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Cabbage

A cabbage dish seasoned with salt, pepper, mustard, celery salt, eggs, and a hot vinegar‑butter sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cabbages, removing the core and coarse parts of the leaves.

  2. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, dry mustard, and celery salt to taste.

  3. Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl.

Make the dressing and serve

  1. In a saucepan, heat the vinegar and butter until boiling, stirring constantly until it thickens slightly.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the cabbage and mix thoroughly.

  3. Let it cool before serving.

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.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 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

Cabbages
Forms the bulk of the dish, providing crisp texture and mild sweetness.
Eggs
Beaten eggs add richness and body to the dish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the butter.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the hot vinegar mixture, helping it taste smooth.

The step that matters

Heating the vinegar and butter. The mixture must be brought to a full boil and stirred constantly so it thickens slightly without scorching or separating. Pouring it over the cabbage while hot helps it coat the cabbage evenly.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, pepper, mustard, egg, vinegar, butter):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, mustard, egg, vinegar, butter. 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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