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Table Xxxiv

A dish of squab cooked with cabbage, onions, butter, cream, and served with tea.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,001 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Table Xxxiv

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the squab by cleaning and removing any innards.

  2. Chop the cabbage and onions.

Cook

  1. In a pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped cabbage and onions to the pot and sauté until tender.

  3. Add the squab to the pot and cook until fully done.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream and tea.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together10,827 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cabbage + teatop 19% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Onion and cream share little aroma chemistry, yet 10,827 recipes mention both: they likely 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

Squab
Is the main protein, cooked through in the pot to become the dish's centerpiece.
Cabbage
Softens while sautéing, adding bulk and a mild, sweet vegetable base to the dish.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they sauté, adding flavor and aroma to the pot.
Butter
Provides fat for sautéing, carrying flavor and helping the vegetables brown lightly.
Cream
Served alongside, adding richness and a smooth, mild fat to the finished plate.

Flavor stand-ins for the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (squab, onion, butter, cream, tea):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Asparagusbetter flavor fit
  3. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against squab, onion, butter, cream, tea. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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