Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cabbages
Ingredients
Directions
Cut and quarter the cabbages.
Boil them until half done, then place in cold water.
Remove the stalk from each quarter and squeeze them into long bundles.
Stew the bundles with your birds.
To prepare cauliflowers, trim them and soak in cold water for at least an hour.
Boil in salted water, skimming occasionally.
Small cauliflowers take 15 minutes; large ones take 20 minutes.
Serve immediately after boiling.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Ketchup + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Cabbage + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together978 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + ketchuptop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,784 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Cabbage + buttertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,397 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ketchup, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Leekfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ketchup, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More cabbage stew recipes
You might also like
Red Cabbage65 recipes
Stewed Cabbage58 recipes
Baked Cabbage51 recipes
Cabbage Dressing19 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.