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Fruity Red Cabbage

Rustle up your own, sweeter version of pickled sauerkraut with apple, redcurrant and cider flavours

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and beetroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 377 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

SERVES 6 with leftovers
Prep45 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Remove the tough outer leaves from the red cabbage, cut it into quarters, cut out the core, and finely shred the rest.

  2. Peel and coarsely grate the raw beetroot. Chop the red onions finely.

  3. Grate the apples down to their cores, discarding the cores, and set the grated apple aside.

  4. Put the shredded cabbage, beetroot, onions, apple, redcurrant jelly, caster sugar, cider vinegar, apple juice and sultanas into a large heavy pan or casserole and stir well.

  5. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the cabbage and beetroot are tender.

  6. Uncover and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes to reduce any excess liquid to a glossy, moist consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving hot or cold.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Cabbage + beetroottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together377 recipes

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

  2. Apple + cidertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Cider + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together402 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, beetroot, apple, sugar, cider, vinegar):

  1. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  2. Lettucebetter flavor fit
  3. Horseradishbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, beetroot, apple, sugar, cider, vinegar. 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).