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Pickled Red Cabbage

Pickled red cabbage is a fermented vegetable dish preserved in vinegar and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pickled Red Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Slice the cabbage finely.

  2. Pack the sliced cabbage into a jar.

  3. Pour boiling spiced vinegar over the cabbage.

  4. Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar for each head of cabbage.

  5. When the mixture is cold, seal the jar.

  6. Let it sit for about ten days before using.

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 + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Cabbage + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,037 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

Red cabbage
Provides the bulk of the pickle and its crisp, crunchy texture.
Spiced vinegar
Acidity that softens the cabbage and preserves it while it steeps.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharp acidity with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Let it sit for about ten days before using. The cabbage needs time for the acid and spices to penetrate and mellow the raw texture. Using it early gives a harsh, sharp flavour and a crunchier bite.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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