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 ↓
Coulibiac De Feuilletage Aux Choux
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Sauté the onion in butter until soft.
Add the finely chopped cabbage and cook until tender.
Mix in the chopped hard-boiled eggs, seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Assemble the pastry
Roll out the puff pastry into two square sheets, making the bottom one slightly thinner.
Spread the cabbage and egg mixture on the bottom sheet, leaving a border.
Moisten the border and place the top sheet over it, sealing the edges.
Trim the edges and brush with egg wash.
Score the top like a pie lid and make a small opening in the center.
Bake and serve
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
Once baked, cut in half lengthwise and then into pieces to serve.
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.
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.
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together187 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Puff pastry
- Its layered dough puffs and crisps in the oven, forming the crust around the filling.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Their set, firm texture gives the filling body and substance.
- Cabbage
- Cooked until tender, it forms the soft, moist bulk of the filling.
- Onion
- Softened in butter, it adds sweetness and savory depth to the filling.
- Egg
- Brushed on top as an egg wash, it promotes browning and a glossy golden crust.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges. The border must be moistened and pressed firmly so the top and bottom sheets bond. A weak seal lets the filling leak and the pastry separate as it puffs in the oven.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, egg, pepper, nutmeg):
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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