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Cold Slaw

A vinegar and butter-based cabbage salad served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

Why it works: Mustard and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine vinegar, egg, sugar, salt, mixed mustard, and butter in a saucepan; stir until it boils.

  2. Let the mixture cool, then pour it over the shaved cabbage.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Finely cut the cabbage, pack it into a small dish, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Make the cream sauce and combine

  1. Heat 1 pint of vinegar with butter and sugar in another saucepan until boiling.

  2. Mix a well-beaten egg into 1 cup of cream, then pour it into the boiling vinegar, stirring until it boils again.

  3. Immediately pour the mixture over the cabbage and cover tightly, pressing down with a weight or plate.

  4. Let the slaw sit for two days, though it can be eaten immediately or after a week if stored in a cool place.

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. Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together849 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thickens the dressing as it cooks and gives the sauce body and richness.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer, creamier texture to the tangy sauce.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that gives the slaw its tang and helps preserve the cabbage.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the slaw and soaks up the dressing as it rests.

The step that matters

Immediately pour the mixture over the cabbage and cover tightly. The hot sauce softens the cabbage and lets it absorb flavor while still warm. Covering and weighting it keeps steam and the dressing in contact with the cabbage, so it marinates evenly.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg, sugar, mustard, butter, cabbage, 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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