Name: Red Cabbage
Ingredients: 1 head red cabbage; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper

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 ↓

Red Cabbage

Ingredients

1 head red cabbage
2 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions

Prepare

Boil the cabbage for a short time.
Remove the heart and cut it into pieces.

Stew

In a stewpan, combine the cabbage pieces with butter, salt, and pepper.
Stew over medium heat, stirring frequently to mix well with the butter.

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.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Cabbage + buttertop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,397 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 stew, becoming tender as it cooks.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, helping the cabbage coat and soften evenly.