Why it works: Olive and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,649 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Cut the cabbage in half and slice it as finely as possible.
Soak the sliced cabbage in cold salted water for 30 minutes.
Drain the cabbage thoroughly.
Dress and serve
Dress the cabbage with cream dressing, adding the sliced olives and chopped parsley.
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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Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Cabbage + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cabbage + olivetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together685 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Cream + olivetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,206 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + parsleytop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,392 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.
- Cream dressing
- Adds richness and moisture that coats the cabbage shreds.
- Olives
- Contribute salty, briny flavour that contrasts with the mild cabbage.
The step that matters
Drain the cabbage thoroughly. Excess water left on the cabbage dilutes the cream dressing and makes the salad watery. Thorough draining keeps the dressing thick and clinging to the shreds.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, olive, parsley):
- Spinachfits better
- Potatofits better
- Eggplantfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, olive, parsley. 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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