Name: Seafood-Stuffed Cabbage
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 shallot, chopped; Leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped; 1 pinch cayenne pepper; 2 cups seafood broth; 1/2 cup white wine; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 onion, diced; 1 bell pepper, diced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 pound small Louisiana or American wild shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 1 1/2 cups diced fresh bread; 1/2 cup milk; 2 dashes Tabasco; 1 pinch celery salt; 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat; 1 head Savoy cabbage, leaves separated

Why it works: Shallot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,476 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

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.

Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,476 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + olivetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Flour + shallottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,081 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,171 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, shallot, thyme, pepper, white wine, olive):

Chivefits better
Leekfits better
Kalefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, shallot, thyme, pepper, white wine, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Savoy Cabbage	1 cup shredded (89g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Seafood-Stuffed Cabbage