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To Stew Red Cabbage

A simple stew of sliced red cabbage cooked with water, pepper, salt, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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To Stew Red 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 ↓

To Stew Red Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the cabbage as for pickling.

  2. Put it in a stewpan with some water, pepper, and salt.

  3. Stew until quite tender.

  4. Strain off the liquid.

Finish

  1. Add more pepper, salt if necessary, and 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar.

  2. Warm the whole together.

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. Cabbage + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together635 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage
Forms the main body of the dish and softens into a tender, sweet-tasting vegetable when stewed.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps the cabbage keep its bright red colour.

The step that matters

Stew until quite tender. Red cabbage is tough and needs slow, gentle cooking in water to soften fully. Stopping early leaves it fibrous, while adding vinegar before the cabbage is tender can slow softening and keep it firm.

Swap the garlic

The recipe marks garlic as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, vinegar. 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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