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Cabbage

A mash of boiled potatoes and chopped cabbage, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, drippings, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes until done, then drain and mash them well.

Combine and heat

  1. In a pot, combine the mashed potatoes, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 quart of chopped cabbage, and salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Stir over medium heat until hot.

  3. Alternatively, heat 1 quart of cold cabbage with 1 tablespoon of drippings and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

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. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Cabbage + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together275 recipes

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the mash, giving body and a soft, creamy texture when mashed.
Cabbage
Adds bulk, moisture and a mild, fresh vegetable flavour to the mash.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the cabbage and cuts the richness of the fat.

The step that matters

Stir over medium heat until hot. Cabbage and potato can scorch on the bottom of the pot if heated too fast or left unstirred, so stirring over medium heat warms them evenly without burning.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, butter, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, butter, pepper, 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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