Brussels Sprouts

A straightforward boiled vegetable from an era when green vegetables were cooked much longer than we now think wise. The soaking and the timing are the two things to reconsider.

• The timing is the hingeTwenty to twenty-five minutes will reduce sprouts to grey mush and drive off the sulfur compounds into the room. Trimmed sprouts of ordinary size need 6 to 8 minutes in well-salted boiling water, or until a knife slips into the stem end with slight resistance.
• The hour in cold waterThis echoes standard advice for garden produce that might harbour insects; period books often recommended a soak in cold or salted water to draw them out, though this recipe calls only for plain cold water. Supermarket sprouts do not need it, and a long soak waterlogs them. A rinse and a trim of the stem is enough.
• Why uncoveredThe instruction is sound. Boiling green vegetables without a lid lets volatile sulfur compounds escape rather than condensing back into the pot, which keeps both colour and flavour better.
• Salt the waterThe original salts only at the table. Salting the cooking water — about a tablespoon per four quarts — seasons the sprouts through and helps them hold colour.
• Cream sauceIn this period that means a basic white sauce: roughly 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour and a cup of milk or thin cream, cooked until it coats a spoon. Season with salt, pepper and a scrape of nutmeg.
• YieldNo quantity is given. Reckon about 1½ lb of sprouts for four to six people as a side dish.
• Drain thoroughlySprouts hold water in their leaves. Drain well and let them steam dry for a moment in the hot pan before saucing, or the cream sauce will thin and slide off.