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Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad with a creamy egg‑condensed milk‑vinegar dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the cabbage into thin strips.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix the beaten egg, condensed milk, and vinegar.

  2. Heat the mixture in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until it thickens.

Assemble and season

  1. Pour the thickened mixture over the shredded cabbage.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt to taste.

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Condensed milk + vinegartop 36% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together38 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + condensed milktop 38% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together591 recipes

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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
Provides the crisp, crunchy base that the dressing coats.
Raw egg
Thickens the dressing as its proteins set with gentle heat, giving it body.
Condensed milk
Adds sweetness and a creamy, smooth texture to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the condensed milk.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture while stirring. Raw egg proteins set when heated, so the mixture can curdle or scramble if it gets too hot or is left unstirred. Constant stirring over medium heat lets it thicken smoothly.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, condensed milk, vinegar. 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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