"Brown is flavor"

“Brown is flavor!”

I recently attended a week-long class in cooking at the Culinary Institute of American, in Hyde Park, New York.  An amazing experience.

One of the many lessons I learned was captured by the instructor/chef, when he was exhorting me to roast the baby artichokes I had prepared longer than I thought was a good idea.  “Brown,” he said, “is flavor!”  Same lesson when he told us to brown the mirapoix in making a gravy.  “Not ready,” he said.  “Brown.  Really brown.”

So, here is a quick, simple way to make brussel sprouts in a way that anyone (really. . . anyone!) will enjoy.

Preheat the oven to 425.  Rinse and drain the sprouts.  Then cut off the bottom stems, and cut them into halves, from top to bottom.  Put the sprouts into a large bowl.  Pour in “some” olive oil.  I don’t tend to measure, so I am not sure how much to put in.  If you pour too much in, there will be a puddle of oil at the bottom of the bowl when you remove the sprouts.  That is too much oil.  If you notice that many of the sprouts seem not to have any oil on at all, that is too little oil.

Sprinkle on a couple of good pinches of kosher salt.  Then grind some black pepper over the sprouts.  Mix them up well, so that the salt and pepper are evenly distributed.

Dump the sprouts onto a large rimmed sheet pan.  (Usually called a “half sheet,” 11 x 17 inches) Turn each sprout so that its cut face is facing downward, in contact with the pan.  One single layer.  (This is how you know you have too much or too few sprouts.  If you don’t get a layer covering the whole pan, too few.  If you can’t get them all in place, too many.)

Place in the heated oven on a middle rack.  They will cook for a long time.  30 to 45 minutes?  Depends on the size of your sprouts.  You have to check them every so often.  They are done when they are seriously brown.  This is the only hard part of this recipe, waiting until they are really, really brown.  You can prove to yourself the benefits of waiting this long.  Take a sprout out before they are really brown, and try it.  It will taste like an OK brussel sprout.  Then, apply patience and take them all out when they are brown, really brown.  Try one of these and compare to the earlier taste. 

See?  Brown is flavor.

Serve without any sauce.  They won’t need it.  Make a lot more than you think you will need, because everyone will eat lots of these.  Really, lots.