Name: Cabbage Salad and Cold Slaw
Ingredients: 1 head of cabbage; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons vinegar; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

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 and Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the cabbage in half and shave it finely with a sharp knife.
Place the cabbage in a dish and garnish as desired.

Dress and serve

For cold slaw, add butter, vinegar, pepper, and salt to the cabbage.
Heat in a clean saucepan, stirring with a silver spoon until the butter melts and the seasoning is mixed.
Serve in a covered dish.

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.

Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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, shredded texture.
Butter: Adds fat and richness and helps carry the seasoning through the cabbage.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the cabbage and balances the richness of the butter.