Why it works: Cabbage and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,397 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
To Boil Cabbages
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and clean the cabbages.
Quarter the cabbages if they are large.
Boil and serve
Boil the cabbages in plenty of water for 20 to 30 minutes for young cabbages, or nearly 1 hour for full-grown ones.
Skim off any scum that rises while boiling.
Serve with melted butter.
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 + buttertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,397 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbages
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and mild as they cook in water.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat and richness to the mild cabbage at serving.
The step that matters
Boil for the right length of time. Young cabbages need 20 to 30 minutes, while full-grown ones need nearly an hour. Undercooked cabbage stays firm and sulphurous, while overcooking makes it soft and watery, so the size of the head determines how long it should boil.
“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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