what did you say your address was, Ben? 😉
I will share my sort of invented French onion soup recipe:
Slice and caramelize about 6 large onions in 1/2 stick butter and some s&p(can be done in the microwave with saran wrap over bowl – or in a skillet.) Grease lightly the bottom of a Dutch oven and put a layer of day-old good baguette slices to cover the bottom. Spread half of the cooked onions over the bread. Sprinkle maybe a cup of grated gruyère over the onions. Repeat with another layer of bread/onions/cheese (Can even do 3 layers). Carefully pour ~2 qts/liters homemade turkey or chicken stock (or even beef) down the side. Bring to boil on top of stove and simmer for ~30 min. Put in preheated 350 oven (no top) for about an hour. Dig in. It gets better with age (a day or a couple).
Bon appétit! Gooey, sticky, tasty.
Thank YOU! I’m writin’ this shit down …
Let me know how you like it. It makes a lot and you can just nuke portions to reheat and also freeze some.
Not just invented, but inverted. Sounds wonderful!
b&
The bread kind of comes to the surface. If the bread’s too fresh you can just dry the slices in the oven for a few minutes. It’s kind of messy, but very tasty. I’ve also mixed in misc left-over cheeses from. Y fridge.
1022 West Apollo Avenue, Tempe, Arizona 85283.
b&
Is there any left?
No, but it’s no bother to cook up some more!
b&
Be right over…some time this decade…just maked sure you do all the garlic, too;-)
I’m OK with canned beans. The time saved is worth it. I even use them very successfully to make cassoulet.
If you remember to either set them out to soak the night before or simmer them for a couple minutes and let them soak for an hour, and if you have a pressure cooker, they take about as much time to cook as they do to reheat in the microwave.
I know, it seems weird thinking of beans as a quick meal, but that’s exactly what I do. A few days ago, I even made some refried beans from scratch, and from start to end it took less time than it takes to order a pizza and have it delivered.
b&
Cheers!
LOL! Cheezwhiz of all things!
Indeed. The same goes for that wretched excuse for mashed potatoes, cauliflower mashed potatoes. How to prepare:
1. Follow recipe.
2. Give to d*g.
3. Make real mashed potatoes.
If you give that to your dog, he’ll fart all night & gas you to death as you sleep! This is a secret weapon the military are researching.
Cheese from a can….that can’t be gouda
Not exactly a sharp idea, I’d agree.
b&
I can tolerate steamed broccoli if I put some soy sauce on it. It’s terrible raw and it’s farty. Didn’t George Bush Sr. hate broccoli too?
I think that rat is very cute. He seems spoiled too with that cute, soft house he has.
Yes , he did. I remember he stood at a microphone and announced that now he was President nobody would force him to eat brocolli any longer.
God must love broccoli then. (see Dawkins clip).
Dislike of broccoli is one of the few things with which I agreed upon with George H.W. Bush. Furthermore, those vegetables give me gout attacks.
I love broccoli. I avoid to eat it anyways. The problem being is that whenever I eat it nobody should enter my office for the rest of the day.
The amount of gas that can be generated from a single meal is truly impressive.
Broccoli steamed then tossed in butter, pepper and lime juice is nice.
Mithra, my cat, thinks that rat tossed in butter, pepper and lime juice is nice, but he prefers them raw.
LOL
Jerry, do you know if you are positive for the ability to taste PTC? Do you like oregano?
Ah ha! I’m negative and I benefit from this fact, food-wise! Bring on the brussels sprouts!
I can’t taste PTC either, and I love many raw veggies that many people find very bitter. Fully mature raw collards are quite yummy.
My nose is much more keen though. I can smell asparagus pee. Not everyone can.
Asparagus & asparagus pee smell the same to me.
I have always found asparagus to have a slight metallic taste. It was unbearable when I was a child but tolerable now.
Asparagus tastes much better than asparagus pee smells…
But you should try asparagus peas: delicious!
What does asparagus pee smell like from asparagus peas?
