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Brussels Sprouts Puree

A creamy puree of Brussels sprouts, ham, onion, and milk, thickened with flour and served with croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Brussels Sprouts Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the ham, onion, and Brussels sprouts.

Cook

  1. In a pot, sweat the chopped ham, onion, and sprouts gently for 10–15 minutes.

  2. Add seasoning and stock, then simmer until all ingredients are tender, about 1 hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

  2. Thicken the puree with flour, then bring to a boil.

  3. Stir in the milk and serve with croutons.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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
Form the main body of the puree, contributing bulk, flavor, and a smooth texture once sieved.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor during the initial gentle sweating.
Flour
Thickens the puree as it heats, giving it body.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the puree's finish.
Stock
Provides the liquid base and savory depth as the vegetables simmer.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a fine sieve. Sieving breaks down the cooked fibres and separates out skins and stringy pieces, which is what makes the puree smooth rather than grainy. Pressing the solids through in batches gives the finest result.

Swap the brussels sprouts

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, milk, onion, flour. 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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