Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Combine the finely sliced cabbage and celery seed or shredded celery in a bowl.
Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, butter, pepper, salt, mustard, and vinegar in another bowl.
Make the dressing
Place the bowl with the mixture in hot water.
Stir carefully until it begins to thicken.
Let the mixture cool.
Assemble
Pour the cooled mixture over the cabbage.
If the salad is not moist enough, add a little more vinegar.
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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Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,840 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing as they set gently in warm water, giving it body and richness.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
- Cabbage
- Forms the bulk of the salad, providing crisp texture that holds the dressing.
- Butter
- Adds fat that smooths the dressing and adds a rounder mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Stirring the warm egg mixture. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if they get too hot they can scramble into lumps. Warm them gently in hot water and stir steadily until the mixture just begins to thicken.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, egg, sugar, butter, pepper, mustard, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Capersfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, egg, sugar, butter, pepper, mustard, vinegar. 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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