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Hungarian-style Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

A cabbage soup with onions, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and spices, sweetened with brown sugar and optionally sourened with vinegar or lemon.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Hungarian-style Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Add any leftover smoked butt, if desired.

  2. Cover pot and bring to a boil.

  3. Lower heat and slowly cook until cabbage and potatoes are soft.

Season and finish

  1. Adjust seasoning.

  2. Add salt if needed.

  3. Add more brown sugar if needed.

  4. Add a tablespoon of good white vinegar or the juice of half a lemon to make it more sour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

376Calories
14 gProtein
3 gFat
84 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,517 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the body of the soup and turns sweet and tender as it cooks slowly.
Potatoes
Break down as they cook, giving the soup a silky, thickened texture.
Tomatoes
Provide moisture and acidity that balance the sweetness of the soup.
Onions
Add savory depth and sweetness as they soften into the broth.

The step that matters

Slowly cook until cabbage and potatoes are soft. Cooking gently keeps the broth from scorching on the bottom of the pot and lets cabbage and potato soften fully, which gives the soup its texture.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, cabbage, tomato, garlic, potato, pepper, corn):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, cabbage, tomato, garlic, potato, pepper, corn. 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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