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Hot Slaw

A spicy salad of apples and cabbage cooked with lard, onion, vinegar, sugar, and white pepper.

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

Why it works: Cabbage and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,001 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hot Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Finely cut the apples and cabbage.

Cook

  1. In a pan, cook the chopped onion in lard without browning it.

  2. Add the cabbage, apples, and salt to the pan.

  3. Cook for about 20 minutes until almost done.

  4. Stir in the vinegar and sugar, then adjust sweetness to taste.

  5. Sprinkle with white pepper.

  6. Simmer uncovered until ready to serve.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  2. Apple + cabbagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together235 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the slaw and becomes tender while cooking.
Apples
Add sweetness and a fruity brightness that balances the vinegar.
Lard
Fats the onion gently, carrying flavor into the pan without browning.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the slaw its sharp, tangy character.
Onion
Provides savory aromatic flavor as it softens in the lard.

The step that matters

Cook the onion in lard without browning it. Browning the onion turns its sugars bitter and darkens the dish, so it should soften gently over low heat for a mild, sweet base.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cabbage, onion, vinegar, sugar. 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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