Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Pickled Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the sliced cabbage in a jar and cover with boiling water.
Once cooled, drain off the water.
Season and pickle
Season the cabbage with grated horseradish, coarse sea salt, black and red pepper, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves.
Cover the seasoned cabbage with strong vinegar.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cabbage + horseradishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together481 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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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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Horseradish + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together515 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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 pickle and absorbs the vinegar and seasonings as it softens.
- Strong vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the cabbage.
- Grated horseradish
- Adds sharp, pungent heat that carries into the cabbage.
The step that matters
Cover the cabbage with boiling water and drain it fully before seasoning. Cabbage left wet dilutes the vinegar and seasonings, weakening the flavour and acidity. Draining after the brief scald removes excess water so the vinegar can penetrate and preserve the cabbage properly.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (horseradish, pepper, cinnamon, clove, vinegar):
- Mustardfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against horseradish, pepper, cinnamon, clove, 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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