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Pickled Cabbage

Pickled cabbage is preserved in vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and mustard 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 ↓

Pickled Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove loose leaves from the cabbage and slice it into ½-inch thick slices.

  2. Place the cabbage in a stone jar and sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt.

  3. Let it stand for 24 hours.

  4. Drain the cabbage and return it to the jar.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine the vinegar, mace, whole pepper, and mustard seed.

  2. Scald the vinegar mixture and pour it over the cabbage.

  3. Repeat the scalding process 2-3 times.

  4. Cover the jar tightly.

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 + mustardtop 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. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  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

Purple cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and gives it its crisp, firm texture.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cabbage, softening it and helping it take up the brine.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickled cabbage.
Mace
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
Whole pepper
Adds a sharp, pungent spice note to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seed
Contributes a pungent, slightly nutty spice flavour to the brine.

The step that matters

Draining the salted cabbage before adding the hot vinegar. Salt has already pulled water out of the cabbage; draining off that liquid lets the vinegar brine penetrate and keeps the pickle from becoming diluted and soft.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

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