Never EVER heard of asparagus peas. wonder if you can get them outside of the tropics?
I thought you were just joking about asparagus peas. But they really exist!
However, not everyone agrees with your assessment as to taste.
took me a while to tune into his accent (Aussie, I presume?)
Nope. Sounds English to me.
Ha! I thought it was a joke too.
Is it that not everyone can smell asparagus pee, or that not everyone can pee asparagus pee?
They did research by making a bunch of people eat asparagus and wait an hour. Then everyone peed into numbered cups and they made the people smell multiple pee samples. All the people who said they had smelled their own asparagus pee were able to smell any other person’s asparagus pee, including the pee of people who had never smelled asparagus pee. People who had never smelled their own asparagus pee could not smell the asparagus pee of any other person.
There are three studies cited in the Wikipedia article for asparagus that all worked roughly how I described.
So you’re saying that everyone who eats asparagus pees asparagus pee but some just cannot smell it (or refuse to admit it)?
Right.
Yes.
Sensitivity to smelling asparagus pee (actually, to smelling certain sulphur compounds in asparagus pee) is under control of different genes than PTC sensitivity. According to 23andMe…
I’m “AG” and easily detect the smell.
Exactly! Mrs. Gnu and I have had issues because she is positive and I’m negative. Basically, I grill Brussels sprouts outside and she allows me to serve them in a bowl at the end of the table opposite her.
Oh, do you have one of those really really long dining room tables that seat 20+?
How do you test for this? I like brussel sprouts, too, but I also find them to be very bitter.
In my case it showed up on DNA sequencing at 23 And Me. But I remember a taste strip test from a Biology class of some sort back in the dark ages when I was young.
I seem to remember that I was a “taster” back when we licked those strips of something in bio class.
There was a brussel sprouts recipe in Canadian Living magazine that turned out tasty. They are roasted with nuts. It’s the only way I like those little cabbages!
Love Brussels sprouts, especially roasted, and with nuts and bacon (but then almost anything is good with bacon;-)
Yes, bacon and a little bit of unsweetened apple cider. Oh, yum!
Have you tried in stirfry? That’s how I first liked them, though baked with zatar or something was good too when my sister’s husband prepared them that way.
Hmm, will have to try them with zatar.
With you, GB. But, then it may be your overexposure in German/Polish/Czech town! 🙂
Although PTC is not found in nature, the ability to taste it correlates strongly with the ability to taste other bitter substances that do occur naturally, many of which are toxins.
— Genetics Learning Center
Jerry, I will take a wild guess that you are not so keen on Brussel sprouts either? I ask because Santa Cruz county, where I live, is the country’s leading producer of sprouts. Even people who typically hate sprouts agree they are quite nice when oven roasted with olive oil and garlic until quite brown and crispy. I suspect broccoli could be cooked the same way.
I love brussels sprouts. They’re very good steamed or sauteed or roasted with chestnuts. Garlic fixes almost anything. I’m very fond of pumpkin stewed down with tons of garlic, black bean sauce optional. Serve up with steamed Jasmine rice.
Sorry Brussel sprouts are even worse than broccoli!
Brussels sprouts are possibly the most disgusting-smelling vegetable in existence. And the most disgusting tasting are broad beans.
I’ve never had broad beans, but my vote for worst tasting veggie is kale. Kale seems to have a double dose of the bitter taste I detect in many green leafy vegetables. My wife in fond of kale. And occasionally she will try to sneak a low dosage into a soup or other dish. I can’t be fooled.
You are probably sensitive to that chemical. But, yes, Kale is very bitter. And it has a very distinct taste as well. Hard to miss.
Love them sprouts. Always have, even when I was less than 10 years old. I guess I’m just a brassicaphage.
Kim chee is my current favorite treat.
I’m always willing to give others my “share” of broccoli. I’m with Dexter on this.
This is a cute video.
The best way to hide broccoli is to slip the florets into ramen soup! Make sure there’s lots of the flavour packet stuff in it and the more chili pepper the better. It can be well-hidden in very cheesy mac and cheese, just like cauliflower. Also in huevos rancheros. And then there’s homemade broccoli soup.
What a rat race! I think its personal best was the final round.
I used to loathe broccoli until I rediscovered it in Chinese cooking. Lightly steamed and then VERY lightly dipped in sweet chilli sauce is good, though possibly this is just an excuse to eat the sauce.
A dash of sesame Oil fixes everything too.
Yup, but used sparingly.
Brécoles con crema
1 k brécoles (broccoli) – broccoli
½ taza de crema – cup of Mexican sour cream
½ taza de leche – cup of milk
½ taza de perejil picado – cup of chopped parsley
1 diente de ajo – clove of garlic
½ cebolla – onion
mantequilla – butter
sal, al gusto – salt to taste
Cocer los brécoles, con ajo y cebolla, en agua suficiente – cook the broccoli with garlic and onion in water to cover
Engrasar con mantequilla un refractario – butter an ovenproof dish
Mezclar la crema, la leche, el perejil y sal al gusto – mix the crema, milk, parsley and salt to taste
Poner los brécoles cocidos en el refractario – put the cooked broccoli in the ovenproof dish
Cubrirlos con la preparación anterior y hornearlos durante unos minutos. Servir luego – cover with the sauce and bake for a few minutes. Then serve
Rinde 6 raciones – serves 6
La Cocina Familiar en el Estado de México, p. 35
Nobody likes broccoli, it’s a law of nature. But this is actually a very satisfying dish.
When I was assembling it, the fluid in the crema-milk-parsley mixture ran through the broccoli to the bottom of the ovenproof dish and I wondered whether the recipe was wrong about quantities. I baked it as was – five minutes at 375 ºF – and it came out properly cooked and very tasty.
No, no, it’s perfectly fine. That only means more broccoli for me.
Just for you, Jerry, tonight’s vegetable, which will be done steaming in just a minute, will be purple broccoli, with a dash of salt and pepper, a light drizzling of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, and a small shaving of fresh Reggiano.
b&
Jerry’s hell would be a place full of enticing restaurants but as soon as you saw the menu the noms were broccoli and coriander in various incarnations.
I’ll have to give that a try next time — I bet the coriander would work well on the broccoli. Thanks!
b&
Yes, cilantro, garlic, some bright red pepper. Peanuts even. Yum!!
Now you’re talkin’! I’m so up for that!
Purple broccoli is proper broccoli; what most people are discussing here is calabrese, which is quite different. I despise calabrese, but love proper broccoli. It is one of the few vegetables available in quantity in early spring. Unfortunately, that means that the plants must overwinter, and the deer that visit my garden when the weather gets harsh like it as much as I do.
Q What is the difference between nasal snot and broccoli?
A Children do not eat broccoli
That’s pretty good! (But even as a kid, I ate every which kind of greens.)
as opposed to what other kind of snot?
Rock snot, AKA Didymosphenia geminata?
so glad I asked….
New knowledge for me, too, even at 81
Dexter the rat and Professor Ceiling Cat.. both hilarious.
People fear veggies that they do not understand.
I’m bullish on all Brassicas, until we get to rutabagas. But once in Finland I encountered a tasty item that as far as I could tell was grated rutabaga, carrots and cheese, baked on a pie crust.
Meanwhile, a more informative bit on the PTC (=phenythiocarbamate/phenylthiourea) business.
Not mad for rutabagas and turnips (parsnips I can just tolerate). I like virtually all other veggies. My daughter’s the only toddler I’ve heard of who always demanded seconds on broccoli. At 27 she’s been a vegetarian for about 10 years.
I like parsnips fried or roasted, but at the same time I always remember that Ted Kazinski grew parsnips.
Phenyl-thio-carbamate.
That would explain the appalling noxious stench that these things exude. It sounds like the fine sort of chemical compound that would end up on
Derek Lowe’s bl*g.
