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’ve never heard of anyone ever boiling meat!

Goady sneery generalised nonsense. 😴

It's too sophisticated and European for me!

Your friend gave her kids peas!

Yes, poor kids...I couldn't be friends with someone that fed their DC peas either...

Petit pois all the way.

We don't. I lightly steam, grill, roast or stir fry veg with spices, herbs, lemon and garlic butters and so does everyone I know.

I spent a few weeks in Spain recently and expected lots of fresh grilled or roasted peppers and mediterranean veg. It was like UK 1970s. Everywhere I went, veg was boiled to a pulp, with no herbs, no garlic. Sloppy tinned mixed veg or gloopy white asparagus at every hotel or restaurant, except the one very expensive one. I came home craving UK veg.

Mince? Well my mum did.

Sure, but I like food, I’ve moved around a lot, and I can usually see why something is a big deal even if it’s not to my personal taste (oysters, endive au gratin, snails, very ripe blue cheese), but with roasts I genuinely don’t get it.

OP has name changed deliberately lol.

So she can tell us all how she feels sorry for the British kids who are given boiled peas at dinner 😂😂

I just can’t think of many vegetables that aren’t much better with a bit of olive oil (garlic and chilli maybe) in a frying pan. Or roasted with herbs and spices.

That's the best way to cook peas as far as I'm concerned. Just a couple of minutes at the most and they are sweet and juicy. How do you cook peas?
They don't need olive oil or herbs they are delicious by themselves perhaps with a bit of melted butter

Maybe your DH is just a bad cook. I don’t think he represents all the brits 😂 I roast my veg

So it looks like we have potatoes and cauliflowers that constitute 'everything'.

No wonder OP is confused about others' behaviour!

Based on your posts @Lotc someone could make the agruement that all Europeans are rude and ignorant.

However, I have met a lot and thankfully you sre in the minority. Virtually all other Europeans I have met have been lovely.

No peas of any bloody description is best Horrid things

Why do you need to ‘get it’?

I don’t gaf how others make their meals.

In the weather next week i will not be boiling, frying or roasting anything when my kitchen will already be a sauna

I never boil anything, including eggs. If I want a boiled egg, I microwave it instead. It explodes & covers the inside of the oven with splattered egg which has to be scraped off & fragements of shell which have to be removed using a magnifying glass & tweezers, but at least it isn’t boiled. Because
boiling is anything completely wrong, obviously.

🙄

Yes but what country are you from?

I'd just like to know whether to feel sorry for the kids of your fellow country folk.

Come round mine, OP. You’d love it.

We roast EVERYTHING. Potatoes, carrots, meat, shoes, tea towels, coats, the dog………

Yes I agree with this - lightly boiled or steamed carrot, peas, green beans… I could eat these all day! I like the taste of the vegetables. I don’t need vegetables to taste of butter, oil, salt… I use high quality produce and I like the way it tastes!

no comment on meat as I don’t eat it

Hahaa! Ok so I am going against the grain and saying we actually do boil a lot of stuff which I had never thought of as wierd till now! This week we have had boiled runner beans, brocolli, garden peas, and we definitely would boil carrots! We do usually roast lots of veg too though, and I have never heard of someone boiling chicken. I think we boil it because our parents and their parents made it that way, and I don’t know why they did (maybe due to reducing energy costs or it being quicker?). Though I remember my mum serving us boiled courgette as a child which was so slimy I thought I hated courgette till I realised it’s nice if you cook it literally any other way!

The only thing I boil are eggs and new potatoes or potatoes for mash. Your idea that Brits boil everything is rooted in the past.

Maybe OP was concerned that there was some kind of British law that makes people cook things in ways they'd rather not.

Or thought we didn't have access to ovens, frying pans, olive oil or herbs.

Where in Spain were you? We were in Seville recently and while there was a bit of stodge,mainly egg and chips, there was good food too.

You need to grate it first, like they do on The Continent :)