Why it works: Cabbage and mustard 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 ↓
A Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Cut the cabbage very finely and layer it in a dish, sprinkling salt and pepper between the layers.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, combine butter, sugar, flour, mustard, and vinegar; bring to a boil.
Combine and rest
Pour the hot mixture over the cabbage and mix well.
Cover the dish and let it sit before serving.
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.
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 salad and provides the crisp texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the salad its sharp flavor and softens the cabbage slightly.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
- Flour
- Thickens the hot vinegar mixture so it coats the cabbage.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps smooth the dressing.
- Mustard
- Contributes a sharp, pungent flavor to the dressing.
The step that matters
Bringing the dressing to a boil. Flour needs to be heated fully to thicken the mixture properly. If it stays undercooked, the dressing can taste raw and stay grainy instead of smooth and coating.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, mustard, vinegar, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Radishfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, mustard, vinegar, pepper. 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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