Little green monsters

That's what my kids used to call sprouts when they were little.  Christmas is about the only time they take anything like centre stage - so the question is, do you cut a cross in the stems before you cook them?  Known as "scoring" the idea is to allow the boiling water to get into and cook the stems, which might otherwise be a bit tough and woody.  Modern thinking is that this is unnecessary and may in fact make the sprouts more soggy.  I prefer mine sliced on a mandoline and stir-fried so the question does not arise.  Liked the comment of a BBC presenter when asked if she scored her sprouts - Oh, I'd give 'em about a 6.