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Salad

Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad made with milk, vinegar, butter, sugar, celery essence, salt, pepper, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Shred the white cabbage finely.

  2. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

Cook the vinegar and cabbage

  1. In another saucepan, bring the vinegar to a boil.

  2. Stir the butter, sugar, celery essence, salt, and pepper into the boiling vinegar.

  3. Once boiling hard, add the shredded cabbage and heat until hot, then remove from the fire.

Make the dressing and serve

  1. Slowly pour the scalding milk onto the beaten eggs, stirring steadily until thick.

  2. Pour the thickened mixture over the cabbage and toss until well mixed.

  3. Chill in the ice for two hours before serving.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 bulk of the slaw and provides its crisp, fresh texture.
Eggs
Thicken the milk mixture into a creamy dressing when gently heated.
Milk
Combines with the eggs to make a smooth, creamy dressing.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, smoother mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Slowly pour the scalding milk onto the beaten eggs. Adding hot milk gradually while stirring tempers the eggs, so they warm evenly and thicken smoothly. Pouring too fast can scramble them into lumps.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. 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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