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Warm Slaw

A warm cabbage slaw made by simmering shredded cabbage in a butter, vinegar, and spice mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Warm Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shave the cabbage into very thin strips using a sharp knife.

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add water, vinegar, salt, cayenne, and minced garlic if desired. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the hot mixture over the cabbage and cover tightly.

  2. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes 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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  3. Cabbage + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together635 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage
Forms the bulk of the slaw and provides its crisp, crunchy texture.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the dish and softens the cabbage slightly.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth fat note to the hot dressing.

The step that matters

Pour the hot mixture over the cabbage and cover tightly. The hot liquid wilts the cabbage and softens its tough fibres, while covering keeps the steam in so the flavours soak in evenly. Pouring over cold mixture would leave the slaw crisp and less seasoned.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, butter, vinegar, pepper, garlic):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

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