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Brussels Sprouts.— Stewed

Stewed Brussels sprouts with butter, white pepper, sea salt, nutmeg, stock, vinegar or lemon juice, served with fried sippets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,375 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Brussels Sprouts.— Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wash the Brussels sprouts thoroughly.

  2. Melt a good amount of fresh butter in a stew pan.

  3. Add the sprouts and season with white pepper, coarse sea salt, and grated nutmeg.

  4. Pour in 3 tablespoons of white stock or water and a little vinegar or lemon juice.

  5. Simmer until done and serve with fried sippets.

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.

  1. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Nutmeg + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,864 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Brussels sprouts
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying the seasonings and coating the sprouts.
White stock or water
Provides moisture so the sprouts stew gently rather than scorching in the pan.
Vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the buttery richness.

The step that matters

Simmer until done. Sprouts cooked too briefly stay tough and bitter, while overcooking turns them grey and sulphurous. Gentle simmering in liquid cooks them evenly through.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, white pepper, nutmeg, vinegar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, white pepper, nutmeg, vinegar. 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.

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