Name: Fried Cabbage
Ingredients: 1 head of cabbage, sliced or chopped finely; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; 1 tablespoon pork dripping (or cooking oil); a little water

Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Cabbage

Ingredients

1 head of cabbage, sliced or chopped finely
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon pork dripping (or cooking oil)
a little water

Directions

Place the sliced cabbage in a frying pan with a little water.
Cover the pan and steam the cabbage until tender.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add pork dripping and fry until browned.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + porktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together919 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage: Forms the bulk of the dish and softens when steamed, then browns in the fat.
Pork dripping: Carries heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the cabbage.