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?

Apart from your DH and family, how many of the 69.5 million of us do you know well enough to make such a sweeping statement?
We are a massively diverse cultural group here in the UK.
Much more so than other European nations.

Our cooking habits reflect this.

We don't call ourselves "Brits". Why have you not noticed this?

Also, you are the outlier here. I've been fed boiled potatoes in many European countries, there's nothing unusual about them.

Is it so hard to understand that people have different tastes and can cook exactly how they choose in their own home?

I love a baby new potato boiled with a little butter. Roasted new potatoes are not so enjoyable to me as they lose their delicate flavour. I agree with the poster who said they parboil cauliflower for cauliflower cheese. Maybe some people don’t want a spicy covering.

You’re definitely generalising though as plenty of people I know also roast, steam, sauté veggies.

Just cook yourself if you don’t like your DH cooking.

Don't we? What do we call ourselves? Genuine question 🤔

I boil eggs and pasta and I par-boil potatoes if I’m roasting them. I will blanch a gammon to reduce saltiness before baking it. I can’t think of anything else I would boil. I do poach eggs sometimes but poaching isn’t boiling.

I feel sad for you OP. Food must be very boring in your home.

edited for typo.

I occasionally boil chicken! I put 4-5 breasts in water, boil about 15 mins, let it rest and then shred them in my KitchenAid. Freeze in portions. Very handy for home made pizza toppings.

I don't know but I've never heard anyone from Britain call themselves this. Dont we usually just say I'm English, or Scottish or whatever? Or British. It's only ever people from other countries who say Brits though, and it sounds quite rude.

We don’t grow olives so it’s not in our traditional cuisine

I'm not ashamed to say I boil most veg. It's perfectly possible to boil without losing flavour - just make sure you don't boil for long.
Steaming is better but I broke the lid of my steamer...

I boil a huge pot of chicken, carrots; celery, onions to make chicken broth. The chicken is awful so bland but the broth is delicious. But that's an Italian thing and not British.

Makes things quicker to roast/pan fry.

We steam then pop in the oven.

Weird. Why not?

If I want plain cooked veg (including potatoes for mashing) I usually do them in the microwave - broccoli, cauliflower, peas, beans. Turnip (aka swede) gets steamed, as do potatoes sometimes. Cabbage and leeks get boiled. Not over-boiled, ever. Mushrooms go in the microwave too, I don't suppose anyone boils mushrooms.

I boiled a few mange-tout yesterday, inspired by this thread, since I had some boiling water to heat a plate. Ate them with carrot sticks cooked with chicken breasts in the oven, and baby potatoes roasted in olive oil in the air fryer.

I have heard Brits used by Brits on many occasions, particularly when abroad.

It’s from tabloid headlines, developed because it took up fewer characters than “British people”. cf “tots” and “boffins”.

DH says he heard it often in Northern Ireland when he worked there many years ago.

Regarding peas and sweetcorn. Lots of pea and sweetcorn boilers upthread.
I'm wondering if people boil these because they buy them in a frozen packet with the instructions "boil"
Fact is, you don't have to boil them, you can just heat them gently in a lidded pan or saute in frying pan. Retains more of their goodness.

I'm not sure this is a thread for indignation though. Ffs how do some of you get through a day of real life?
It's just a question about what's accepted culturally.
But no, "racist!" "stupid generalisation!" "you're not allowed to use the term Brit!" "You Europeans are no better!" "don't be so patronising, you have no idea how I live" "boiling does happen in Europe, you know!".

Bloody hell, makes you scared to open your mouth. It's a discussion about cultural and national norms. Which exist. Get a life outside of indignation !

I think old people boiling everything is a throw back to the war when fats and butter were rationed and hard to come by, and then it was a habit that hung around for a few years post war. I don’t know anyone who isn’t elderly that boils everything.

Roast veg is lovely, but it does make everything taste very sweet. I love me some roast veg, but not all the time. Sometimes, boiled or steamed carrots, broccoli and cabbage with some good quality homemade gravy is the absolute best thing in the world. When I was on holiday in Italy, I loved the food at first, but after a week I got sick of roasted veg all the time and just craved something boiled. All the roast veg just got too cloying after a while. Although boiled veg every single day would get tiresome too. Too much of anything gets boring. A mix of both is best.

(Also though, yes, lightly steaming veg is the best way to conserve their nutrients).

Try Google, you'll learn something.

we absolutely don’t maybe it’s an older generation thing . We visit Spain a few times a year and every bit of veg I’ve had on my plate in restaurants had been mushy like boiled within an inch of its life urgh

I cook vegetables in different ways. Steam, boil, sauté, oven bake. If you’re not tasting the carrots after they’ve been boiled first, then simmered, then they’re probably being boiled too long. I always taste my carrots.

I don’t actually like for health reasons sautéing too many vegetables as I prefer to use butter (maybe olive oil?) and don’t find this that healthy though it’s tasty.

See as an example my grandad and his mother (both German) made potato salad with boiled new potatoes but served with chives and french dressing, no mayonnaise. They also did boil and simmer vegetables, am sure they sautéed them too (I typed up his memoirs of growing up in Germany as a child last year) so maybe that’s an age thing with the boiling.

I boil peas, pasta, new potatoes, eggs.