Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Chop the cabbage finely.
Season the cabbage with salt and pepper.
If the cabbage is wilted, soak it in ice water for 1 hour before chopping.
Make the dressing
Heat the vinegar and dilute with water if it is very strong.
Beat the egg yolk well.
Stir the corn-starch into the milk and add the egg, mixing thoroughly.
Gently add this mixture to the boiling vinegar; it will become a creamy dressing.
Boil the dressing for 2 minutes.
Remove the dressing from heat and pour it over the cabbage while still hot.
Optionally cool the dressing before pouring it over the cabbage.
Serve
Set the salad aside in a cool place and serve when cold.
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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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cabbage + corntop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together234 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Vinegar + cabbagetop 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
- Vinegar
- Provides sharp acidity that balances the richness of the dressing.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies and thickens the dressing as it heats, giving it a creamy body.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the dressing clings to the cabbage.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, diluting the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky base of the salad that the dressing coats.
The step that matters
Boil the dressing for 2 minutes. Egg yolk and corn-starch must be heated enough to thicken the dressing; too little heat leaves it thin, while long or hard boiling can curdle the egg and make it grainy.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, egg, corn, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg, corn, milk, pepper. 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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