Why it works: Cabbage and buckwheat share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 7 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
6 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Toast the caraway and coriander seeds in a dry large pot over medium heat for 2 minutes until fragrant, then coarsely crush them with the side of a knife or in a mortar.
Add the bacon to the pot and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes, until crisp and the fat has rendered.
Add the onion and apple to the pot and cook, stirring, for about 6 minutes until the onion softens, then cook 4 minutes more.
Add the cabbage in batches, stirring until wilted, about 8 minutes. Stir in the crushed seeds, mustard, chicken broth and water, and season with kosher salt and black pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, partly covered, and cook for about 35 minutes until the cabbage is tender.
While the soup simmers, whisk the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, kosher salt and black pepper in a bowl. Stir in the milk and melted butter until just combined, then rest the batter 10 minutes.
Return the soup to a gentle simmer. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the surface, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes until the dumplings are firm and a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean.
Taste the soup, adjust the salt and pepper, and serve hot with the dumplings.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Cabbage + buckwheattop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + cabbagetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,080 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Coriander + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,948 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Caraway + coriandertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together185 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (caraway, coriander, onion, pepper, mustard, cabbage, chicken):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against caraway, coriander, onion, pepper, mustard, cabbage, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.