Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Shave the cabbage into small strips.
Make the dressing
In a pot, mix the egg yolks, cider vinegar, sugar, cream, mustard, mixed with boiling water, salt, and pepper.
Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks rapidly.
Combine and serve
Add the cabbage to the mixture and stir well.
Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two days.
For garnish, slice a hard-boiled egg and place it on top before serving.
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.
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the bulk of the salad and provides crisp texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing as they cook and give it a rich body.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
- White sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
- Rich cream
- Adds fat and smoothness, softening the dressing's tang.
- Mustard
- Adds a sharp, aromatic bite that complements the eggs and vinegar.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten egg yolks rapidly. Egg yolks begin to scramble when they meet hot liquid. Adding them quickly while stirring disperses them evenly, so the dressing thickens smoothly instead of turning lumpy.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, cream, mustard, pepper):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, cream, mustard, pepper. 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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