Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Shred the cabbage finely with a sharp knife and set it on ice.
Make the dressing
Heat the sweet milk and vinegar in separate vessels.
When the vinegar is scalding hot, stir in the butter, sugar, celery essence, pepper, and salt.
Boil sharply and stir in the cabbage until smoking hot, but do not boil.
Pour the hot milk over the beaten eggs and cook until it begins to thicken.
Combine and chill
Turn the hot cabbage into a bowl.
Pour the custard over it and stir rapidly until well mixed.
Cover the bowl and let it cool quickly.
Keep it on ice until needed.
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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,840 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard when heated, binding the dressing and giving it body.
- Sweet milk
- Mixes with the eggs to make a creamy, smooth custard base.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the custard.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness to offset the sharpness of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Pour the hot milk over the beaten eggs and cook until it begins to thicken. Eggs thicken when heated, but if they get too hot they scramble into lumps. Pouring the hot liquid slowly into the eggs, while stirring, gently warms them before the custard is cooked, giving a smooth result.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, milk, vinegar, butter, sugar, pepper, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, milk, vinegar, butter, sugar, 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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