Name: Creamed Brussels Sprouts and Celery
Ingredients: 1 quart Brussels sprouts; 1 bunch celery, cut into cubes; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 cups hot milk; 1 teaspoon salt; dash of pepper

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 ↓

Creamed Brussels Sprouts and Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

Boil the celery in salted water until tender.
Boil the Brussels sprouts in salted water for about 10 minutes, uncovered to prevent odor.

Make the white sauce

In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux.
Gradually add the hot milk, stirring until the sauce thickens.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Combine and serve

Drain the vegetables and mix them lightly with a fork.
Reheat the vegetables in the white sauce or pour the sauce over them.

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: Form the main body of the dish, with a mild, slightly sweet flavor once cooked.
Celery: Adds a crisp-tender texture and a fresh, vegetal note to the dish.
Butter: Enriches the sauce with fat and flavor while starting the roux.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce when cooked with butter.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, giving it body and creaminess.

The step that matters

Gradually add the hot milk, stirring until the sauce thickens. Adding cold or large amounts of liquid at once to a roux causes lumps, because the starch clumps before it can hydrate evenly. Adding hot milk slowly while stirring keeps the sauce smooth as the starch gelatinizes and thickens.

Swap the brussels sprouts

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

Carrotfits better
Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, butter, 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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Creamed Brussels Sprouts and Celery