PTC isn’t actually in Brassicas – it’s a marker compound that led to understanding the genetics of the gustatory discrimination. But as I understand it, Brassicas have a variety of isothiocyanates. One of my colleagues in my old department worked on these things.
(Meanwhile, phenylisothiocyanate, which as far as I know is not found in Brassicas, is the Edman Reagent still used in chemical protein sequencing and without which there wouldn’t have been any foundation for genomics.)
Totally with you Hempenstein: That summarizes my tastes in this group as well. To sum up: Yummy!
But, hold the rutabaga (a very traditional Norwegian vegetable, which was thrust upon my often as a child.)
Have you tried broccoli on your squirrels? No, wait, that doesn’t sound right.
Have you offered broccoli to your squirrels?
it might be an acquired taste.
I didn’t care much for broccoli before (I didnt hate it either), but then I went on a diet. On that diet, I reduced the amount of meat/rice/wheat etc, and increased the amount of vegetables I ate, in order to not feel as hungry. When you are really, really hungry, you get a new appreciation for vegetables, including broccoli. Now, I love the taste of lightly steamed broccoli 🙂
ANYthing tastes good when you’re really hungry- and tired. I remember backpacking years ago and pooh-poohing the Tuna Helper when we were setting out. Someone else pooh-poohed the hot chocolate mix w mini-marshmallows. By the third day everyone was gobbling everything. But can’t say I’ve ever wanted Tuna or Hamburger Helper since then…
This rat seems to be an absolute philistine. Our hamsters practically inhale the stuff.
That is so ‘cute’!
+ 1 !
Cute picture. Is that a chopstick?
Nope, it’s a stalk of some sort, I think flax, which we thought would bear less risk of her injuring herself.
Loverly🐁
There’s one nice way to make broccoli (I’ve found anyway), and that’s from the older editions of the Complete Asian Cookbook. Chicken with Walnuts & Broccoli. The chicken is coated with a bit of 5 spice, and uses quite a lot of ginger. The broccoli florets are fried in oil, then separated until the end when they are combined back into the sauce. A very well balanced dish.
Aside from that, completely get the broccoli hate. Would avoid it if I didn’t think occasionally eating it is good for my health*.
*would be very happy if someone were to show me this isn’t the case. 😉
I don’t remember where I found this recipe, but is a good way to deal with a vegetable that is horrible when even slightly overcooked.
Garlicky Sesame-Cured Broccoli Salad
Time: 10 minutes,plus 1 hour marinating
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
2 heads broccoli, 1 pound each, cut into bite-size florets
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 fat garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons roasted (Asian) sesame oil
Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes.
1. In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar and salt. Add broccoli and toss to combine.
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil until hot, but not smoking. Add garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in sesame oil and pepper flakes. Pour mixture over broccoli and toss well. Let sit for at least 1 hour at room temperature, and up to 48 (chill it if you want to keep it for more than 2 hours). Adjust seasonings (it may need more salt) and serve.
Yield: 6 to 8 side-dish servings or more as an hors d’oeuvre.
Purple sprouting broccoli, however, is a much more noble vegetable.
For those who find boiled asparagus unpalatable, try dry grilling it in a serrated grill pan. It stays crisp and develops a nice nutty taste.
Brussel spouts: yech
Boiled asparagus? Yikes. Steam it for 2 minutes (trim beforehand to retain only the upper 4 inches (10 cm)) and apply butter, salt and pepper. My favorite vegetable.
Grilled is best, IMO.
You may be throwing out some good stuff, jbilie, if you just chop at 4 inches. What I do is break the bottoms off before grilling which leaves the tough part behind and more of the good stuff remains for nomming.
Yeah, I’m pretty picky about the texture of asparagus. I also pretty much only buy stalks that as less than about 0.3 inch in diameter.
I’ve grilled them too; but I end up preferring plain steamed, butter, S & P. Heaven (so to speak). 🙂 I hasten to add that I like grilled very well, it’s just more bother for me (even with my gas grill; which, this winter, I can still use, and have been using).
