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Salad

Cold Slaw

A chilled cabbage salad with salt, sugar, vinegar, and mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Cold Slaw

Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cold Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Shred the cabbage finely and place it in a bowl.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and sugar, then mix well.

  3. Let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out moisture.

Dress and serve

  1. Add vinegar and mayonnaise, then mix until well combined.

  2. Serve chilled.

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

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

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cabbage + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Provides the crisp, crunchy bulk of the slaw.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the cabbage, softening its texture and seasoning it.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and sharpens the flavour.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess, binding the cabbage into a coating dressing.

The step that matters

Let the cabbage sit after salting. Salt draws water out of the cabbage through osmosis. Resting lets that moisture drain, so the slaw stays crisp rather than becoming watery once dressed.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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