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
In a saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard, beaten egg, pepper, and salt.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Allow it to cool.
Assemble
Pour the cooled mixture over the chopped 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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Mustard + cabbagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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).
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Vinegar + cabbagetop 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
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the salad its tang.
- Sugar
- Balances the vinegar's acidity with sweetness.
- Mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavor to the dressing.
- Egg
- Thickens the hot dressing as its proteins set during heating.
- Cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.
The step that matters
Boiling the egg-based dressing. The beaten egg thickens the mixture as its proteins set with heat. If it boils too hard or too long, the egg can curdle and turn grainy, so heat it gently while stirring and watch it closely.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, mustard, egg, pepper):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, mustard, egg, 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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