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Stockholm Stewed Cabbage

A Swedish stew of shredded cabbage cooked with water, milk, butter, and spices, served with sausage or calf brains.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Stockholm Stewed Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the shredded cabbage and soak it in cold water for 30 minutes.

Cook

  1. In a pot, cover the cabbage with boiling salted water and add baking soda.

  2. Cook for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil, then drain.

  3. Return the cabbage to the pot with hot milk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  4. Stew until soft and nearly dry.

Serve

  1. Serve on a platter and garnish with boiled sausages or fried calf's brains.

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

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cabbage + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together187 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 into a tender, spoonable texture when stewed.
Baking soda
Raises the cooking water's pH, helping the cabbage soften more quickly and keeping its color bright.
Hot milk
Adds moisture and richness, and its milk sugars contribute mild sweetness as the cabbage stews.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounded, silky mouthfeel and a richer flavor.

The step that matters

Stew until soft and nearly dry. Cooking long enough softens the cabbage's fibers fully, while stopping before it dries out keeps the milk and butter clinging to it rather than scorching on the pot.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

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