That recipe looks worth trying:-)
As for asparagus, toss in a little olive oil, fresh rosemary, and S&p and BBQ for ~15-20 min.
Jerry, is it OK if I put up this link to my bl*g where I have a post about the American relationship with broccoli? https://wordpress.com/post/26883485/857/
But what is so fascinating about this plant is its versatility as a species! Brassica oleracea – the Triangle of U!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_U
I would love to hear your scientific views of the species…
I prefer sprouts, & I had sprout pizza for Yule Day…
…& this – wow! Fractal heaven!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_oleracea#mediaviewer/File:Fractal_Broccoli.jpg
I hope that did not embed – it was a picture of a particular broccoli variety – Romanesco broccoli. Look it up, it is amazing.
You can sprout pizza?
Broccoli is great in a bacon carbonara. My kids inhale it in that form.
For once I agree with Newman from the show Seinfeld
Oops! Apologies for embedding the video
Everyone has different sensitivities to different chemicals found in foods.
Some people hate, hate, hate cilantro, while I love it.
Some people hate the cabbage family, while I love it.
Á chacun son goût
I’m certainly not one to criticize someone else for their food dislikes. I was a picky eater as a child, and have somehow managed to not grow out of it, even as I draw ever closer to the great Hawaiian age (five-oh).
That said, I’m okay with broccoli, so long as it’s boiled/steamed tender enough, and it’s mostly florets, not so much stalk. I also like Brussels sprouts, again not too crunchy. But don’t ever try to give me any of broccoli’s albino cousin – I do NOT like cauliflower in any form, not even mashed beyond (visual) recognition on top of a vegetarian shepherd’s pie (what’s wrong with potatoes? They’re, if not vegetables, not meat…). Not sure if it has to do with sensitivity to PTC or lack thereof. Many of my dislikes seem to boil down to things like fermented/aged/mold (the only cheese I can really stand is mild cheddar, with a slight nod to mozzerella; I can’t stand the taste of alcohol; I’m squicked out by yogurt; I likewise loathe mushrooms; oddly, I’m okay with a fair number of the aged sausages…). I won’t even get into mouth feel, etc. Let’s just say that I sometimes amaze myself that I can manage to eat a decent meal more than once in a blue moon.
Try this recipe for cauliflower. Every cauliflower-hater I’ve ever served it to has liked it (not just tolerated it).
Zahra (Lebanese Cauliflower)
1 Head of cauliflower
Sauce:
1-3 cloves of garlic (depending on taste)
~ 2 tsp of sea salt
Juice of 1 lemon (must be fresh squeezed)
Approx. 1 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
Approx. 1 cup of very good plain yogurt
Smoked paprika to taste (I use about 2 Tbsp)
Sri Racha sauce* to taste (I use about 1 Tbsp)
Clean cauliflower and slice off florets (no larger than 2-3 inches (5-7 cm). Place in steamer, cover, and steam for approx 6-8 minutes under full steam.
Peel the garlic and crush into a mortar & pestel. Add salt and mash garlic + salt in the M & P until a smooth(-ish) paste. Add lemon juice and blend in the M & P.
Pour the garlic/salt/lemon mix into a larger bowl for mixing. Add paprika and Sri Racha and mix. Add tahini and mix (the mixture will thicken rapidly). Add yogurt and mix well. Then very slowly add water until the consistency is similar to pancake batter. Set aside.
Preheat a skillet with about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm +) of canola oil in it (medium heat).
Remove the cauliflower florets from from the steamer and place directly into the skillet. Fry gently, turning frequently, until the florets have large golden to brown patches in several places/sides or even all over (even dark brown is OK; the browned parts are caramelized).
Place the cauliflower florets from the skillet directly into a serving bowl and immediately pour (heavily!) the sauce over the pile of florets. Serve immediately.
It is simply scrumptious. I usually serve as an appetizer.
