Name: Red Cabbage Dressed the Dutch Way for Cold At the Breast
Ingredients: 1 small red cabbage; 2 tablespoons oil; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ cup water; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 small onion, chopped; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

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 ↓

Red Cabbage Dressed the Dutch Way for Cold At the Breast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the red cabbage into small pieces.
Boil the cabbage in water until tender, then drain it well.

Cook

In a stewpan, combine the cabbage with oil, butter, water, vinegar, chopped onion, pepper, and salt.
Simmer until all the liquid is evaporated.
Serve hot or cold as desired.

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.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,001 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage: Forms the main body of the dish and absorbs the fat and vinegar as it cooks.
Butter: Adds richness and a rounded flavor to the cabbage.
Oil: Carries flavor and helps the cabbage soften and brown lightly in the pan.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps the cabbage keep its color.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness that deepens as it cooks down with the cabbage.

The step that matters

Simmer until all the liquid is evaporated. Stopping too early leaves the cabbage watery and dilutes the flavor, while cooking too long can scorch the butter and onion on the bottom of the pan. Stir as the liquid reduces.

Swap the onion

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

Mustardfits better
Radishfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, butter, vinegar, pepper. 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.

Red Cabbage65 recipes

Stewed Cabbage58 recipes

Baked Cabbage51 recipes

Cabbage Dressing19 recipes

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Red Cabbage Dressed the Dutch Way for Cold At the Breast