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Brussels Sprouts Sauted
One pound of Brussels sprouts should be thoroughly washed and boiled, and then put into a pan over the fire, together with a good-sized lump of butter, a little salt, and tossed for eight minutes. Sprinkle over them a little chopped parsley, and serve, when done.
A short entry that assumes you already know how to boil a sprout. The two things it leaves out are how long to boil and how hot the pan should be, and both decide whether this dish is good.
- Boil briefly, not softTrim the bases, pull off loose outer leaves, and boil in well-salted water 5 to 7 minutes for small sprouts, until a knife meets slight resistance at the core. Many period recipes called for considerably longer, which is where the smell and the grey colour come from.
- Dry them before the butterDrain thoroughly and let them steam dry in the colander for a minute. Wet sprouts will not take colour in the pan, and the butter spits.
- "A good-sized lump of butter"Read it as 2 to 3 tablespoons for a pound of sprouts. Keep the heat at medium-high so the butter browns rather than burns; if it darkens too fast, add a spoonful of the cooking water.
- Eight minutes of tossingThat is a long time for already-cooked vegetables and will work only over moderate heat. What you want is browned, blistered faces on the sprouts, so halve them cut-side down for part of the time and toss less than the recipe suggests.
- Parsley goes in off the heatChopped parsley dropped into a hot buttered pan darkens quickly and loses its fresh flavour. Pull the pan off, then sprinkle.
- YieldOne pound serves three or four as a side dish. A squeeze of lemon or a grating of nutmeg is in keeping with the period and sharpens the butter.
Brussels sprouts reached American tables late, turning up in a Waldorf book of 1896 as a hotel garnish rather than a homely winter vegetable. The name records the vegetable's long association with the market gardens around Brussels, where the tall stalked form is generally traced to the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Saut he French verterm says, to jump: the food is kept moving in hot fat."