Name: Cabbage Rolls Paprika
Ingredients: 8 large cabbage leaves; 2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh onion; 1/2 cup finely chopped celery; 1/4 pound chopped fresh mushrooms; 1 small garlic clove, minced; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme; 1 egg, beaten; 2 tablespoons butter or margarine; 6 tablespoons flour; 2 cups sour cream; 3 tablespoons paprika; 2 cups chicken broth

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 ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage leaves: Wrap the filling and hold it together while the rolls cook.
Cooked chicken: Provides the bulk and protein of the filling.
Egg: Binds the filling so it holds its shape when sliced or bitten.
Flour: Thickens the sour cream and broth into a smooth sauce.
Sour cream: Adds richness and a tangy flavor to the sauce.
Paprika: Adds color and mild, earthy flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the sauce until thickened. Flour must be cooked in the hot liquid while stirring constantly, or it forms lumps and the sauce stays thin. Sour cream can also curdle if it boils hard, so keep the heat low.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, celery, mushroom, garlic, clove, thyme):

Leekfits better
Carrotfits better
Shallotfits better
Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, celery, mushroom, garlic, clove, thyme. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Leaf	not in our table	0

Cabbage Rolls Paprika