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Salad

Cold Slaw

A cabbage slaw dressed with sugar, salt, pepper, mustard, oil, vinegar, and celery extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

Prepare the dressing

  1. Shred the cabbage and place it in a bowl.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard.

  3. Add the oil gradually while beating the mixture.

  4. Slowly incorporate the vinegar into the dressing.

  5. Stir in the celery extract.

Assemble

  1. Pour the dressing over the shredded cabbage and mix well.

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

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

  5. Cabbage + celerytop 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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the slaw and gives it a crisp, crunchy texture.
Oil
Emulsifies with the mustard and vinegar to make a smooth, coating dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sugar.
Prepared mustard
Acts as an emulsifier, helping the oil and vinegar stay combined.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Add the oil gradually while beating the mixture. Adding oil slowly while beating breaks it into tiny droplets that stay suspended in the vinegar and mustard. Pouring it in all at once lets it separate into a greasy, unstable dressing.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, sugar, pepper, mustard, 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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