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Red Cabbage, German Style

A braised red cabbage cooked with butter, onions, vinegar, and red wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Red Cabbage, German Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Trim and wash the cabbage, cut out the stalks, and shred the leaves finely.

Cook

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the onions lightly.

  2. Add the shredded cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and cover the saucepan.

  3. Cook slowly until the moisture is reduced.

  4. Add the vinegar and red wine, then cook until the moisture is nearly reduced and the cabbage is well cooked.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + red winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together575 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

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

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 dish and softens into a tender, braised texture as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the onions cook gently without browning quickly.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma as they soften in the butter.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps the cabbage keep its red color.
Red wine
Adds liquid and depth of flavor as it reduces with the cabbage.

The step that matters

Cook slowly until the moisture is reduced. Cooking gently with the lid on lets the cabbage release and then slowly lose its moisture. Too much heat can scorch the bottom of the pan before the cabbage becomes tender.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, pepper, vinegar, red wine. 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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