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Red Cabbage Pickle

Pickled red cabbage preserved in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,840 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Red Cabbage Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Quarter the red cabbage and place it in a jar.

  2. Cover the cabbage with coarse sea salt and let the cabbage stand for 24 hours.

  3. Drain the brine and wipe the cabbage dry.

  4. Cover the cabbage with cold water and let it stand for 12 hours.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, bring 2 quarts of vinegar to a boil.

  2. Add whole cloves, white peppercorns, broken mace, sugar, and celery seed to the boiling vinegar and boil them together for 10 minutes.

Pack and age

  1. Pack the cabbage into a crock.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cabbage.

  3. Cover the crock and store it in a cool place.

  4. Let the pickles sit for at least 6 weeks to 2 months 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 + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Cabbage + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  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

Red cabbage
Forms the crisp body of the pickles and takes up the vinegar flavor as it ages.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cabbage through osmosis, leaving it firmer and ready to absorb the brine.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives the pickles their sharp flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
Celery seed
Adds a savory, aromatic flavor to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Drain and dry the cabbage before covering it with water. Salt draws water out of the cabbage, and the rinse and soak remove excess salt. Wiping it dry keeps the cabbage from diluting the pickling liquid and helps it stay crisp.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, clove, sugar, celery. 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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