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Cabbage Salad

A cabbage salad dressed with a custard made from milk, vinegar, butter, sugar, salt, pepper, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage 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

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the cabbage

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Heat the vinegar in a separate saucepan.

  3. When the vinegar boils, add butter, sugar, salt, and pepper to it.

  4. Stir in the chopped cabbage.

  5. Cover and let it scald and steam for a moment without boiling.

Make the custard

  1. Remove the hot milk from the stove and cool slightly.

  2. Stir in the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Return the mixture to the stove and boil for a moment.

Serve

  1. Dish the cabbage and pour the custard over it.

  2. Stir rapidly with a silver spoon until well mixed.

  3. Set immediately in a cold 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.

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. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vinegar + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and bind the milk and vinegar into a smooth sauce.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base of the custard and adds richness.
Cabbage
Provides the bulk of the salad and a tender texture after steaming.
Vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that gives the dish its tang.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Return the mixture to the stove and boil for a moment. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating makes them scramble into lumps. A brief boil sets the custard while keeping it smooth, so stir steadily and do not let it boil longer than needed.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

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