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 have. No problem. Cut the cauliflower nice and chunky with spices and herbs. Bit of olive oil and salt. Amazing. Boiling it ruins cauliflower

And I don’t know a single Brit who boils meat, in any way.
Maybe do some research ????

YABU in your assumptions that all British people boil all their vegetables.

We steam most of our veg.

Why is it always Europeans who come on MN asking why “Brits” do some weirdly specific thing that we don’t always/ever do? Oh, is that a generalisation about “Europeans”?? But we get so many of these sodding threads it’s beyond tedious. How about take some time to learn about British culture before stereotyping? If you can find Mumsnet you can lurk for a bit and learn about the UK before chatting shit about it.

YABU because the ‘Brits’ certainly do not boil everything! I roast - roasted carrots are delicious and a good substitute for sweet potato (thought that’s great and healthy but if you wanted something lighter). Cauliflower too is transformed by roasting. Haven’t you seen how popular air fryers are?

Bless your sweet little heart

My friends give their kids boiled peas as the most often side dish for dinner. I wouldn’t be able to eat that. Feel sorry for the kids

Roasts are up there with my favourite meals!

I love a boiled carrot. I don’t need it to taste of salt or olive oil - I just like the carrot flavour that comes out best when gently boiled 🤷‍♀️

Well the simple answer is that we don’t boil everything.

Some veg is cooked in boiling water, mainly because of oven space in our house. Once the meat, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, parsnips etc are in the oven any extra veg needs cooking using other methods but they’re only boiled for long enough to cook them not turn them grey and soggy.

Horses for courses. I prefer my cauliflower cheese soft, melting and mustardy. I can only achieve that if I parboil.

Brits don't 'boil everything'.

What country are you from OP just out of interest? You haven't said?

Is this because you don't want anyone to discuss the culinary things they dislike about yours?

I also don’t see anything wrong with a boiled pea sorry if you can’t eat it but hardly the end of the world

I mean, you’re one person and that’s your opinion… Clearly they are very nice to millions of people, including tourists hence why they remain a popular dish and entire restaurants have built their model around it!

Could you say why you like them so much? I’ve tried them on and off down the years, so it’s not a matter of having had one made for me by a poor cook, but I don’t get it.

I boil stuff because roasting takes far too long.

That's a very sweeping generalisation!
I never boil veg, ..always roasted, barring peas and sweetcorn (both of which I grow myself) I think boiling everything harks back to decades ago!

I like those microwave bags of frozen veg that steam it.
I very occasionally boil carrots but generally prefer them raw and grated.

You haven't had a boiled potato since the 90s what is this madness !

Op some vegetables are fine being boiled although i steam mine not everything needs a gallon of oil to taste nice

And what country are you from op? The specific country, it's hardly outing.

It is incredibly ignorant to ever say the phrase 'Why do X always do Y?'. It is always a gross generalisation, rooted in stereotypes and obviously untrue.

No group of human beings, whatever characteristic they share, are homogenous.

Oh, behave. I don't boil food & neither did my DM🙄

Yes - or extrapolate out based on one example! I was just trying to think of the last boiled thing I ate - eggs probably. I'd see it as an old fashioned thing and where the veg you are using lends itself to boiling so peas, potatoes etc.

Traditionally, Brits boil vegetables. It's not a slur or a misapprehension to say this is true. "Meat and two veg" was the standard meal when I was growing up in the 1970s and still may be for some families, especially older ones.

My working class London Nans, now dead, would absolutely boil everything. My Mum, now in her 80s, would boil most staple vegetables - carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, peas, cabbage - when we were kids. It did indeed lead to pretty bland meals.

Why? The effect of mass urbanisation in the UK during the Industrial Revolution, food rationing in the mid 20th century, poor housing and cooking equipment, all contributed to the UK's food culture.

The influence of different cuisines in the later 20th century means that my and my children's generation don't cook like this. We are much more likely to roast or grill or saute vegetables to get more flavour.

Christ there is absolutely no need to feel sorry because kids eat boiled peas.