Name: Mother R's Waem Cream Slaw
Ingredients: 1 tureen finely cut cabbage; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; Mustard to taste; ½ cup cream; 1 lump butter (size of an egg or walnut); 1 tablespoon sugar; 2 egg yolks; ⅓ to ½ cup vinegar

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 ↓

Mother R's Waem Cream Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

In a large bowl, combine finely cut cabbage with salt, pepper, and mustard to taste.

Make the warm dressing

In a saucepan, mix cream, butter, sugar, and beaten egg yolks.
Heat the mixture on the stove until it comes to a boil.
Stir briskly while adding vinegar to prevent curdling.
Once boiling again, pour the mixture over the cabbage.
Cover closely for a few moments 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.

Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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 crisp, fresh texture.
Egg yolks: Thicken the dressing as they heat and add richness to the cream.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness and sweetness of the dressing.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with gentle sweetness.
Butter: Adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel and a rounded flavor to the dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar while stirring briskly. Egg yolks can scramble and curdle when they meet hot, acidic liquid. Stirring constantly while adding vinegar disperses it evenly and keeps the proteins from clumping, giving a smooth dressing.

Swap the cabbage

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

Horseradishfits better
Capsicumfits better
Shallotfits better
Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, mustard, cream, butter, sugar, egg, 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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Mother R's Waem Cream Slaw