Mimi Sheraton says enough kale already

Longtime food critic waging an anti-kale campaign
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/05/480850228/kill-the-culture-of-cool-kale-food-critic-says?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160605

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She said “I thought I just hated kale in the current way it’s being served. And then my son reminded me that 40 years ago, in 1976 in The New York Times, I wrote a great paean to kale. It was about cooking kale for cold winter nights and all the stews and soups. And as I dug out that article and read through it, I realized that it wasn’t kale I hated, it’s the way it’s currently being prepared.”

EXACTLY. Sorry, but I tried to make and eat kale chips once. Not worth the effort, and they crumble away into nothingness upon biting into them.

I’ve got no issue with kale in a sausage, white bean and kale soup. Nor do I mind it well-sauteed with garlic and Aleppo pepper (although I’d prefer sauteed spinach vs. kale). Would not be fond of it in a “massaged” kale salad, or in smoothies, or in cookies or cakes.

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I’m your opposite. Love kale chips, love kale salad. I like caldo verde too, so we do sort of intersect, there. I don’t see the point of smoothies, generally, because I have teeth.

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I tried to like kale (as it was constantly stuffed into our CSA share). Nope. No go. Swiss chard, OTOH I like for quiche, strata, etc.

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:+1:

I like kale sauteed, or braised, or in a soup. I’m not too fond of most kale salads (although I had a really good one recently at a restaurant). I do not like kale in my smoothies or baked goods!

I like spinach in salads and chopped in things like creamed spinach or spinach dip, but I think spinach can get too soft when sauteed – I prefer a bit of chew, like with collard greens.

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Yes! I like it cooked.

Raw, it’s just unpleasant. Publix makes a superfood salad that tastes good, but has the texture of a finely-chopped rain tarp.

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As does Costco. It tastes ok but we look and sound like cud-chewing cows.

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I really like kale if it’s not bitter, and I’ve grown a bunch of sweet kale.

I cooked kale last night with carrots and I said to myself ‘I’ve had enough of kale’.

I’d rather eat cabbage or brussel sprouts.

The only thing to do with kale is cook it with either smoked meats or sausages

For example, Grönkohl mit Pinkeln:

Raw it tastes like dirt. Lingua may correct me but I have never heard of a German or Swede ever eating raw kale.

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I like small kale (baby kale maybe?) in salads but my wife brought home this stuff the other day and it’s disgusting. Reminds me of flake food I used to feed to my tropical fish as a kid.

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Yummmm. My Dutch friend used to make it for us every winter. Definitely stick-to-your ribs fare, but comfort food at the highest level.

Haha! I like roasted, seasoned seaweed which is kinda like amped up fish food.

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At least seaweed doesn’t taste like dirt. Big fan of nori on anything.

Yes, boerenkool (farmer’s cabbage) in Dutch. I like it the Dutch or German way - unfortunately I’ve never been to Sweden - but it is a dish for cold winter days. There seems to be some onion mixed with the GrĂŒnkohl in the German recipe - there is, I checked - which would make the dish less bitter. I also noted that they give frozen kale as an alternative to fresh - that is available in even the smallest Dutch superette - the freezing actually makes the kale less tough and easier to chew - I’d often buy a little package and sautĂ© it with onion and garlic as a cheap source of greens when staying in Amsterdam on a grad-student budget.

Kale is fine, but misused. Unless it is in the form of tiny new leaves, it doesn’t belong in salads. It is very nutritious, but so are many other dark-green vegetables and the wonderful cabbage family, whether deep green, pale green, white or red.

I dint think of it as tasting like dirt. It tastes minerally to me. I like kale any which way. Then again, I love leafy greens in general.

I like a well-made kale salad (massage the damn leaves!), but I can’t eat raw spinach. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s sort of like too much tannin in wine. It leaves my tongue feeling unpleasant.

That’s the high quantity of oxalic acid found in spinach. The oxalate crystals leak out from spinach as you chew, and these crystals coat the teeth and tongue. Doesn’t hurt your teeth tho.

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I love raw spinach but hate spinach teeth. Blanching and lemon juice helps.

Speaking of oxalic acid:

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I love kale in most of its forms. I don’t give a rat’s arse what Mimi Sheraton thinks.

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