Ingredient

Broccoli

Broccoli has a very short window between raw and overcooked, and it announces when you have missed it: bright green turns olive, the texture goes soft, and the smell turns sulphurous. All three happen for the same reason and all three are avoidable.

Why it goes from green to olive

The bright green is chlorophyll. Brief heat actually makes it brighter, by driving out the gas trapped between the cells that was dulling it. That is the vivid green you see in the first minute of cooking, and it is the signal to get the broccoli out.

Keep cooking and acids inside the vegetable, released as the cells break down, attack the chlorophyll and convert it to a dull olive-brown compound. The longer the cooking and the more acid present, the further it goes. It is a one-way change: nothing brings the colour back.

So: cook it briefly, cook it uncovered so the acids can escape as steam, and add anything acidic — lemon, vinegar, dressing — at the very last moment or at the table.

The methods

Blanch and refresh

Two to three minutes in heavily salted boiling water, then straight into iced water. Stops the cooking dead and locks the colour. The reliable way to prepare it in advance.

Steam

Four to five minutes. Loses less flavour to the water; slightly harder to judge.

Roast

Around 200°C, tossed in oil, for fifteen to twenty minutes. The florets char and the stems sweeten. Completely different vegetable, and arguably the best one.

Stir-fry

Cut small, high heat, a splash of water at the end and a lid for thirty seconds to finish the stems.

Boil to death

What gives broccoli its reputation. Do not.

Making it taste of something

Broccoli is mildly bitter and slightly sweet, and it takes strong flavours very well.

• Char it. Roasting or a hot griddle produces bitter-sweet browned edges that plain steaming cannot.
• Garlic and chilli in oil, poured over while it is still hot.
• Anchovy, melted into the oil. It disappears completely and makes the broccoli taste savoury rather than fishy.
• Lemon and Parmesan, added at the end so the acid does not have time to dull the colour.
• Toasted almonds, hazelnuts or breadcrumbs, for the texture contrast a soft green vegetable lacks.
• Do not waste the stalk. Peel the tough outer layer and it is sweeter than the florets. Sliced thin, it is excellent raw or stir-fried.

The sulphur smell

Brassicas — broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower — contain sulphur compounds that are stable while the vegetable is intact and break down into strong-smelling ones when the cells are damaged by heat. The longer the cooking, the more accumulates, which is why a briefly blanched floret smells green and a pan of broccoli boiled for fifteen minutes smells like a school corridor.

The remedy is short cooking, and cooking uncovered so the volatiles leave rather than condensing back into the pot. Reheated brassicas smell stronger again for the same reason, which is a fair argument for cooking them to order.

The stalk, and other things people throw away

• The stalk is as good as the florets and is usually binned. Peel the tough outer layer and slice or dice the rest — it is sweet, crunchy and cooks in the same time.
• The leaves are edible and taste like a cross between cabbage and broccoli. Cook them with the stalk.
• Cut florets so each has a flat face. Flat faces brown; round ones do not.
• Roast it rather than boiling it. High heat, oil, space on the tray, until the edges char. It is a different vegetable from boiled broccoli.
• If you do boil it, do it hard and briefly in well-salted water, then drain thoroughly. Long boiling gives the sulphurous smell and the grey-green colour.
• Purple sprouting broccoli is a different plant and better — cook it briefly, stalks and all.

Common questions