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?

Im from Scotland and we bile it. Worst dinner when I was wee was tatties, turnip and beef links out the butchers. I used to feed the dog the sausages. Got caught off my mam once and got grounded for a week 😬. Bet the dug loved it, can picture him to this day licking his lips and sticking the middle claw up at me 😡

Oh my god, do not pull at that thread, do you want her to have an aneurysm?!

OP, I agree. That is one of the first impressions of British cooking I got when I first arrived. It is because the vegetables that accompany the pinnacle of British cooking which is the Sunday roast are boiled.

Yup.

My Scottish Granny's insult of choice was "away and bile yer heid" 👍

You’d think so but I’m not sure that’s the case:

For men, Romania and Poland lead with a 76% prevalence rate (of which 38% and 32% were living with obesity, respectively), closely followed by Croatia and Slovakia, each reporting a 74% prevalence (of which 35% and 31% were living with obesity, respectively).

For women, Ireland has the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity (62%, of which 28% were living with obesity) followed by Romania (58%, of which 32% were living with obesity), and Croatia (58%, of which 28% were living with obesity).

https://www.eufic.org/en/healthy-living/article/europes-obesity-statistics-figures-trends-rates-by-country#:~:text=Fig.,men%20in%20the%20EU%2C%202022.&text=For%20women%2C%20Ireland%20has%20the,%25%20were%20living%20with%20obesity).

Bit of a generalisation! I steam, dry dry, saute and roast in addition to boiling. Talk to your husband maybe?!

Same. I don’t have a big enough pot for starters.

Including baby/new potatoes? They're lovey gently boiled with some butter and mint.

LMAO!

I have wanted to boil mine, MORE THAN ONCE! 🤣

Yes absolutely all British people do this. Every single one of us.

Same as how the Americans think we never use seasoning or spice and our food is bland based on what US soldiers said after WW2. 😂

Edit to say, oh hang on misread!

I boil all my veg and potatoes. To me, it's mainstream and normal, and not a thing of the past in any way. I bet loads of people on the Continent do, too.

Hahaha, I still say that! "Away you and bile yer heid" 🤣

I’m Scottish too. And from a poor family. We didn’t boil anything. Steamed mainly and roasted the rest of the time.

Probably because she's French and they eat frogs and snails! SO grim. You've got to admit, she does sound very French. They love to look down on us. 🤣 "Les rosbifs," as they call us, LOL!

I like boiled potatoes, peas, lightly boiled cauliflower, broccoli and brussels, especially brussels, I don't like carrots however they are cooked or raw.

at least it is roast - beefs (rosbifs) not boiled beefs

The advantage of poaching chicken is that it stays moist, good if you're doing it for a salad, and you get delicious stock. Particularly useful if you (like me) are cooking for one.

Otoh, if I'm cooking my chicken, ham, pork chop or whatever in the oven, I'll put my peas in a ramekin with butter and maybe some finely chopped shallot and do them alongside.

Then again, I am not a Brit.

Why are you married to/friends with people whose lifestyles you so clearly look down upon?

You also don’t understand what cauliflower cheese is.

To answer your very rudely-phrased questions, most British adults aged under 75 would roast, sauté or char grill vegetables rather than boil them. For goodness sake, have you not seen how many cooking programmes there are on British TV? Nobody is boiling broccoli on those. But some people are just shit cooks. They exist in all countries though.

Does it take less electricity/gas than putting on a whole oven? That might be why.

Poached chicken is delicious as part of the classic Singaporean dish Hainan Chicken Rice.

These are EU figures so the UK is not included.

I boil a lot more veg than I used to since my DP died. It's hard to justify the cost of heating the oven just to cook a couple of carrots or whatever.

I don't boil them to death though, unlike some people (yes, MIL, looking at you!). They're always al dente.

Toast?