Name: Cabbage Pudding
Ingredients: 2 savoy cabbages; 2 ounces butter; 2 ounces glaze; 1 teaspoon sugar; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

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 ↓

Cabbage Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

Boil the savoy cabbages until tender.
Press them through a sieve and remove the stalk.
Chop the cabbages finely.

Cook

In a saucepan, combine the chopped cabbage with butter, glaze, sugar, pepper, and salt.
Cook over low heat until heated through and well combined.

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.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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).
Cabbage + sugartop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,037 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Savoy cabbages: Forms the bulk of the pudding and provides its main texture and flavour.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Glaze: Adds sweetness and body, helping the mixture bind together.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the mild bitterness of the cabbage.