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Cabbage Soup

A hearty soup made with beef, mutton bones, cabbage, onion, herbs, milk, butter, flour, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine beef, onion, and mutton bones with 3 quarts of water in a large pot.

  2. Boil slowly for 4 hours.

  3. Cool the soup and remove the fat.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Boil the cabbage in two changes of water.

  2. Cool the cabbage and shred only the white parts into coarse dice.

Finish the soup

  1. Return the soup to heat, adding pepper, salt, and chopped herbs.

  2. Boil for 1 minute.

  3. Add the shredded cabbage.

  4. Heat the milk in a separate vessel and stir in the floured butter.

  5. Boil until thickened.

  6. Pour the thickened milk mixture into the soup.

  7. Stir well to combine.

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.

  1. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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

Lean beef
Releases flavor and body into the broth during the long slow boil.
Mutton bones
Add rich flavor and gelatin to the broth as they simmer.
White cabbage
Provides the main vegetable, adding bulk and a mild sweetness when cooked.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the soup's flavor when stirred in.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the milk so it blends smoothly into the soup.

The step that matters

Boiling the milk and flour mixture until thickened. Flour must be cooked in fat and liquid to lose its raw taste and reach full thickening power. Stopping early leaves a pasty texture, while milk boiled too hard can scorch or curdle on the pan bottom.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mutton, onion, milk, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, onion, milk, butter, flour, pepper. 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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