Name: Brussels Sprouts with Celery
Ingredients: 1 quart Brussels sprouts; 3 tablespoons butter; 1½ cups celery, cut into small pieces; 3 tablespoons flour; 1½ cups scalded milk; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Brussels Sprouts with Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sprouts

Remove wilted leaves from Brussels sprouts and soak in cold water for 15 minutes.
Cook sprouts in boiling salted water for 20 minutes, or until easily pierced with a skewer; then drain.

Make the sauce

Melt butter in a pan, add celery, and cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in flour and gradually pour in scalded milk, mixing well.

Combine and serve

Add the drained sprouts, season with salt and pepper, and serve as soon as the sprouts are reheated.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,905 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brussels sprouts: Provide the main vegetable body and mild, cabbage-like flavor of the dish.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor through the pan and into the sauce.
Celery: Adds a fresh, crisp-tender vegetable note to the sauce.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth, creamy sauce that coats the sprouts.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding creaminess and mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring in the flour and milk. Adding the scalded milk gradually while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, celery, flour, milk, pepper):

Carrotfits better
Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, celery, flour, milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Brussels Sprouts92 recipes

Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes

Celery Stew25 recipes

Celery Croquettes16 recipes

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Brussels Sprouts with Celery