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Cabbage with Vinegar

Cabbage with Vinegar is a stew of shredded cabbage cooked with vinegar, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 with Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Shred the cabbage.

  2. Wash the cabbage.

  3. In a saucepan, combine cabbage, pepper, salt, and butter.

Stew with vinegar

  1. Stew until tender.

  2. Add vinegar.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Cook cabbage with onion, pepper, salt, and gravy over low heat.

  5. Add butter mixed with flour and vinegar.

  6. Boil again.

Braise and finish

  1. Combine thinly sliced cabbage, ham, butter, broth, and vinegar in a stew-pan.

  2. Cover.

  3. Stew for three hours until very tender.

  4. Add more broth, salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix well.

  5. Boil until the liquid is reduced.

  6. Serve with fried sausages on top.

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.

  1. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes soft and tender through long stewing.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the stewed cabbage.
Broth
Provides liquid for stewing and adds savoury flavour as it reduces.
Ham
Contributes salty, smoky meaty flavour to the stewed cabbage.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to offset the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Stew for three hours until very tender. Cabbage needs long, gentle, covered cooking to break down its tough fibres. Stopping early leaves it firm and fibrous, and too fast a boil can scorch the liquid at the base of the pan.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, vinegar, butter, pepper, ham, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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