Name: Colorful Coleslaw
Ingredients: 2 cups red cabbage, shredded; 2 cups white cabbage, shredded; 3 carrots, grated; 1 apple, diced; 1/4 cup raisins (optional); 1/2 onion, finely chopped; 2 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 tbsp lime juice; 3 tbsp olive oil (or udo's oil); 1/2 tsp dill; 1 tsp horseradish from the jar; 1/4 tsp onion powder; 1/4 tsp garlic powder; 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional); 1 tbsp fruit sugar; boiling water; braggs all purpose seasoning, or sea salt to taste

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

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.

Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + limetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together646 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cabbage + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,505 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,001 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + limetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage: Forms the bulk of the slaw and gives its crisp, crunchy texture.
White cabbage: Adds crunch and bulk, softened slightly by the boiling water.
Carrots: Add sweetness, color and crunch.
Red wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.
Olive oil: Adds fat and smooth richness that coats the cabbage.
Fruit sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the vinegar and lime juice.

The step that matters

Straining the cabbage after the boiling water. Cabbage left wet dilutes the dressing and makes the slaw watery. Draining it well lets the vinegar, lime and oil cling to the shreds and keeps the texture crisp.

Swap the raisin

The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, carrot, apple, onion, red wine, vinegar, lime):

Plumfits better
Mangofits better
Pearfits better
Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, carrot, apple, onion, red wine, vinegar, lime. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
White Cabbage	1 cup shredded (89g)	22
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Horseradish	not in our table	0
Fruit	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Colorful Coleslaw