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Salad

Southern Cold Slaw

A cold cabbage slaw with egg yolk, butter, cream, sugar, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage 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 ↓

Southern Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

  1. Heat the water and salt in a saucepan until boiling.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, and pepper together.

  3. Work in the butter while the water is heating.

Cook the dressing

  1. Once boiling, stir the egg mixture into the saucepan.

  2. Add the sliced cabbage and mix well.

  3. Remove from heat before the cabbage wilts.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour into a salad bowl and stir in the cream when partially cool.

  2. Serve cold.

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

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 as they gently set, and add richness and body.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a softer mouthfeel.
Cream
Adds richness and softens the dressing's texture when stirred in later.
Cabbage
Forms the main body of the slaw and gives it a crisp, fresh texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the savory seasoning.

The step that matters

Keep the egg mixture from scrambling. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat. When the mixture meets boiling water too fast or is over-stirred, the proteins tighten and curdle, leaving a grainy dressing instead of a smooth one.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

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