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 ↓
Corned Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beef
Place the beef in a pot and cover it with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
Skim the surface often to remove impurities.
Add the vegetables
If using carrots, add them to the pot 45 minutes before serving.
If using cabbage, add it to the pot with the beef.
If using red peppers, add them to the pot with the cabbage.
Serve
When ready to serve, remove the beef from the pot.
Lift the cabbage from the pot using a skimmer.
Drain the cabbage in a colander.
Serve the cabbage around the beef or in a separate dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + cabbagetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,505 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,606 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
- Beef
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Cabbage
- Absorbs flavour from the cooking liquid and turns mild and tender as it cooks.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a gentle simmer. A hard, rolling boil toughens the meat's proteins and makes the cooking liquid cloudy. A gentle simmer lets the connective tissue break down slowly, so the beef stays tender and the liquid stays clear.
Swap the carrot
The recipe marks carrot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cabbage, pepper):
- Carrotthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Turnipfits about as well
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cabbage, pepper. 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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