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Baked Cabbage

A baked cabbage dish with ham, breadcrumbs, eggs, and milk.

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

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 ↓

Baked Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Boil the cabbage for 15 minutes in salted water.

  2. Change the water and boil until tender.

  3. Drain and let cool.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the minced ham, bread crumbs, pepper, butter, beaten eggs, and milk.

  2. Chop the cooled cabbage finely and combine with the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until brown.

  2. Serve hot.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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 through boiling, giving the body of the bake.
Eggs
Bind the filling together and set when baked, giving it structure.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the filling hold its shape while baking.
Minced boiled ham
Adds savory flavor and salt-cured depth to the filling.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the egg mixture for a tender set.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Drain and cool the cabbage well before chopping. Cabbage holds a lot of water after boiling. If it is still warm or wet, it releases steam and liquid into the filling, which can loosen the eggs and make the bake soggy instead of set.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, pepper, butter, egg, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, pepper, butter, egg, milk. 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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