Skip to main content
Main

Brussels Sprouts

A simple boiled Brussels sprouts dish seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Brussels Sprouts

Why it works: Brussels sprouts and pepper work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and trim the lower part of the stems of the Brussels sprouts.

  2. Soak them in cold water with a little salt for 30 minutes.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook in boiling water with a little salt for 15 minutes or until tender.

  2. Drain well and serve on a dish, seasoned with black pepper.

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.

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.

  1. Brussels sprouts + peppertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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, cooking to a tender texture.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the cooking water and soaking water so the sprouts taste seasoned throughout.

The step that matters

Cook until tender. Cooking time decides the texture. Undercooked sprouts stay firm and bitter, while overcooked sprouts turn soft and release sulfurous smells. Check for tenderness at the end of the stated time.

“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

Boiled 26Puree 7Creamed 5Soup 4Gratin 3on Toast 3 See all 67 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes