Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Garnish of Braized Cabbages
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Trim, wash, and halve the cabbages.
Boil them in water for 15 minutes.
Refresh in cold water, drain, and place on a napkin.
Cut away the stalks and season with salt and pepper.
Tie the halves together with string.
Braise
Cover the bottom of a stewpan with bacon.
Add the cabbages, carrot, onion, and herb faggot.
Moisten with enough broth to cover the cabbages.
Cover with a buttered round of paper and lid.
Gently boil on low heat for about 1 hour.
Drain the cabbages, remove strings, and press in a napkin.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,108 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Savoy cabbages
- Form the main body of the garnish, becoming tender and soft as they braise.
- Fat bacon
- Adds savory fat and flavor to the cooking liquid and the cabbage.
- Broth
- Provides the liquid that gently cooks the cabbage and carries flavor into it.
The step that matters
Gently boil on low heat. Cabbage cooked too hard or too fast can turn mushy and watery, so a low, gentle simmer keeps the leaves tender and intact during the long braise.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, pepper, carrot, clove, parsley, thyme):
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, carrot, clove, parsley, thyme. 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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