Boiled Brussels Sprouts

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Yield: 5.0 – 6.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (8)

For boiling

1/2 gallon of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
1 heaped tablespoonful of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
a very small piece of soda

For serving

melted butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
a maître d'hôtel sauce ↝ Sauce, NFS [Dips, gravies, other sauces]
about 1-1/2 oz. of butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
a seasoning of pepper and salt ↝ Spices, pepper, black [Spices and Herbs]
a seasoning of pepper and salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]

Instructions (7)

Clean the sprouts from insects, nicely wash them, and pick off any dead or discoloured leaves from the outsides.
Put them into a saucepan of boiling water, with salt and soda in the above proportion.
Keep the pan uncovered, and let them boil quickly over a brisk fire until tender.
Drain, dish, and serve with a tureen of melted butter, or with a maître d'hôtel sauce poured over them.
Alternatively, when dished, stir in about 1-1/2 oz. of butter and a seasoning of pepper and salt.
Send to table very quickly as they cool fast.
For a decorative presentation, arrange the cooked sprouts on the dish in the form of a pineapple.

Original Text

BOILED BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

1096. INGREDIENTS.—To each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; a very small piece of soda.

Mode.—Clean the sprouts from insects, nicely wash them, and pick off any dead or discoloured leaves from the outsides; put them into a saucepan of boiling water, with salt and soda in the above proportion; keep the pan uncovered, and let them boil quickly over a brisk fire until tender; drain, dish, and serve with a tureen of melted butter, or with a maître d'hôtel sauce poured over them. Another mode of serving is, when they are dished, to stir in about 1-1/2 oz. of butter and a seasoning of pepper and salt. They must, however, be sent to table very quickly, as, being so very small, this vegetable soon cools. Where the cook is very expeditious, this vegetable, when cooked, may be arranged on the dish in the form of a pineapple, and, so served, has a very pretty appearance.

Time.—From 9 to 12 minutes after the water boils.

Average cost, 1s. 4d. per peck.

Sufficient.—Allow between 40 and 50 for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from November to March.

SAVOYS AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS.—When the Green Kale, or Borecole, has been advanced a step further in the path of improvement, it assumes the headed or hearting character, with blistered leaves; it is then known by the name of Savoys and Brussels Sprouts. Another of its headed forms, but with smooth glaucous leaves, is the cultivated Cabbage of our gardens (the Borecole oleracea capitula of science); and all its varieties of green, red, dwarf, tall, early, late, round, conical, flat, and all the forms into which it is possible to put it.

Notes

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