Name: Vegetable Pudding
Ingredients: 1 pound cabbage or greens; 1 pound of boiled carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroots, artichokes, potatoes, leeks, celery, or onions; a little sugar; aromatic herbs and spices to taste; white or brown sauce (optional)

Why it works: Cabbage and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,505 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Vegetable Pudding

Ingredients

1 pound cabbage or greens
1 pound of boiled carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroots, artichokes, potatoes, leeks, celery, or onions
a little sugar
aromatic herbs and spices to taste
white or brown sauce (optional)

Directions

Prepare

Boil the cabbage or greens until tender.
Boil your choice of the second vegetable until tender, then chop it.

Assemble and serve

Mix the chopped vegetables together.
Season with sugar, herbs, and spices.
Pour into a pan or tureen, ensuring it holds its shape.
Serve with sauce if desired.

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 + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,505 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Carrot + saucetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,509 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Carrot + sugartop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,211 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cabbage + saucetop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together437 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage or greens: Forms the bulk of the pudding and gives it its main body.
Carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroots, artichokes, potatoes, leeks, celery, or onions: Adds the second vegetable base, which binds with the greens and gives the pudding substance.
Sugar: Adds a little sweetness to balance the savoury vegetables.