Why it works: Cabbage and tomato work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 333 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage and Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Place the chopped cabbage in a kettle with a small amount of water and cover tightly.
Cook until the moisture nearly evaporates.
Add the canned or stewed tomatoes and cook thoroughly, being careful not to burn the mixture.
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 + tomatotop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together333 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 stew and softens into tender strands as it cooks down.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and liquid, giving the stew its main flavor and a fresher tang.
The step that matters
Cooking the tomatoes without burning. Tomatoes contain natural sugars that caramelize and scorch quickly on the hot bottom of a kettle. Stirring and gentle heat keep the stew tasting fresh rather than burnt.
“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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