Why it works: Cabbage and corn work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 234 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Stewed Red Cabbage a LA Flamande
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Prepare the red cabbage as directed in the Stuffed Cabbage recipe.
Stuff the cabbage with the force-meat.
Stew
Cover the cabbage with stock and red wine.
Stew gently for 3 to 4 hours until tender.
Thicken and serve
Dish the cabbage on a round plate.
Boil the sauce briskly for a few minutes.
Blend corn starch with cold water and stir into the sauce.
Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, then strain and pour over the cabbage.
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.
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Cabbage + corntop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together234 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Meat + corntop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together414 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Meat + red winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together126 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cabbage + red winetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together38 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Cabbage + meattop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together292 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red cabbage
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender through long, gentle stewing.
- Force-meat
- Fills the cabbage, adding savoury richness and moisture as it cooks.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that braises the cabbage and forms the base of the sauce.
- Red wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the braising liquid and sauce.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the sauce as it boils, giving it body and a glossy texture.
The step that matters
Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, after adding the corn starch. Cornstarch must be stirred while it boils to thicken evenly; stopping or undercooking leaves the sauce thin or lumpy.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, red wine, corn):
- Tomatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, red wine, corn. 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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