I figured this out (with help from a Lebanese friend) from a dish I was served by the restaurant Omar Khayyam in Seattle.
(* This is a very “bright” flavored Asian red chili sauce that is very common in the US, especially in Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants. It’s mainly just pureed chilies. Any brightly flavored red chili sauce that isn’t super-hot will do.)
For the sauce, I should have said, “very slowly add water while blending thoroughly after each (small) addition of water.”
This sounds kind of complicated; but I can do the whole thing in less than 30 minutes, start to finish.
Make the sauce while the cauliflower is steaming, start eh skillet heating about half-way through the steaming.
Sounds good. But I think it calls for maybe six or eight cloves of garlic. 😉
That many works fine; but (surprising) it can become too much (unbalance the flavors).
I have tried on numerous occasions to add “too much garlic” to dishes for my wife and me. Pretty much can’t do it.
I usually use 3 very large cloves, which probably translates as 6 “normal cloves” so, yeah, more garlic works fine.
I do encourage you to try this dish, it’s sublime. 🙂
“it can become too much”
Is that possible? I don’t think so!
One of my favorite dishes…an head or two of garlic cloves veeeeeeery slowly cooked in olive oil, then tossed with fresh pasta….
b&
Oh yes! Near-perfection!
or said heads of garlic baked…
Yes, more garlic and less tahini.
Tahini’s fine, you just got to mix it with garlic! 😉
I still find that a little tahini goes a long way, but you can never have too much garlic. Must make my 40-garlic chicken some time soon. You mix a ton o’garlic with soft butter and put it (carefully, with rubber gloves or trimmed fingernails) under the skin of a whole chicken and then roast it.
That’s a different take on 40-cloves-of-garlic chicken. I usually do it in a covered skillet with the garlic (and onions and rosemary) in the pan with the chicken. Under the skin sounds like it should work pretty well. I assume roasted?
b&
Yeah, roast the whole chicken once the butter and garlic are under the skin. Added rosemary – and s&p – are good, too.
I’ll have to give it a try…but an whole chicken is an awful lot of food. Might have to try it on just a piece or two.
…and then I have to figure out how to fit 42 cloves of garlic in the skin of a single leg….
b&
Just use a smallish whole chicken, and theleftovers are good reheated or in a sandwich. Baihu would like some, too. And it’s 40, not 42 cloves – this is not the answer to the meaning of the universe:-))
PS you could probably get awY w 6 cloves.
I’m trying to avoid leftovers entirely. If I cook enough that there’ll be leftovers, there’s the temptation to go ahead and eat the whole thing anyway, or at least eat into the portion intended for leftovers. And, unless I’ve planned what to do with the leftovers, there’s too much of a chance of them vanishing into some mystery container in a dark corner of the ‘fridge, only to be rediscovered in some future archaeological expedition.
And, with a mere six cloves of garlic, the Universe would lose all meaning!
b&
Tahini’s fine, you just got to mix it with garlic! 😉
Indeed! And garbanzos are an acceptable addition as well (as long as the garlic is there).
All of these are selectively bred from the humble original “cabbage” plant:
Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kohlrabi
Brussel sprouts
Turnips
Rutabaga
Collards
Kale
Arugula
Daikon
Bokchoi
Radish
Horse radish
Cress
Wasabi
Mustard
Rape
“Canola”
An amazingly malleable vegetable.
Love ’em all except rutubaga. Not much on sweet-ish root veggies.
Scary genetic modification. This should be labeled so people can make up their own minds.
Yeah, I get a lot of laughs on people that don’t know they are all basically the same plant.
….with a warning: May make you fart.
You know, that could be a good marketing strategy to get prepubescent boys to eat more veggies….
b&
Interesting. I had no idea that selective breeding could create new species and, in some cases, genera. Currently accepted latin names from http://www.itis.gov:
Cabbage – Brassica oleracea L.
Broccoli – Brassica oleracea L.
Cauliflower – Brassica oleracea L.
Kohlrabi – Brassica oleracea L.
