Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, melted butter, sugar, dry mustard, pepper, salt, and cider vinegar.
Heat the mixture together until warm, then let it cool.
Assemble and serve
Mix the dressing thoroughly with the chopped cabbage.
Garnish with the hard boiled egg whites.
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.
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 salad and provides crisp texture.
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify and thicken the dressing, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness and sweetness of the dressing.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.
The step that matters
Heat the dressing until warm, not hot. Egg yolks thicken as they warm but can scramble and turn grainy if overheated, so gentle heat keeps the dressing smooth.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, cider, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, cider, 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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