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Salad

Cold Slaw

Cold slaw is a cabbage salad dressed with a vinegar and butter egg sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shave the cabbage into fine strips.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  3. Mix the vinegar and water, then add to the eggs.

Make the dressing

  1. Heat the mixture over low heat until it begins to thicken.

  2. Stir in the butter, salt, and sugar.

  3. Once cooled, pour the mixture over the cabbage.

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. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 slaw and provides its crisp, fresh texture.
Eggs
Thicken the dressing as their proteins set during gentle heating.
Vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that gives the slaw its tang.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture over low heat. Egg proteins set and can scramble if the heat is too high or left unattended. Gentle, steady heat lets the mixture thicken smoothly as the proteins coagulate slowly.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

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

More cold slaw recipes

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