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Cabbage, Creamed

A dish of boiled cabbage mixed with butter, flour, milk or cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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, Creamed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Clean the cabbages thoroughly and boil them until soft.

  2. Drain the cabbages.

  3. Press the cabbages between two hot plates until dry.

  4. Chop the cabbages slightly.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

  2. Add salt and pepper to the butter.

  3. Add the cabbage to the butter.

  4. Stir the cabbage for 2-3 minutes until heated through.

  5. Dredge the flour over the cabbage.

  6. Gradually mix in the milk or cream.

  7. Serve on a hot dish.

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

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbages
Forms the bulk of the dish and, once cooked soft, gives it a tender texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the cabbage.
Flour
Thickens the milk or cream into a creamy sauce that coats the cabbage.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid of the sauce, adding moisture and a smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Press the cabbages until dry. Boiled cabbage holds a lot of water. If it stays wet, the milk or cream dilutes the flour and the sauce turns thin instead of creamy.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, pepper, flour, milk. 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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