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Cold Ducks Stewed with Red Cabbage

A stew of cold duck pieces simmered with red cabbage, butter, pepper, salt, and wine or vinegar.

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 ↓

Cold Ducks Stewed with Red Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the duck

  1. Cut the cold ducks into convenient pieces.

  2. Warm the duck pieces gradually in some of their gravy.

Cook the cabbage

  1. Shred the red cabbage finely, wash it, and drain it on a sieve.

  2. In a covered stew-pan, melt some butter and add the cabbage, pepper, and salt.

  3. Stir frequently and add a spoonful or two of gravy if it gets too dry.

  4. When the cabbage is tender, add a small glass of wine or vinegar.

Serve

  1. Serve the cabbage on a dish and place the duck pieces on top.

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. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Pepper + winetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,066 recipes

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

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Cabbage + winetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together186 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

Cold ducks
Provide the main meat, which is gently rewarmed in its own gravy so it stays moist.
Gravy from the ducks
Adds moisture and savoury flavour, and keeps the cabbage from drying out as it cooks.
Red cabbage
Forms the body of the dish, softening as it cooks in covered butter.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the cabbage cook softly and carry flavour.
Wine or vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, earthy flavour of the cabbage.

The step that matters

Stir frequently and add gravy if the cabbage dries. Red cabbage can scorch or dry out in a pan, and extra moisture from the gravy keeps it tender and prevents sticking. Covered cooking with frequent stirring helps the cabbage soften evenly.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, 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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