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To Stew Cabbages, Savoys, Etc.

A buttery, flour‑thickened cabbage stew flavored with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Stew Cabbages, Savoys, Etc.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the outer leaves and stalks from the cabbage, then cut it into thin strips.

  2. Wash and drain the cabbage, then place it in boiling salted water.

  3. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes or until tender, then strain and press out the water.

Make the stew

  1. In a clean saucepan, melt the butter, then add the cabbage, pepper, and salt.

  2. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is fairly dry.

  3. Sprinkle in the flour, mix well, and gradually add the cream or white sauce.

  4. Optionally, stew a small chopped onion with the cabbage for added flavor.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the dish and becomes tender and soft when boiled and stewed.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the cabbage as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so the cream or white sauce clings to the cabbage.
Cream or white sauce
Adds moisture and richness, giving the stew a creamy, smooth body.

The step that matters

Pressing out the water after boiling. Cabbage holds a lot of water. If it is not well drained and pressed, the stew stays wet and thin, and the flour cannot thicken it properly.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cabbage, pepper, flour, cream):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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