Hopikins
My darling old Mum had a very strange way of cooking sprouts
she overcooked them, then strained them in a colander and then pressed them flat with a saucer. When I was newly married I thought that was the correct way to cook them. My husband was appalled, he came from a family of greengrocers
so thankfully put me right. I have no idea where her way of cooking and flattening sprouts came from...I do giggle about it now though.
You don't come from the Black Country do you Hopikins? That's how my Nan used to cook sprouts - squeezing them flat with a special curved metal disc that Grandad (a pattern-maker in the foundry) made for her after she used a saucer and it broke, cutting her hand.
I was 38 when I discovered that sprouts were delicious..!! ?