Why it works: Mustard and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Combine vinegar and butter in a dish.
Heat the mixture on the stove until it boils.
Mix in mustard, brown sugar, sweet milk, and the well-beaten egg.
Boil the mixture again until it boils.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Assemble and serve
Chop the cabbage finely.
Season the cabbage with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the cabbage.
Let it cool before serving.
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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Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Thickens the dressing as it cooks and binds it into a creamy sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the dressing, softening its sharpness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the vinegar's sharpness.
- Cabbage
- Provides the crisp, fine-chopped base that the hot dressing is poured over.
The step that matters
Pour the dressing over the cabbage. The egg mixture can scramble if it overheats or is cooked too long, leaving the dressing grainy. Heat it gently and stir constantly until thickened, then cool it before serving.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, mustard, sugar, egg, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, mustard, sugar, egg, milk, 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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