Why it works: Brussels sprouts and butter work together. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over and trim the Brussels sprouts.
Soak them in cold water for 30 minutes.
Cook and serve
Cook in boiling water with salt for 15 minutes.
Drain carefully and place on a flat dish.
Pour drawn butter over the Brussels sprouts.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Brussels sprouts + buttertop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together20 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brussels sprouts
- The main vegetable; cooking softens its fibers so it becomes tender enough to eat.
- Drawn butter
- Adds richness and fat, coating the cooked sprouts with flavor and moisture.
The step that matters
Drain carefully and place on a flat dish. Cooked sprouts are soft and fragile, so draining gently keeps them from breaking apart and losing their shape.
“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.
More brussels sprouts recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.