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Fried Cabbage

A sautéed cabbage dish cooked with salt pork gravy, water, salt, pepper, and optional vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Slice the cabbage thin or chop it finely.

  2. Put the cabbage into a frying pan with salt pork gravy and a little water.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then cover closely.

  4. Cook slowly on the stove until tender.

Finish

  1. If desired, add ½ cup of vinegar before serving.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together919 recipes

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

  5. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 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 main body of the dish and becomes tender as it cooks slowly covered.
Salt pork gravy
Adds fat and savory flavor that coats the cabbage as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savory flavor of the cabbage.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and covered until tender. Low, covered cooking lets the cabbage soften evenly while it stays moist. High heat can scorch the gravy and leave the cabbage tough or dry in patches.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, vinegar. 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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