If the sprout is not sliced at least once, the ratio of surface area to volume is not at all conducive to holding sauce. Additionally, the leaves form an almost impermeable barrier that repels sauce or dressing like water off a freshly waxed car. The sauce has no access to the sphere's inner folds, and can only wait helplessly on the sidelines while a flavor foul is committed in your mouth. Unless, of course, you like the taste of full-on, unadulterated Brussels sprouts. But raw sprouts are too strong for most palates, so they generally need to be cooked before you toss them in a greasy pan or a salad bowl.

My two favorite ways of cooking Brussels sprouts are roasting and steaming. Roasting gives them a weathered taste and feel. The dry heat cultivates extra flavor as the outer leaves develop a brown crisp. Steaming sprouts preserves a certain clean, bright innocence in them, the better to deflower with bacon grease; ranch dressing; or a light mix of olive oil, salt, and vinegar.

However great they are to eat, growing Brussels sprouts is a grind. They take a long time to mature, and don't produce much poundage per plant. That's why they're expensive, and why each sprout should be groomed like the treasure it is. Trim the cut end at the bottom of each sprout to create a new, non-browned end, and pull off the outer leaf or two if they're yellow, dirty, shriveled, or otherwise tainted. What remains are densely-packed layers of green and pre-green yellow.

In the oven, I roast my cut sprouts at 350, sprinkled with olive oil and tossed with carrot coins or slices of winter squash. Stir often and cook for about half an hour, or until the first signs of browning. Steamed, they only need five to 10 minutes -- depending on the sprouts' thickness -- until they soften all the way through but retain the rich green glow of spring grass.

Whether you steam or roast is entirely dependent on the final dish you have in mind. If you plan to fry Brussels sprouts in bacon grease, a quick steaming is way less trouble. For salad, the rough, rich flavors of roasted sprouts add bold contrast to the leafy greens. If cooking Brussels sprouts with other vegetables, just make sure everything is cut to a size that allows them to cook at the same rate. Both carrots and squash cut to Brussels-sprout size will take about the same time or a few minutes longer.

To accompany Brussels sprouts in a salad, I go for sturdy greens like romaine lettuce or endive, and a dressing of equal parts olive oil, cider vinegar, and soy sauce. Some or all of the cider vinegar can be replaced by balsamic if you prefer. Just remember, we don't have to put balsamic on everything -- it's not the new bacon.

One way to liven up a winter salad is with seasonal fruit. Even if you don't live anywhere near the citrus orchards of Florida, Arizona, or California, you can eat seasonally, if not locally, in winter. Chunks of orange or grapefruit add nice acidic sweetness to a Brussels sprouts salad, as do pomegranate seeds.