Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stewed Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Wash the cabbage thoroughly and blanch it in boiling water.
Place the cabbage in a large saucepan with boiling water, adding the salt and soda.
Boil until the cabbage is tender but not breaking, then remove it from the pan.
Plunge the cabbage into a basin of cold salted water until completely cold, then drain on a clean cloth.
Make the sauce and stew
Fry the chopped onion in a pan for five minutes, then add the cabbage cut into quarters.
Pour in enough stock (or milk and water) to cover the cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the cabbage and place it in a colander over a plate in the oven.
Thicken the sauce, strain it, and stir in the chopped parsley.
Serve
Serve the cabbage on a hot dish, pour the sauce over it, and garnish with small triangular pieces of fried bread.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and sweet as it is cooked slowly.
- Soda
- Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the cabbage soften and keep its colour.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that simmers the cabbage and forms the base of the sauce.
- Onion
- Adds savoury aroma and sweetness to the sauce when fried first.
The step that matters
Boil until the cabbage is tender but not breaking. Cabbage turns mushy if overcooked, and it keeps cooking during the later simmer, so it must be removed while still holding its shape.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, milk, pepper, parsley, bread):
- Carrotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, milk, pepper, parsley, bread. 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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