On my hobby horse of food and fashion again. When was the last time you saw the words 'Brussels sprouts' in a restaurant review, or 'swede'? Parsley root (which used to be called simply Hamburg parsley until it became cheffy) perhaps, or pak choi; salsify and scorzonera on occasion. But not those humblest and most flavoursome of veg. The trouble is that with the swede there is not much to do with it beyond the default mash with butter (with or without carrots) and maybe a sprinkle of herbs; and the sprout has such a powerful flavour that it needs something robust as the core of the meal or it will dominate the plate. As lamb shanks are now in the foodie world snobbishly relegated to mere Gastro Pub fodder robust is not too frequently encountered in reviews either.
We had swede and sprouts with the beery beef and mushroom pie last night. They held their own, went well together and with the pie, and made it feel balanced somehow. Stuff fashion.
I like Gastro Pubs btw, the nearest thing we have to a proper bistro culture here; some of what pass for bistros in Britain tending to be so far up themselves they can see out through their own mouths. And you can usually get decent beer in GPs, which totally illogically you can't very often in a brasserie in the UK. The word means brewery. The otherwise brilliant Paul Heathcote had here in Preston what was called for a time a brasserie: the beers were (a few years back but think this is right) Heineken, Budweiser, and maybe Amstel. If his wine list had consisted of Bull's Blood, Liebfraumilch, and Mateus Rose he would have been ridiculed (except by someone who thought it was post-Modernist irony).
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