Why it works: Cabbage and mint work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 114 recipes mention both. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 6Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the chopped onion until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the minced lamb and cook, breaking it up, until browned and no pink remains, reaching 160°F (71°C) in the thickest part, about 6 minutes. Add one crushed garlic clove and cook 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
Toss the cubed butternut squash with a little olive oil, spread on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes until tender.
Stir the cooked bulgar wheat, roasted squash and chopped mint into the lamb mixture, and taste and adjust the seasoning.
Lay each well-blanched Savoy cabbage leaf flat and trim any thick stem. Place a spoonful of filling near the base, fold in the sides and roll up tightly into a parcel.
Arrange the parcels seam side down in a baking dish in a single layer. Pour a splash of water around them, cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake 5 minutes more until the parcels are hot throughout.
Meanwhile, mix the Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, the remaining crushed garlic clove and the lemon juice in a bowl. Chill until serving.
Serve the warm parcels with the cold cucumber yogurt spooned over or alongside.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cabbage + minttop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together114 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Olive + wheattop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together937 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Cabbage + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the butternut squash
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, olive, garlic, wheat, mint, onion, lamb):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Butternut squashthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, olive, garlic, wheat, mint, onion, lamb. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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