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Stuffed Cabbage

A cabbage head filled with ham, breadcrumbs, cabbage center, herbs, and egg yolk, then boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut out the center of the cabbage head.

  2. Mix chopped ham, bread crumbs, chopped cabbage center, sweet herbs, and egg yolk to make the stuffing.

  3. Fill the cavity of the cabbage with the stuffing.

  4. Tie the cabbage securely in a thin cloth.

Cook

  1. Boil in salted water for 2 hours, keeping the kettle covered.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Cabbage + hamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together186 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cabbage + breadtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together380 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the outer shell that holds the stuffing and becomes tender during long boiling.
Egg yolk
Binds the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and a soft texture.
Ham
Adds savory, salty flavor to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Tie the cabbage securely in a thin cloth. If the wrap is loose, the stuffing can fall out or break apart while the cabbage boils for two hours. A firm, snug tie keeps the filling packed inside the head as it softens and cooks through.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, egg. 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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