How to Cook Brussels Sprouts

How to Cook Brussels Sprouts 

By Mike Devlin

The sprout. Always seen at Christmas, and a contender for most contentious vegetable; you either love them or hate them. 

Many a tale has been told of completely under and over cooked sprouts, and has an all powerful sprout taste. 

Let's do something about that, huh?

What you need:
Sprouts (duh!)
Oil
A few rashers of bacon
Large onion
3 cloves of garlic
Balsamic vinegar
Little bit of sugar
Boiling water

Chop all the brussels sprouts in half, discarding any of the outside if looking a little worse for wear. Put to one side for the moment.

In a decent sized frying pan, add some oil and place on a medium heat. 

Chop up the bacon into small bits (or use lardons if you are particularly lazy), and throw in the pan. 

Next chop up the onion - diced, slices, doesn't matter, you decide. After a few minutes of cooking the bacon bits, add the onion, and give everything a good stir.

Now smash those garlic cloves, and add it all into the pan, giving it another stir. 

Now add all your prepped brussels sprouts, and, yes, another stir. We want to caramelise the sprouts, or simply burn them, whilst adding all the flavours of everything already in the pan. You will have to occasionally flip over that random sprout that really doesn't want to turn over when you stir it. Trust me, you'll find it. Add the balsamic and sugar (I dunno, a tsp maybe? Not sure how many sprouts you've done).

Once all the sprouts have been caramelised, add boiling water so that everything is just about covered (there will be lots of steam). Turn the heat down slightly so there is a gentle simmer. Scrape the pan if necessary to get all those lovely bits off and into the water.

Once the water evaporates, remove everything from the pan into a bowl. Done.

You will never not cook sprouts this way again. You're welcome.