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 ↓
Cabbage, Red, to Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Quarter the cabbage and remove the stalk.
Slice the cabbage endwise and place it on a drying sieve.
Sprinkle each layer with coarse sea salt and let it drain for 2-3 days.
Boil vinegar with the spices in a muslin bag.
Slice the beet root into pieces.
After salting, add the cauliflower branches to a stone jar.
Pour the boiling vinegar over the cabbage and cauliflower.
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 + vinegartop 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
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