Name: Preserved Stuffed Pickled Bell Peppers
Ingredients: 100 Bell Peppers; 3 heads of cabbage; coarse sea salt; cold boiled vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and cabbage 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 ↓

Preserved Stuffed Pickled Bell Peppers

Ingredients

100 Bell Peppers
3 heads of cabbage
coarse sea salt
cold boiled vinegar

Directions

Cut the stems from the Bell Peppers and slice the tops without detaching them.
Scoop out the seeds and place the peppers in a brine, then drain them.
Cut the white part of the cabbage into small shreds and parboil for 5 minutes.
Immerse the cabbage in cold water and drain it well, then season with a little salt.
Stuff the peppers with the cabbage and cover with the undetached tops.
Arrange the stuffed peppers in jars and pour cold boiled vinegar over them to cover.
Seal the jars tightly and let them sit for 2 months before using.

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.

Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

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