Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stewed Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Wash the cabbage thoroughly and blanch it in boiling water.
Place the cabbage in a large saucepan with boiling water, salt, and soda.
Boil until tender but not breaking apart.
Remove the cabbage and plunge it into cold salted water until completely cold.
Drain on a clean cloth.
Make the sauce and stew
Fry the chopped onion in a pan for five minutes.
Add the cabbage cut into quarters.
Pour in enough stock (or milk and water) to cover the cabbage.
Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the cabbage and place it in a colander over a plate in the oven.
Thicken the sauce.
Strain it.
Stir in the chopped parsley.
Serve
Serve the cabbage on a hot dish.
Pour the sauce over it.
Garnish with small triangular pieces of fried bread.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the main bulk of the dish and becomes soft and tender when boiled and stewed.
- Common soda
- Raises the alkalinity of the cooking water, helping the cabbage keep its green colour.
- Onion
- Fried first to add a sweet, savoury aroma that flavours the stock-based sauce.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that becomes the sauce, carrying savoury flavour to the cabbage.
The step that matters
Boil until tender but not breaking apart. Overcooked cabbage turns soft and mushy as its cell walls break down, so timing the boil carefully keeps it intact for the later stewing.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, milk, pepper, parsley, bread):
- Carrotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, milk, pepper, parsley, bread. 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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