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 ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Soak the cabbage in cold water to make it crisp.
Dry the cabbage well and shave it as finely as possible.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, rub together the butter and flour.
Stir in the vinegar and scald for one minute.
Add the beaten egg yolk and cream, then season with salt and pepper.
Serve
Pour the dressing over the chopped or shaved cabbage.
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 + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad once soaked and well dried.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth body to the dressing as it melts with the flour.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and vinegar mixture so the dressing clings to the cabbage.
- Vinegar
- Brings sharp acidity that balances the richness of the butter, egg yolk and cream.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the dressing, giving it a smooth, creamy texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and softness to the dressing, mellowing the vinegar's sharpness.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk and cream to the hot dressing. If the mixture is too hot when the beaten egg yolk goes in, the yolk can scramble and turn grainy instead of forming a smooth, thickened dressing. Adding the yolk and cream off the most intense heat helps keep it silky.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, walnut, flour, vinegar, egg, cream, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, walnut, flour, vinegar, egg, cream, 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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