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Country Cabbage Pie

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Country Cabbage Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. In a pot, heat lard and fry the chopped onion until soft.

  2. Add the pork, season, and steam with a little water until the meat is tender, adding water as needed.

  3. In another pot, steam the sauerkraut in lard and a little water until heated through.

  4. In a separate pot, steam the rice in lard and water until soft.

  5. In a well-greased pot, layer the ingredients: pork, sauerkraut, rice, and smoked sausage, sprinkling 2 tablespoons of sour cream over the cabbage layer each time.

  6. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

  7. Turn out onto a dish and pour warm sour cream over the top. Garnish with sausage rings.

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. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  3. Pork + ricetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Pork + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Onion + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,827 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Onion and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,827 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 onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, rice, cream):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, rice, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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