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Scalloped Cabbage

A baked cabbage dish layered with a butter‑flour‑milk sauce and topped with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Pour boiling water over the cabbage and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Boil for 15 minutes.

  2. Drain the water.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the milk. In a separate bowl, cream together 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour, then add to the milk.

  2. Stir in 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Cook until thickened like cream.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a small pudding dish and sprinkle the bottom with cracker crumbs.

  2. Layer half of the cabbage, then half of the sauce, and sprinkle with cracker crumbs.

  3. Add the remaining cabbage, then the sauce, and cover thickly with cracker crumbs.

  4. Dot with small pieces of butter, cover, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.

  5. Uncover and brown before serving.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cabbage + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together978 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 when boiled.
Butter and flour
Flour thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that binds the layers.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it creaminess.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping over the dish.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce until thickened. Flour must be heated long enough in the milk to thicken fully; undercooked flour leaves a raw, pasty taste and a thin sauce that runs between the cabbage layers.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

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