Name: Cabbage Stewed
Ingredients: 2 small cabbages; 1 small piece of red pepper; 3-4 tablespoons vinegar; 1 small piece of butter; 1 large ladleful of stock; red pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

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 ↓

Cabbage Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Shred the cabbages coarsely.

Cook

Parboil the cabbages with the red pepper in boiling water.
Drain the water and add vinegar, butter, and stock.
Cover the saucepan and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Season with additional red pepper and salt if needed.

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.

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.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cabbages: Form the bulk of the stew and soften into a tender, moist texture as they simmer.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the cabbage.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the stew.
Stock: Provides liquid and savoury flavour for simmering the cabbage.