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Apart from the Christmas tree itself, no single item of vegetation dominates the British Christmas as much as the humble Brussels sprout. These tiny green balls of misery/delight are the single most controversial course on any Christmas dinner table.
And the reason for this is simple, they’re GOOD for you.
Nobody wants food that is good for you on a Christmas dinner table. Our traditional Christmas dinner is broadly the same as your Thanksgiving roast, with turkey as the most commonly used meat. This is a tradition which dates back to Henry VIII, although it took a while to settle in for everyone else. In the meantime, the more common Christmas roast (assuming you were of a class able to indulge in such a thing) would’ve been peacock or boar. I’ve no idea what a peacock tastes like, but we’re going to have to assume that turkey is nicer, or at the very least, much less bother to rear.
As for the trimmings, they’ve been essentially the same as yours for well over 100 years. We don’t tend to bother with the candied yam side of things, I should add that now. It’s not from a lack of desire for carbs, anyone who has tasted bread sauce will realize there’s no such thing as too many complex carbohydrates on a Christmas dinner table, and we’ve already got parsnips and carrots and roasted potatoes (less mash though, mashed turnip/swede yes, mashed potato, not as much), and stuffing, so Professor Atkins can just do one.
Then there are the pigs in blankets (mini-sausages wrapped in bacon), the meat itself, the various garnishes (cranberry sauce) and whatnot. All fairly indulgent stuff, and not one morsel of it characterized principally by having a high iron content or being rich in vitamin C.
Enter Johnny Sprout. All green and glowing, possibly covered in butter, which he refuses to absorb, possibly accompanied by chestnuts or walnuts, which he allows to slip from his rounded shoulders. He’s a tight ball of compact health, the fitness instructor of food. He’s wearing lycra running shorts, and he wants you to drop and give him 20 before you can reach over for second helpings.
Oh sure, he’s the shape of a bouncy ball, but he doesn’t taste of anything except cabbage, and as every child knows, cabbage is bad. Not least because it gives you gas. The bad kind.
Personally I love a sprout. Sprouts are what make a Christmas dinner special, because they don’t tend to fit in any other meal and they’re seasonally available in the late fall/early winter, so they always taste of that one special day. And cabbages. And it’s good that so many people can’t abide them, because tradition dictates that there must be sprouts at Christmas, and that means there’s all the more for me.
20 Comments
I LOVE sprouts! I slice them in 1/2, then either steam or bake them, toss them in butter with salt, pepper & grated parmesan cheese. Heaven!
As the potato was not introduced into europe until the late 1500′s and turkeys at a similar time by the Spanish conquistadors I doubt greatly thr dear old Henry VIII every got to taste them let alone have them at Christmas
If your sprouts taste bitter or too much like cabbage, it is because you are overcooking them! My husband refused to eat Brussels sprouts until I made them. Slice ‘em in half, toss them in a bit of olive oil and seasoning and stick them under the broiler until they are starting to brown. They are fantastic! (And I should add, I grew up eating sprouts that had been boiled within an inch of their life and liked them then as well….cooked correctly, they are divine!)
The best thing about having brussels on Christmas day is you have them left over for the bubble and squeak on Boxing Day.
To Dee……we are English, we overcook everything! We put the veggies on at Thanksgiving so they will be done in time for Christmas!
To Dee…..We are English, we overcook everything! We put the veggies on at Thanksgiving so they will be done by Christmas!
What’s up with calling turnips swede?
Jocelyn
Turnips and swede are two different veggies -I loathe both of them but they are different.
Love sprouts, everyone in my family loathes them, so get them all, yum
Love turnips, squash, etc. No meat for me, salt, grease, fat, fried, yuck.
Tony,
The first recorded turkey to reach Europe was in 1519, during Henry’s reign, and he is widely reported to have been the first British king to enjoy a turkey dinner, although at the time, as I say, the tradition was more towards peacocks and boars, and later goose.
I didn’t mention potatoes as part of his feast, because they weren’t there.
Kind regards,
Fraser
I love sprouts. I eat them a few times a year–they’re hard to match with a meal. I like them with vinegar or lemon juice! We normally have turnip or rutabaga mashed together with carrots, but on Thanksgiving rather than Christmas.
I just learned that what you, Fraser, refer to as a swede is, indeed, what I refer to as a rutabaga. They’re just a yellow turnip as opposed to a white one. Interesting.
Wow , this is weird–I just came home from the grocery store–bought Sprouts! I always have them with both Thanksgiving & Christmas–grew up having them–love them& cabbage(with corned beef) . I bought them today , because I didn’t have them this year( sold out).
I hated Sprouts as a child Mum always boiled them to mush! love them now -roasted with chopped onions and bacon
I brought the stalk to school for my students to share. I always had wondered how they stayed so clean and now I know. They are a tasty treat with a tiny speck of butter and some virgin olive oil as well as salt and pepper. . .yum.
I love the word rutabaga. There again I also love the word swede. My experience is that Brits serve mashed swede a lot more than they do turnips, but as with all matters of cuisine, there are so many regional variations it’s hard to draw common ground.
I love sprouts, i make a mean sprout curry on boxing day, funnily i’m the only one that eats it!
This is one thing i do NOT miss about the uk i hate sprouts
I don’t like them if they’re too big – they never seem to cook enough to be tender and tasty. Cutting them in half as suggested above may be the answer. Otherwise I was going to go with the baby size ones.
And rutabagas (what Brits call swede) have been part of my Thanksgiving and Christmas all my life! My dad called them turnips but they’re not quite the same thing. I cut, boil and mash ‘em with milk and butter. The next day they get mixed with the leftover mashed potatoes. Not this year, though. We’re on a diet! So lots of sprouts and maybe one small rutabaga, please!
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