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Salad

Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad dressed with a cornstarch‑based sauce of milk, egg yolks, butter, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Moisten cornstarch in a little cold milk.

  2. Add hot milk and stir until thick.

  3. Stir in egg yolks and cook briefly.

  4. Remove from heat and add butter, salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar.

  5. Let the mixture cool.

Assemble

  1. Mix with cabbage that has soaked in cold water for 1 hour.

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

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable dressing as it heats.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help set the dressing when gently cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel and rich flavor to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sweetness.
Shaved cabbage
Forms the crisp base that the warm dressing is mixed into.

The step that matters

Stir in egg yolks and cook briefly. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated or added to very hot milk without stirring. Cooking gently and briefly keeps the dressing smooth while the yolk proteins thicken it.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

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