there’s so much wild shit out there like, they got a cross between brussel sprouts and kale now, it grows little kale nuggets, it’s weird
Im a huge fan of broccolini except idfk what to call it because that’s apparently a trade mark of the Del Monte corporation and other places call it “sweet baby broccoli” but that’s INACCURATE because it ISN’T BABY BROCCOLI it’s actually a cross between BROCCOLI and GAI LAN which yields the succulent floral broccoli tops combined with the crisp crunchy asparagus like stalk of the gai lan and altogether a super premium ultra vegetable. I love that shit
If you want broccolini tips i’ve been tossing it in a light lemon garlic vinaigrette and then throwing it on the char grill until it’s charred and people go omg your broccolini, it is a so amazing
Anyway what are some other good weird brassicas y’all enjoy
I didn’t know broccolini was across between broccoli (mid) and gai lan (amazing!). I saw your title and was going to recommend gai lan.
Gai choy (Chinese mustard) is also really good.
you say broccoli is mid but I can guarantee you for an absolute fact bet my fucking life on it, but it’s the most popular vegetable, i don’t give a fuck what you tell me you’re wrong it’s broccoli
if you’re telling me to cater for 300 people they will eat twice as much broccoli as they would any other vegetable 100000%\
but they don’t know what the fuck bc broccolini is even better like omg the stalk, and the florets, unnnnf
shredded kohlrabi to make hash browns. got that idea from some central European immigrants lady who was the only customer I ever saw get real excited about them.
and long before the lighter, gentler kale gentrified tables, collards were the cooking greens of hungry workers living and working on the land. cold winters, hot/humid summers, collards don’t give a fuck. ferment em, boil em, cook em down with fats. yum yum, all day long, live forever.
Kohlrabi is also really good just eaten raw with some bread and cold cuts. You need to cut the outer gummy-like parts off. It’s nice and crunchy and subtly spicy not unlike mustard somehow.
When I was a kid, my mom used to boil (or steam?) Kohlrabi and then serve it with a creamy dill sauce. I hated it. All the crunchiness is gone, the spiciness is gone, there’s only a hint of Kohlrabi left. It’s like she somehow managed make the water it was cooked in into a gel-like solid.
Kohlrabi is honestly my favorite veggie, but it’s just enough work that I settle for serving it with some mustard and call it a day.
Hell yeah. +1 for collards or basically any brassica green
Edit: can’t believe I almost forgot pak choi Edit 2: realized you said niche lol so maybe rutabaga?
Turnips and kohlrabi make a fine soup
So just as the vegetable itself my favourite brassica is romanesco broccoli (which confusingly is a type of colliflower).
But as a meal I can’t beat nicely cooked Brussel sprouts. I do a really good pan fried brussle sprout dish. With chilli peppers, mushrooms and horseradish for a spicy, nutty crunchy side dish.
Ok, I have another one. Radi (“Rettich”), which is long white radish and quite big. It tastes similar to the small red round radishes.
You cut it into an accordion-like strip, salt the insides lots, then wait at least 20 minutes while it weeps. You then rip off bits with your hands, squeeze some of the salty liquid out, and eat it with a buttered pretzel or bread in a beer garden, as Brotzeit (“bread time”, basically an irregular snack pause between meals), or for dinner.
Im wondering if that cut works with hassleback potatoes to make fancy accordion potatoes (on that note the initial cut would probably be easier if they put the radish between two cutting boards so the gap serves as a guard so the knife doesn’t slice through. Alternatively i guess i could Get Good and free hand it like they do)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Mustard greens are fire.
Hell yeah they’re like peppery and horseradishy
Turnip greens are NOT though, worst green
Id put kale up (down?) there. Not my favourite.
How dare you. Kale is like 80% of my green stuff consumption in winter.
Turnip greens are so fucking bitter, christ, i blanched them to drain bitter compounds and then cooked them how i do collard greens and they were fuckin nasty
They were good when i did sarson ka saag but that’s only because it was 25% turnip greens, 50% kale and 25% spinach
Kale is good especially tossed in a little lemon and garlic and oil and roasted quick and hot
I’m planning on growing mustard greens this autumn. They’re pretty excellent with garlic and onions.
Ive only done them at work once but they were good tossed on the char grill for a minute or two like the broccolini
That’s awesome! I learned to forage them around where I live, so I gather them in spring/autumn and make nice salads or stir fry.
Man I have never even heard of any of these, the vegetables in the shops here suck.
Having said that, we have a fairly common one here that I think might not be that well known internationally, called Wirsing (pronounced like “were-sing” or “were-jing”, think werewolf), apparently it is called savoy cabbage in English. It’s a big round head with big leaves like white cabbage, but they’re green and wrinkly. In my opinion the taste and texture is a bit like kale, but I haven’t had that much kale tbh. Kale is common in the north of Germany but not here in the south.
Wirsing is not my favorite, but maybe it’s niche? Anyway, it’s not eaten raw, it’s blanched (for e.g. a salad), steamed or put into a stew.
The Bavarian Cookbook* has this basic recipe for a steamed Wirsing, which I assume is lifted from the French somehow (CW: meat and butter are optional, but they’re mentioned in this recipe):
- 1 kg savoy cabbage
- (optionally) salt water for blanching
- 30 g oil, or optionally bacon, cubed
- a half onion
- salt
- 250 ml liquid [it just says “liquid”, by which they mean pretty much anything: water, stock, even wine; I have seen milk, but probably best to dilute and add the milk later so it doesn’t burn]
- (optionally) 20 g of flour as a “dough-ling” [unsure about that one, I assume they mean mix the flour with some water, probably like a starch slurry], or with 20 g butter as a beurre manié [1:1 flour and butter kneaded together]
- a little bit of nutmeg
- (optionally) 10 g butter
Wash, remove stalk and very large ribs. Cut into eighths and then into wide strips. Optionally, for old Wirsing, blanch in salt water [I think this is to remove bitterness]. Fry onion in oil or use rendered bacon. Add salt, Wirsing, and only a little bit of liquid. Cover with lid and let steam on moderate heat until soft, add a bit more liquid when necessary. The cooked Wirsing can optionally be thickened using flour “dough-ling” or a beurre manié, bring to a short boil while stirring lightly [this is to get the flour taste out]. Add a little nutmeg, add salt and seasoning to taste, optionally improve using butter or fried bacon cubes. Cooking time about 45 minutes.
* Some background about this cookbook from German Wikipedia, which I think is interesting:
The book’s predecessor was the cookbook published in 1910 by the Bavarian Association for Economic Women’s Schools in the Countryside for young women and home economics teachers for “utilization in itinerant cooking courses” at the Miesbach Economic Women’s School, which was founded in 1903. These itinerant cooking courses were held in winter when work in the fields was at a standstill. The Miesbach itinerant teachers, often so-called higher daughters, came to the villages with mobile cooking equipment and taught cooking and home economics.
Brussel sprouts are apparently a brassica? I guess their niche is that most people think they’re gross, but I like steaming them then roasting them with garlic, oil and a bit of soy sauce
steaming first is totally unnecessary imo i’d only steam if i thought they needed to be par cooked but they 10000% do not, they get tender enough with a good enough roast to get you good browning
just cut in half and then roast with oil and seasonings and stuff, maybe save soy sauce for finishing bc moisture = less temperature = less good maillard reactions, so just oil + dry seasonings to roast then wet stuff imo
best is deep fried tho
Ty for the advice
