Skip to main content
Salad

Cold Slaw

A cabbage salad dressed with a boiled mixture of sugar, mustard, vinegar, cream, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Sterrett, Laura C · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 56 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Cold Slaw

Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Cut the cabbage very finely.

  2. Place the cabbage in a dish.

  3. Sprinkle salt over the cabbage.

Make the dressing

  1. Add one teaspoon of sugar.

  2. Add half a teaspoon of mixed mustard.

  3. Add half a teaspoon of flour.

  4. Add half a cup of sweet cream.

  5. Add the same amount of vinegar.

  6. Add a small piece of butter.

  7. Beat all together.

  8. Let the mixture come to a boil.

  9. Pour the mixture over the cabbage when cold.

  10. Add two tablespoons of whipped cream.

  11. Add two teaspoons of sugar.

  12. Add four tablespoons of vinegar.

  13. Beat well.

  14. Pour the dressing over the cabbage, which has been cut very finely and seasoned with salt.

Make the sour cream dressing

  1. Cut one gallon of cabbage very finely.

  2. Add one pint of vinegar.

  3. Add one pint of sour cream.

  4. Add half a cup of sugar.

  5. Add a teaspoon of flour.

  6. Add two eggs.

  7. Add a piece of butter the size of a walnut.

  8. Put the vinegar, sugar, and butter in a sauce pan and let it boil.

  9. Stir the eggs, cream, and flour, which have been well mixed, into the vinegar.

  10. Boil thoroughly.

  11. Throw the mixture over the cabbage, which has been sprinkled with one tablespoon of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper, and one teaspoon of mustard.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1067Calories
80 gProtein
55 gFat
68 gCarbs

Counts 23 of 25 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 23 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

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

By Sterrett, Laura C. 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.

  1. Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Parsley + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Cabbage + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together660 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 slaw and gives it crisp, crunchy texture.
Sour cream
Adds richness and a creamy body to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.
Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook and bind it into a smooth custard-like sauce.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with gentle sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil the dressing thoroughly after adding the eggs. Eggs thicken only when heated enough to set their proteins; if the mixture is undercooked it stays thin, and if overheated it can curdle.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, sugar, cream, milk, vinegar, lettuce, white wine):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, sugar, cream, milk, vinegar, lettuce, white wine. 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.

More cold slaw recipes

Dressing 49 See all 157 →

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesCabbage DressingCabbage Dressing9 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipes