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White Cabbage Cubby

A stew of shredded white cabbage, sliced apple, onions, butter, spices, lemon juice, and gravy served over plain rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Turmeric and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,941 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

White Cabbage Cubby

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the white parts of the cabbage.

  2. Peel and slice the apple.

  3. Slice the onions and fry them in butter until soft.

Make the stew

  1. In a stewpan, combine the cabbage, apple, and onions.

  2. Season with cayenne, black pepper, salt, curry powder, and turmeric.

  3. Add lemon juice and strong gravy, then cover and simmer gently.

  4. Stir occasionally until the cabbage is tender.

Serve

  1. Serve in a border of plain rice.

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. Turmeric + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,941 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  3. Turmeric + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 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 stew and turns tender and soft during slow simmering.
Sour apple
Adds acidity and a fruity sharpness that balances the rich, spiced gravy.
Onions
Soften in butter to add sweetness and a savoury base to the stew.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour from the spices and onions.
Strong gravy
Supplies liquid and savoury depth so the vegetables can simmer until tender.
Curry powder
Contributes warm aromatic spice that gives the stew its characteristic flavour.

The step that matters

Simmering gently until the cabbage is tender. Cooking too fast or uncovered can scorch the gravy and leave the cabbage unevenly cooked. A gentle, covered simmer lets the cabbage soften through while the liquid stays moist and the flavours blend.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, butter, pepper, turmeric, lemon, rice):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, butter, pepper, turmeric, lemon, rice. 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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