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Salad

Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad with a creamy butter, vinegar, milk, sugar, cornstarch, and egg dressing.

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

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, cook the butter, vinegar, milk, sugar, cornstarch, and eggs until creamy.

Dress and serve

  1. Pour the mixture over the finely chopped cabbage.

  2. Toss to combine and serve.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Their proteins set when heated, helping thicken the dressing and give it body.
Cornstarch
Swells when heated, thickening the liquid so it clings to the cabbage.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that offsets the acidity of the vinegar.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the dressing.
Cabbage
Forms the base of the slaw, providing crisp texture and bulk.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture until creamy. Egg proteins set with heat and will scramble if the mixture gets too hot or boils too hard. Cornstarch also needs gentle heat to thicken fully. Stirring steadily and keeping the heat moderate helps the dressing become smooth.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

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