Why do Brits boil everything ?

[Lotc]

I’m European but not British. I have to say the way you guys cook (vegetables in particular) ie boiling everything) really isn’t for me. It just makes everything so bland even if you add butter and salt after. Carrots especially. Why not roast or lightly sautee in a pan with some olive oil? My husband boils everything. I’ve never seen anything like it. Why boil carrots? Same as ILs. The first time I met ILs we had poached chicken. It’s so weird to me. Is it a health thing?

Its your dh and his family. We roast everything and so does everyone i know. Ive not had a boiled carrot pea or even potato since school in the 90s

Hmm… it might go back to the nineteenth century when lots of British people lived in tenements, whole families in one room - they would have a small stove but no oven.

The question is "why do people generalise?"

Boiling cotton handkerchiefs kills the germs.

I don’t mind a poached chicken in the right dish (for example, some Chinese dishes work best with a gently poached chicken) but I agree completely about boiled vegetables. My in-laws also totally overcook them at which point they’ve lost so much of their nutritional value. And taste.

We lightly boil veg before roasting. Why do Europeans put everyone in the same category?
Why don’t you do all the cooking if you hate how your husband cooks?

Poached chicken makes me want to cry

I steam mine

They don’t boil everything - you can’t base an entire nations method of cooking on your DH
and his family!

I wasn’t born here either but have British family and I’ve never come across anyone - or friends- who solely boils food.

Might just be that family? I roast/bake almost all veg if I'm not eating it raw. Peas are an exception.
Or maybe it's a generational thing and your husband just hasn't questioned it: my parents would boil most of their veg.

Same.

I only boil green vegetables and then only for about a minute. I've definitely never boiled chicken.

I also don’t get why everything needs to be parboiled.

I'm British and I would say the only things I boil are:

frozen peas

baby/new potatoes to have with butter, salt and mint

slightly par-boiling potatoes to roast

carrots sometimes

eggs

pasta

Everything else is usually roasted, grilled or stir-fried with loads of garlic!

What's 'everything' to you? potatoes and.... ?

Green veg sauteed in butter is the best way to cook it though.

I can remember when I was given boiled, mushy broccoli for the first time. It makes everything wet. Not in a good way

Try making cauliflower cheese without parboiling and you'll get it 😁

Because some of us work long hours and it’s quicker.
Tomorrow, for Fathers Day, everything will be put on the barbecue.
We could generalise by asking why Europeans are so rude?

Or "Why do all people generalise about everything?" 😉

It’s the near-fetishisation of roasts that I don’t get. They’re clearly culturally central for a lot of people as a special-status meal, and there are restaurants that focus entirely on them, but they’re just not very nice.

I’m British - I boil frozen peas or sweetcorn, but I can’t think of any other vegetables I would boil. Everything else is sautéed/roasted/steamed/baked as appropriate.

Can you imagine toasting boiled peas?

This. HTH

‘Why do all people all the time generalise about everything?’ 😀

Boiling a jam roly poly is an absolute must though, surely?

We don't boil everything maybe it's just people you know?
Sometimes I have lightly boiled carrots, sometimes raw, sometimes roasted it depends what else I'm cooking and the same with the other examples you give