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Brussels Sprouts

A boiled vegetable dish of Brussels sprouts seasoned with salt, butter, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Brussels Sprouts

Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and trim the Brussels sprouts, then soak them in cold water with salt for a few minutes.

  2. Drain the sprouts and place them in a large saucepan of boiling water with a tiny piece of baking soda and a little salt.

Cook

  1. Boil quickly until tender, about 20 minutes, then drain thoroughly.

Serve

  1. Place the sprouts in a hot dish and serve hot.

  2. If desired, return the drained sprouts to the saucepan with butter and parsley, tossing over gentle heat for a few minutes before serving.

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. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Brussels sprouts + buttertop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together20 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Brussels sprouts + parsleytop 36% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 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
The main vegetable; its dense leaves become tender and sweet when boiled.
Baking soda
Raises the water's alkalinity, helping the sprouts keep a bright green colour while boiling.
Butter
Adds richness, a glossy coating and savoury flavour to the drained sprouts.

The step that matters

Boil quickly until tender, then drain thoroughly. Overcooking breaks down the sprouts' cell walls, making them soft and grey and releasing strong sulfur compounds. Draining well prevents excess water from diluting the butter and parsley.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley. 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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