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?

I hate sautéd veg, it’s greesy and disgusting I steam veg it tastes fresh and lovely

Sometimes I boil veg (lightly) and sometimes I roast - but wouldn't it be unhealthy to be chucking oil over everything at every meal? I mean you can't roast all veg, how would that work with cabbage? Or swede?

Roast vegetables are grim and make everything take like parsnip, which I can't stand.

The reason we boil things like carrots is because they taste best that way, it's quick, and they're more nutritious than raw. (See the book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human).

Sauteing and roasting carrots is not for when you've just got in from work. Throw 'em in the pan and boil away. If you don't over-boil them, they taste just fine with the gravy or sauce or whatever you're having. I don't add salt.

You and other PP would be horrified by my dinners. Mince beef cooked with onions and Oxo gravy with boiled peas, carrots, and potatoes. I use mint sauce to liven it up. The dinner of champions - a perfect balance between protein, carbs, and veg!

You cook proper food

Really?? I've never heard of roasted peas. How does that work, then? Don't they get stuck to the tray or foil? And how long does it take?

I boil all my cooked veg. How do you do potatoes? Can't imagine roasting those.

Erm, we don’t?

Sounds like you husband family cant cook. Broccoli isnt ment to be soggy.

I am not British and do boil my broccoli, carrots, grean beans, fennel, peas /just kind of defrost them/. I certainly wouldnt say sauteeing in butter is always the best way. It may be for you but not for everyone.

You dont come to Britain and critisise stuff this openly, its doesnt usually go well. Brits have their way of doing things and some I considere really stupid or lazy but how it is.

I boil potatoes. How else do you make mash? I boil broccoli and corn on the cob, peas and sometimes carrots. Carrots are good roasted though.

Exactly! It might sound very 1950s, as my dinner was called once, but it keeps me going for ages and doesn't make me feel over-stuffed. Half the plate is veg, and the other half is divided between the mince and the potatoes. And the mince is the lowest-fat kind. I'm sure any doctor would say this is a really healthy meal, especially as I don't add salt, either to the finished meal or the cooing water. (Hence the mint sauce.)

I have also been known to use the vegetable water to make the gravy, as some of the vegetable vitamins are in that water.

From the 1970s.

Do you also do those jigsaws where Spitfires fly over village pubs decked with Union Jack bunting?

Where are you from? I'm sure no-one is lazy or stupid there! 😂

Family I worked for used to just shove a tray of peas in the Aga. Perhaps thats what PP ment?

Maybe I should start a thread about why Europeans are so rude and judgemental

Your taste buds must be rather poor as they do taste ... Of Brussels sprouts. Roasted are nice too though.

@Lotc "I asked a friend why she boiled baby potatoes and then added a knob of butter at end. She said it’s faster and easiest. But roasted in oven to me is easier!"

You can't roast or pan fry everything. New potatoes in season simmered with a sprig of mint and served with good quality butter are a thing of joy. And you need to par boil old potatoes to make the perfect roast ones. Have you never tasted delicious crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside roast potatoes done the British way? I've never met anyone of any nationality that doesn't like them. Anyway, you've obviously never heard of Italian bollito di verdure or Finnish boiled baby potatoes served with dill. And you can't make pomme puree so beloved by the French without boiling potatoes.

You can't imagine roast potatoes?

Imagine harder.

ETA: I've never boiled chicken and can't imagine doing such a thing. OP, the chicken you had probably wasn't poached.

So they roast quicker - dur.

Most families I know don't have time to roast vegetables mid-week or want their vegetables swimming in oil. Most people steam their vegetables so that they retain nutrients, flavour and bite.

How has anybody managed to never see a roast potato?! That's blown my mind!

I suspect that when the OP is not around, her DH and in-laws are gently sautéing and roasting their veg. They only boil them to piss her off.

Oh, there is loads! Just in a different way. Germans have their own way too.

Omg, of course. Sorry, I don't eat potatoes as am diabetic and had totally forgotten that roast potatoes for Sunday lunch was a thing.

Why do all Europeans make everything greasy?

Steamed veg is much healthier than frying everything. Have you had your cholesterol checked recently?

Poached chicken makes me want to cry

Says someone who probably hasn’t tasted Hainanese chicken.

I live in the Netherlands and they apparently, haven’t received the non boiling vegetable directive.