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Pickled Red Cabbage

Pickled red cabbage preserved in vinegar, ginger, black pepper, and optional cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pickled Red Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the outer decayed leaves from the cabbage.

  2. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the stalks.

  3. Slice the cabbage thinly and place it on a dish.

  4. Sprinkle salt generously over the cabbage and cover with another dish. Let it sit for 24 hours to draw out moisture.

  5. Drain the cabbage in a colander and wipe lightly with a clean cloth if needed.

Make the pickle and jar

  1. In a pot, boil the vinegar with ginger, black pepper, and cayenne if using.

  2. Allow the vinegar mixture to cool, then pour it over the cabbage in a jar.

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.

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

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

  2. Cabbage + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together545 recipes

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

  3. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  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).

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 dish and provides its crisp texture and colour.
Salt
Draws moisture out of the cabbage, softening it and concentrating its flavour before pickling.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives the pickle its sharp taste.
Ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic bite that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Black pepper
Contributes a mild, pungent aroma and background heat to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Drawing moisture out of the cabbage with salt. The cabbage must sit long enough for salt to pull out water; otherwise it stays watery and dilutes the vinegar, leaving the pickle soft and less crisp.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, 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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