Sprouts (Brussels) · 28 April 2001
Salted water (lots), boiling. Oven at 350.
Pare the dry, tough leaves from the stem base, and make a clean cut at the bottom. With a paring knife, score a cross into the stem, for even cooking. Let the sprouts tumble from your colander into the boiling water (watch for splashes!). Eight minutes. No more, no less. Drain.
Five minutes into the eight, get a pan on the stove and make it hot, with half a walnut of butter (unsalted). During the heating, pull and tear wax paper, roughly the size of the pan. Smear the paper with butter.
The pan is hot, the butter foaming not smoking, so let the sprouts once again tumble in from your colander. Give the pan a shake, shake it damn you. Watch carefully now, nothing should stick. Some leaves will come away from the sprouts: this is not sad, it is a natural passage. Remove them.
Salt and pepper. Dot with more butter. Cover with the wax paper. Into the oven we go!
Twenty minutes will pass, during which you’ll be occupied: reducing sauces, relating anecdotes, surging with lust. Halfway through you will haul out the tongs and turn those bad boys over, admiring the nice caramelized colour.
Serve with some nice chops.
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