Why it works: Cabbage and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,001 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Partridges, with Red Cabbages
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Shred the red cabbages and place them in a stewpan with the onion and melted lard or bacon fat.
Fry on moderate heat until moisture is reduced.
Add the bacon and white wine.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cover with hot ashes to cook slowly.
Cook the partridges
Truss the partridges.
Fry the partridges until browned.
Add the browned partridges to the cabbages when they are nearly done.
Once the partridges are cooked, remove them and the bacon.
Slice the bacon.
Finish and serve
Thicken the cabbages with kneaded butter and vinegar.
Serve the partridges on a dish with the cabbages underneath and bacon slices around.
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.
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Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,776 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,535 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 cabbages
- Form the bulk of the dish, softening as they cook down in fat and wine.
- Lard or bacon fat
- Carries heat and flavour through the cabbage and browns the partridges.
- Streaky bacon
- Adds savoury fat and smoky flavour that seasons the cabbage.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that balance the rich fat and cabbage.
- Partridges
- Provide the main meat, which browns in fat and finishes cooking on the cabbage.
- Kneaded butter
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a glossy sauce through starch and fat.
The step that matters
Adding the partridges to the cabbage. Add the browned partridges only when the cabbage is nearly done. Adding them too early overcooks the lean birds and turns them dry, while adding them too late leaves them underdone.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, white wine, butter, vinegar):
- Shallotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, white wine, butter, 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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