Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Keep Cabbages
Ingredients
Directions
Divide the cabbages into 6 to 8 pieces based on size.
Boil the pieces in salted water for a moment.
Remove the cabbages and plunge them into vinegar.
Change the vinegar regularly, especially at the beginning, and add a little salt.
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 + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Headed cabbages
- Form the main body of the pickle, providing the crisp texture that remains after brief cooking.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the flavour of the cabbage.
The step that matters
Changing the vinegar regularly. Early on, the cabbage releases moisture and compounds that dilute the vinegar, so replacing it keeps the acidity strong enough to preserve and pickle the cabbage evenly.
“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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