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Red Cabbage Stewed

A stew of finely chopped red cabbage cooked with butter, flour, water, salt, cider vinegar, milk, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Red Cabbage Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the outside leaves and stalks from the cabbage.

  2. Cut the cabbage in half.

  3. Wash the cabbage.

  4. Chop the cabbage finely.

  5. Wash the chopped cabbage again in cold water.

  6. Drain the cabbage in a colander.

Cook the stew

  1. Melt the butter in a large deep skillet.

  2. Mix in the flour and cook for one minute.

  3. Add the boiling water and salt to the skillet.

  4. Stir in the cabbage.

  5. Cover the skillet.

  6. Cook for 30 minutes.

  7. Add the cider vinegar.

Finish with the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks with the milk in a bowl.

  2. Stir the mixture into the skillet.

  3. Let it simmer slowly for another 30 minutes until almost dry.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  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. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

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

Red cabbage
Forms the bulk of the stew and softens into a tender, sweet-savoury base as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Thicken the stew as they set gently, and add richness and body to the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and carries flavour through the initial cooking.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth, lightly bound sauce with the butter.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps the red cabbage keep its colour.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness and softens the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg mixture into the skillet. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they meet heat too abruptly. Keeping the heat gentle and the stew simmering slowly lets the yolks thicken it smoothly rather than turning grainy.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

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