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Salad

Cole Slaw

A cabbage slaw dressed with a vinegar, butter, egg yolk, cream, cayenne pepper, and sea salt dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cole Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Boil the vinegar with the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and add the cream.

  3. Remove the vinegar from heat and stir in the egg and cream mixture, ensuring it doesn't curdle.

  4. Return the mixture to the heat and stir until it thickens to the consistency of boiled custard.

Dress and serve

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

  2. Once cooled, transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with cayenne pepper and salt to taste.

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.

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

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Vinegar + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  5. Walnut + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing into a custard-like texture as they set with gentle heat.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
Cream
Adds richness and body, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Butter
Adds fat and a smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.
Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the slaw, absorbing the dressing and providing crisp texture.

The step that matters

Returning the mixture to the heat. Egg yolks can curdle if they get too hot too fast. Stirring gently over moderate heat lets them thicken smoothly into a custard instead of scrambling.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, walnut, butter, egg, cream, pepper. 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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