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Cold Slaw

Cold slaw made with cabbage, egg, milk, flour, butter, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

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 ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour until smooth.

  3. Add the milk and beaten egg, stirring until thick and beginning to boil.

Combine and chill

  1. Finely chop the cabbage.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in the cabbage until well combined.

  3. Add salt and cold vinegar, mixing thoroughly.

  4. Transfer to a serving dish, dust with pepper, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Flour and butter 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

Egg
Binds and thickens the cooked dressing as it sets with the milk.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a smooth, stable sauce.
Butter
Provides fat and a rich flavor base for the dressing.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the dressing, which thickens when heated.
Cabbage
Supplies the main body and crisp texture of the slaw.

The step that matters

Cooking the milk and egg mixture until thick. The egg and flour must be heated just to thickening, not boiled hard, or the egg can curdle and the dressing turns grainy. Stir constantly so it thickens evenly without lumps.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, butter, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, butter, vinegar, 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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