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Salad

Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad dressed with a vinaigrette of eggs, sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, celery essence, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, combine beaten eggs, sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, celery essence, and butter.

  2. Mix well and heat over medium heat until scalding hot.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool.

Assemble and chill

  1. Once cooled, add the dressing to shredded cabbage.

  2. Toss and stir to combine, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook, giving it a creamy, body-rich texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and sharpens the flavour of the slaw.
Sugar
Sweetens the dressing to offset the sharp vinegar and mustard.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the sharpness of the dressing.
Cabbage
Forms the crisp, bulky base that the dressing coats.

The step that matters

Heat the dressing until scalding hot, then let it cool fully. Eggs must be heated enough to thicken the dressing, but overheating can curdle them into lumps. Cooling before adding it to the cabbage keeps the dressing smooth and prevents the cabbage from wilting from warm liquid.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, butter, cabbage. 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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