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Salad

Cold Slaw

A cabbage salad dressed with a vinegar and egg-based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and cut it in half.

  2. Slice the cabbage into fine strips and place it in a deep dish.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the vinegar and water.

  2. Heat the mixture on the stove until it begins to thicken.

  3. Stir in the butter, salt, and sugar until combined.

  4. Once cooled, pour the dressing over the cabbage and mix well.

  5. Before serving, sprinkle with black pepper.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cabbage + walnuttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together133 recipes

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

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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the dish and provides the crisp, fresh texture.
Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they set when heated, giving it body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the slaw its tangy flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the sharpness of the dressing.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with heat. Heat too gently and the dressing stays thin; too hot and the eggs can scramble. Stir steadily and stop heating once it begins to thicken.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Sesamefits about as well
  3. Beansfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

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