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Pickled Cabbage

Pickled cabbage is a fermented vegetable dish made with cabbage, peppers, celery seed, mustard seed, salt, pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Pickled Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove all the outside leaves from the cabbage and shave it very finely.

  2. Place the cabbage in a jar and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the flavourings and pickle

  1. Add the finely chopped red peppers, celery seed (or chopped celery), and white mustard seed.

  2. Pour enough cold vinegar over the mixture to cover it completely.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

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

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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and its crisp, crunchy texture once finely shaved.
Cold vinegar
Acidifies and preserves the cabbage, giving the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent bite that mellows as the seeds sit in the vinegar.
Celery seed
Contributes a warm, earthy celery aroma to the pickle.
Red peppers
Add sweetness, colour and a mild crunch to the mixture.

The step that matters

Covering the cabbage completely with vinegar. Cabbage left exposed to air can spoil and discolour. Keeping every piece submerged in vinegar keeps the acidity even throughout the jar, which is what preserves the pickle.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, mustard, 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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