The French way to roast pork

[Alain Maréchal]

Flower Sprouts: another foodie fad, destined to be forgotten in five years, after it has trickled down into the frozen section of lower-end supermarkets and the recipes are in the weekly magazines found in GPs' waiting rooms.

"The award winning Flower Sprout® is the product of 15 years of hard work and dedication (using traditional breeding techniques!) from the British vegetable seed house Tozer Seeds. The inspiration behind the idea came from a desire to create a Brussels sprout with a more subtle flavour which was versatile and looked great. The result a brand new vegetable which looks a little like a tiny cabbage with green frilly leaves and streaks of purple."

If you don't like sprouts why not just eat a different vegetable? As my grandmother would have said "its God's way of telling people that they are bored and have too much money".

[Anna]

And from the same website as quoted above: "Flower Sprout® is a true seasonal vegetable; it can't be grown in summer so you will only ever find it in on sale from November until March"
So I do hope french frank is not expecting fresh flower sprouts with her luncheon .....
I've never noticed them on sale in Waitrose but I have seen the red and purple sprouts, again, a fad for the foodies, but I do occasionally buy coloured (purple/yellow) carrots on the basis that they are how carrots used to be.
Anyway, hope she enjoys her meal and we expect a full report later!

[jean]

I've never eaten red sprouts, though I've seen them on other people's plots, but red cabbage is surely something in its own right and deserves respect?

I am always disappointed when purple french beans and purple-skinned potatoes lose their colour when you cook them.

[french frank]

I was re-assured that when he sliced the rested joint, there was no blood leaking on to the plate so it was only just done but it was done. The flower sprouts look great and the sauce contains lots of good things - I hope it'll be on the menu, ff - whatever you get I hope that you enjoy it

No, it wasn't on the menu but I asked Michel how hot he had the oven and he said 180 degrees. That's really only moderate, and I'd have thought it would have been hotter than that.

For my petits plats I had Feuilleté of salmon with creamed leeks and saffron white wine sauce; and roast chicken with gnocchi, also in a white wine sauce. My friends don't drink wine so I had a glass of something (white) on the special recommendations board, which I've forgotten the name of. Plus haricots verts in garlic butter.

I don't know that the flower sprouts are a fad, so much as a way of eating what often gets thrown away. I used to have broad bean tops in my veggie box which the farmer said he was trying out to see if people liked them; and I've seen 'pea sprouts' as well.

[Alain Maréchal]

I don't know that the flower sprouts are a fad, so much as a way of eating what often gets thrown away.

Sorry, ff, but although your intention is highly laudable that isn't the case here. Flower Sprouts would not otherwse be discarded, they have been specially bred at vast expense and use of resources specifically to titillate jaded palates. I'm sure there's plenty of veg offal that could be used: I am partial to carrot tops - tasty tangy fronds.

[french frank]

Sorry, ff, but although your intention is highly laudable that isn't the case here. Flower Sprouts would not otherwse be discarded, they have been specially bred at vast expense and use of resources specifically to titillate jaded palates. I'm sure there's plenty of veg offal that could be used: I am partial to carrot tops - tasty tangy fronds.

I bow to your superior knowledge, but it does appear to be a family business (Tozer Seeds) that came up with the idea of making a cross between sprouts and kale which has a slightly milder flavour (and how many people say they don't like sprouts?) and is particularly rich in vitamin B6 and vitamin C.

I'm not sure where the 'vast expense and use of resources specifically to titillate jaded palates' comes from: it seems like a fairly simple - and harmless - idea to me . But perhaps you have more of the inside story: I'm very gullible!

[Alain Maréchal]

No inside knowledge - just what I see in the website. Instead of pleasing people who weren't made to eat their greens when young* ** perhaps they could turn their attention to producing a nutritious plant that grows easily in famine-stricken areas and is resilient to extremes of heat, variable water supplies and poor soil.

*No personal inference upon any member of the forum is intended
** sorry for the outburst - when and where I grew up people were still going without food on a daily basis.

[Barbirollians]

I hate brussel sprouts with a passion - even their smell when boiled makes me heave .

Cal your recipe looks very straightforward - it can also be made more cheaply with belly of pork but after a swift hot cooking it needs slower cooking at a much lower temperature to make it tender.

[MrGongGong]

I hate brussel sprouts with a passion - even their smell when boiled makes me heave .
.

Don't boil them
shredded, chestnuts, garlic, olive oil and sauteed
you are far too late to put them on in time for Christmas anyway if you want to boil them as they take at least 6 months

[Barbirollians]

Don't boil them
shredded, chestnuts, garlic, olive oil and sauteed
you are far too late to put them on in time for Christmas anyway if you want to boil them as they take at least 6 months

I have heard all those stir fry recipes - chestnuts bacon etc - it renders the vile only unpleasant !

Indeed , one is reminded of the old Victoria Wood joke - we eat vegetables nowadays - raw ones !!! - in my family my grandmother put the sprouts for Christmas Day on on bonfire night

[Keraulophone]

Perhaps the half bott of Santenay doesn't help (2004 - not a good year :sigh: )

I hope you are able to move on to the delicious 2005s (no doubt lying in your cellar) imminently.

[Barbirollians]

I think the 2004s are rather unjustly maligned by these reports of pyrazines from a plague of ladybirds . I have only had the odd wine with that very green note.

I suspect there are bargains in 2004 about - good red burgundy 2005s are very expensive !

[Keraulophone]

good red burgundy 2005s are very expensive !

True, though the wines at village level are so delicious that there's less need to be fleeced by premier/grand cru prices. Re 2004, better value can be found in both red & white Bordeaux from this reliable vintage: 'A classic Bordeaux year... good balance and finesse... classed growths provide real quality at a fair price in this vintage' (The Wine Society list).