Brussel sprouts – Brassica oleracea L.
Turnips – Brassica napus L.
Rutabaga – Brassica napus L
Collards – Brassica oleracea L.
Kale – Brassica oleracea L.
Arugula – Eruca vesicaria L.
Daikon – Raphanus sativus L.
Bokchoi – Brassica rapa L.
Radish – Raphanus sativus L.
Horse radish – Armoracia rusticana G. Gaertn., B. Mey. & Scherb.
Cress – Nasturtium officinale W.T. Aiton
Wasabi – Eutrema japonicum (Miq.) Koidz.
Mustard – Sinapis alba L.
Rape – Brassica napus L., Brassica rapa L
“Canola” – Brassica napus L.
I thought bok choi was simply closely related?
There’s some nonsense going around about canola oil “causing cancer”. I looked at the study that apparently started this urban myth and it showed that people whose job it is to cook using smoking-hot unrefined rape seed oil, full time, have an elevated risk of lung cancer. (They found no increased risk with canola, which was evaluated.)
Is anyone surprised by this? Spend you days breathing in burning oil fumes, you get an increased risk of lung cancer. Duh.
I had one person (who I would normally suspect of being intelligent) say, with a little implied wink, “why do you think they call it rape seed?!!!!”
Well, that would be because it’s named after the turnip part of the family, and its name in Latin was rapa.
It goes to show the near total lack of real inquisitiveness amongst the woo-ish crowd. Really? You can’t even look it up on Wiki?
Ha! Surely Monsanto is behind this!
Well, I looked it up & Snopes has a debunk on it. Rapeseed oil is high in erucic acids which makes it somewhat toxic. In the 1970’s, the scientists at the U of Manitoba bred plants in which the erucic acid was replaced with oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat, and renamed “Canola”. Canola was produced by cross breeding, not GMO.
Of all oils, canola is the highest in monounsaturated fat, except for olive oil. I have used it for cooking for over 25 years.
I would think that inhaling any hot oil fumes would be unhealthy, but inhaling the fumes from a toxic plant could only be worse.
Also, the U of M didn’t patent the canola plant, as it’s development was paid for by the taxpayer (who fund the university and the research it does).
I can understand not liking broccoli and kale and so on — I love them, but then again, I love bitter foods and don’t really care for sweet ones.
What I can’t understand is how anyone could countenance keeping a rat as a pet. Those pestiliferous vermin are fit only to be Ferret Food (or cat food, if you prefer), not household friends!
Yeah, I think you have to love bitter and sour to love the brassica.
Some people have very strong sensitivities to certain chemicals (this shows up strongly in wine tastings) and I would guess Jerry has a high sensitivity to whatever it is in broccoli that makes it bitter/unique tasting.
My brother had pet rats when I was a child and they were clean, pleasant, funny little fellows. No problems at all, and he carried them around with him in the house (à la the movie Ratatouille.)
I wouldn’t want rats; but they seemed to be fine pets. I don’t understand rodents as pets, full stop, but he liked them.
In any event, we are in the process (as retirement approaches, thankfully) of divesting ourselves of all living things other than outdoor plants and ourselves. Ah, freedom!
I inherited 2 white rats from my kids classroom one summer, then the new teacher didn’t want them back.
As first I was squeed out by their naked tails, but the little buggers grew on me. They would sit on my shoulders & play with my hair. They were very sweet tempered and very intelligent (as compared to guinea pigs).
I also think field mice are cuties but I have had to kill them when they infested our camper. They cause so much damage and leave a trail of feces everywhere.
Some kid in the back of the “house” is trying to foist the broccoli off on the rat, who’s having none of it.
My three younger brothers and I used to try to sneak stuff we didn’t like onto each other’s plates…
“Chinese rice wine”
What’s that? You mean saké, no?
Mirin, presumably.
Not sake, and I really don’t think it’s mirin either (but could be wrong). It’s labelled Chinese cooking wine (and it has a bit of salt in it).
+1