Why it works: Turnip and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 202 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tuenip-cabbage, Smotheeed and Glazed
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cabbages
Peel the Turnip-Cabbages and parboil them until half cooked.
Immerse them in cold water and drain on a napkin.
Cut out the center of each cabbage with a round cutter without breaking them.
Make the filling
Line a deep flat saucepan with thin slices of fat pork.
In another saucepan, combine chopped mushrooms, shallot, and butter. Cover and cook until moisture is reduced.
Finely chop the scooped-out cabbage and add it to the mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Add 4 tablespoons of reduced Allemande sauce and mix in the yolks of 4 raw eggs.
Transfer the mixture to an earthen bowl and let it cool.
Once cool, add 4 tablespoons of forced meat and fill the centers of the cabbages with this mixture.
Bake and serve
Moisten lightly with veal broth, cover the pan, and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until nicely glazed.
Serve with reduced Allemande sauce flavored with essence of mushrooms.
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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Turnip + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together202 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks bind the filling and help it set into a tender, sliceable mixture when cooked.
- Turnip-cabbages
- Form the edible shell that holds the filling and gives the dish its main body.
- Forced meat (chicken)
- Adds a rich, savory body to the filling and helps it hold together.
- Reduced allemande sauce
- Enriches the filling with richness and moisture, and carries the flavor of the dish.
- Fresh mushrooms
- Contribute earthy aroma and savory depth to the filling.
The step that matters
Let the filling cool before adding the forced meat and eggs. Raw egg yolks coagulate when heated, so adding them to a hot mixture can scramble them unevenly. Cooling the base first keeps the filling smooth and lets the yolks set evenly during baking.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, pork, mushroom, shallot, butter, pepper, nutmeg):
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Spinachfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, pork, mushroom, shallot, butter, 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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