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Cole Slaw

A cabbage slaw dressed with a mixture of egg yolks, vinegar, butter, salt, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cole Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Trim the cabbage and cut it in half.

  2. Soak the cabbage in cold water until crisp.

  3. Drain the cabbage thoroughly.

  4. Cut the cabbage into fine shreds with a knife or slaw cutter.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the egg yolks.

  2. Add the cold water and vinegar to the yolks.

  3. Stir the mixture over simmering water until thick.

  4. Add the butter and salt to the mixture.

  5. Use the dressing hot or cold for the slaw.

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. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Cabbage + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,397 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Cabbage + eggtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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 provides its crisp, crunchy texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing as they set over gentle heat, giving it a creamy body.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the egg and butter.
Butter
Adds fat and smoothness to the dressing, rounding its flavour.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture over simmering water until thick. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. Too much heat or too fast cooking can scramble them into lumps, so keep the water at a gentle simmer and stir constantly.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Cucumberfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg, 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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