Why it works: Turnip and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 202 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tuenip-cabbage, Smotheeed and Glazed
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cabbages
Peel the turnip-cabbages and parboil them until half cooked.
Immerse them in cold water and drain on a napkin.
Cut out the center of each cabbage with a round cutter.
Line a deep flat saucepan with thin slices of fat pork.
Make the filling
Finely chop the mushrooms and place them in another saucepan with the chopped shallot and butter.
Cover and cook until the moisture is reduced.
Finely chop the scooped-out cabbage and add it to the mushrooms.
Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then add the reduced Allemande sauce and mix in the egg yolks.
Transfer the mixture to an earthen bowl and let it cool.
Add the chicken forcemeat to the cooled mixture.
Bake and serve
Fill the centers of the cabbages with this mixture and moisten lightly with veal broth.
Cover the pan and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until nicely glazed.
Serve with a reduced Allemande sauce flavored with essence of mushrooms.
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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Turnip + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together202 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 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
- Egg yolks
- Bind the filling and help it set gently when baked.
- Chicken forcemeat
- Adds body and a tender, firm texture to the filling.
- Allemande sauce
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling and body to the sauce.
- Mushrooms
- Contribute moisture-reduced earthy flavor that deepens the filling.
- Fat pork
- Fat that lines the pan, adding richness and flavor as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cool the filling before adding the forcemeat and egg yolks. Adding raw egg yolks to a hot mixture can scramble them unevenly, and hot forcemeat can loosen or cook unevenly, so cooling first keeps the filling smooth and evenly set.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, pork, mushroom, shallot, butter, pepper, nutmeg):
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Spinachfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, pork, mushroom, shallot, butter, pepper, nutmeg. 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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