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Pickled White Cabbage

A pickled white cabbage prepared with spices, sugar, vinegar, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Pickled White Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Take a peck of quartered cabbage.

  2. Layer cabbage and salt.

  3. Let remain overnight.

Make the pickle

  1. In the morning, squeeze the cabbage and put it on the fire with four chopped onions covered with vinegar.

  2. Boil for half an hour.

  3. Add one ounce of turmeric, one gill of black pepper, one gill of celery seed, a few cloves, one tablespoonful of allspice, a few pieces of ginger, half an ounce of mace, and two pounds of brown sugar.

  4. Add four tablespoonfuls of made mustard with the other ingredients.

  5. Let it boil half an hour longer.

Cool and serve

  1. When cold, it is fit for use.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

134Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Turmeric + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Turmeric + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 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

Cabbage (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the pickle and becomes tender as it cooks in vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives it its sharp flavour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Salt
Draws water out of the cabbage overnight, leaving it crisper and less watery.
Onions
Add savoury flavour and aroma to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Squeezing the salted cabbage. Salting draws out water overnight, and squeezing removes the excess before boiling. Leaving too much liquid in dilutes the vinegar and makes the pickle watery and less acidic.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turmeric, pepper, celery, allspice, sugar, mustard, onion):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turmeric, pepper, celery, allspice, sugar, mustard, onion. 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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