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Scalloped Cabbage

A baked cabbage dish with a creamy butter‑flour sauce, eggs, and breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Scalloped Cabbage

Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scalloped Cabbage

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Wash and chop the cabbage coarsely.

  2. Boil the cabbage in a kettle of salted water for 20 minutes, then drain in a colander.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt 2 ounces of butter over medium heat.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir until combined.

  3. Gradually add 1 pint of milk, stirring continually until it boils.

  4. Stir in the chopped eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and a dash of pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the cabbage in a baking dish, pour the sauce over it, and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the dish and becomes tender as it boils and bakes.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavor while it cooks with the flour.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce as it cooks.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and creaminess.
Eggs
Add richness and body to the sauce and bind it with the cabbage.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk while stirring. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, egg, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, egg, pepper, bread. 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.

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