Name: Red Cabbage and Celery Salad
Ingredients: 1 small head red cabbage; 2 stalks celery; 6 tablespoons oil; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 teaspoon mustard; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper

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 ↓

Red Cabbage and Celery Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cook the cabbage in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes.
Finely chop the cooked cabbage and celery.
Mix the cabbage and celery together.

Dress and serve

In a separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
Serve the salad with the dressing.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Red cabbage: Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it a firm, crisp-tender texture after cooking.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mild flavor to the salad.
Oil: Carries the flavor of the dressing and coats the vegetables with richness.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Mustard: Helps emulsify the oil and vinegar and adds a sharp, savory note.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, vinegar, mustard, pepper):

Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Celerythe original
Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, mustard, 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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Red Cabbage and Celery Salad