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Boiled Cabbage

Boiled cabbage served with a butter‑flour‑milk sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Boiled Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Cut cabbage into good‑sized pieces, remove outer leaves and hard core.

  2. Wash it well in two changes of water.

  3. Place pieces, open side down, on a colander to drain.

Boil

  1. Fill a large saucepan with generous water, bring to a violent boil.

  2. Add a tablespoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda.

  3. Add cabbage one piece at a time, minimizing boiling disturbance.

  4. Cook uncovered for 25 minutes, boiling rapidly.

  5. Push cabbage under water every five minutes.

  6. Transfer to a colander and press out all water.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a saucepan, melt one tablespoon of butter, add a heaping teaspoon of flour, half teaspoon of salt, dash of pepper.

  2. Slowly add half cup of milk, stir until smooth.

  3. Add the cabbage.

  4. Cut into large pieces with a knife, mix lightly with sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

712Calories
21 gProtein
21 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage (in the method)
Is the vegetable being cooked, becoming tender and absorbing the buttery milk sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour into the sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce that clings to the cabbage.
Baking soda
Raises the water's pH, which helps the cabbage soften during boiling.

The step that matters

Add cabbage one piece at a time, minimizing boiling disturbance.. Dropping in too much cabbage at once cools the boiling water and stops it from returning to a rapid boil, which prolongs cooking and leaves the cabbage soggy and unevenly cooked.

“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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