Name: Cold Slaw
Ingredients: one teaspoon of dry mustard; one tablespoon of sugar; one gill of vinegar; a head of cabbage chopped fine; three hard boiled eggs; mustard; vinegar

Why it works: Mustard and cabbage 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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop half a head of cabbage finely.
Rub the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs into a paste.

Make and serve

Add a tablespoon of melted butter, one teaspoon of dry mustard, one tablespoon of sugar, and one gill of vinegar.
Mix thoroughly with the cabbage.
Garnish with the whites of eggs cut into rings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

188Calories

10 gProtein

6 gFat

25 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Mashed into a paste, they add richness and body to the dressing.
Vinegar: Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sugar and fat in the dressing.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
Cabbage: Forms the bulk of the slaw and absorbs the dressing as it is mixed.