Why it works: Cabbage and mustard 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
In a large bowl, mix the shaved cabbage, salt, sugar, pepper, ground mustard, vinegar, and egg yolks until well combined.
Pour the mixture over the cabbage and toss to coat.
Drizzle the slightly warmed butter over the salad and mix gently.
Top the salad with the sliced egg whites 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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Cabbage + mustardtop 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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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 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 salad and provides a crisp, crunchy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify with the butter and vinegar to give the dressing a creamy body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that coats the cabbage and carries flavor.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the egg and butter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
The step that matters
Drizzling the warm butter. Butter that is too hot or added too fast can cause the yolk-vinegar mixture to split or turn greasy. Slightly warmed butter, added gently while mixing, blends into a smoother, more cohesive dressing.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, mustard, vinegar, butter, egg):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, mustard, vinegar, butter, 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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