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Stewed Cabbage and Celery

A simple stew of shredded cabbage and celery simmered in a cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,840 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stewed Cabbage and Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut cabbage and celery into shreds.

  2. Soak in cold water for a few minutes, then drain.

Cook the vegetables

  1. Boil in salted water for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the season.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Prepare a rich Cream Sauce separately.

  2. Drain the cabbage and celery thoroughly and stir into the cream sauce.

  3. Let it stew gently for 10 minutes, then serve.

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 + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,863 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Celery + saucetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,360 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cabbage + saucetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together437 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the dish and softens into tender shreds when boiled.
Celery
Adds a crisp-tender texture and a fresh, mild aroma.
Cream sauce
Adds richness and a smooth body that coats the vegetables.

The step that matters

Drain the cabbage and celery thoroughly. Water left on the boiled vegetables dilutes the cream sauce and makes it thin and watery. Draining well lets the sauce cling to the shreds and keeps its body during the gentle stew.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, cream, sauce):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, cream, sauce. 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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