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Heidelberg Cabbage

A pickled cabbage dish with vinegar, butter, onion, cloves, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,001 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Heidelberg Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the cabbages are hard and firm.

  2. Halve the cabbages, lay the flat side down, and cut into thin slices.

Cook

  1. In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the vinegar and salt, then stir in the cabbage.

  3. Insert the cloves into the onion and bury it in the cabbage.

  4. Boil for 2 hours, adding a little water if it becomes 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. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cabbage + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

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

  5. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 dish and gives it its main texture as it softens during long cooking.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps the red cabbage keep its colour.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the cabbage cook without sticking at the start.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma; the cloves pressed into it flavour the cabbage as it cooks.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 hours, adding a little water if it becomes dry. A long, gentle simmer is what softens the cabbage fully. If the pan runs dry, the cabbage can scorch on the bottom, so checking and adding a little water keeps it moist and cooking evenly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, vinegar, onion, butter):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, onion, butter. 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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