Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick and clean 1 pound of Brussels sprouts, removing all dead leaves and cutting off the ends.
Wash the sprouts well and blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Cook and finish
Transfer the sprouts to a saucepan with boiling water, a little salt, and a pinch of sugar.
Do not cover the saucepan and boil until the sprouts are tender.
Drain the water, then add 2 tablespoons of butter, a little pepper, salt, and 5 drops of lemon juice.
Toss over the heat until the sprouts are dry.
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.
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Main vegetable that becomes tender when boiled and is coated with butter and seasoning.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the sprouts and carrying their flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds a small amount of sweetness that balances the sprouts' natural bitterness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the buttered sprouts.
The step that matters
Leave the saucepan uncovered while boiling. Covering the pan traps the sulfur-containing compounds released by cooking cabbage-family vegetables, which intensify their strong smell and bitter taste. Boiling uncovered lets these volatile compounds escape, keeping the sprouts fresher-tasting.
Swap the brussels sprouts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, pepper, lemon):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Brussels sproutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, pepper, lemon. 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.
More brussels sprouts recipes
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 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.