Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hot Slaw
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Shred the cabbage.
Boil in salted water for 15 minutes, then discard the water.
Make and serve the slaw
Add vinegar, soup stock, pepper, and salt to the cabbage.
Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Transfer to a deep dish and pour drawn butter over it.
Place in a pan of boiling water for 5-6 minutes, then serve.
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.
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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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Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White cabbage
- Forms the bulk of the dish and turns tender and soft when cooked.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the butter.
- Soup stock
- Adds savory depth and moisture as the cabbage simmers.
- Drawn butter
- Adds fat and richness and coats the cabbage for a silky mouthfeel.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cabbagethe original
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, butter. 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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