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Pickled Cabbage

A fermented cabbage dish preserved in vinegar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove all decayed and outer leaves from the cabbages.

  2. Cut the cabbages into quarters, remove the stalks, and shred them into slices about ¼ inch thick.

  3. Layer the shredded cabbage in a deep dish, covering each layer with salt.

  4. Place another dish on top with a weight and let it stand for 2 days.

  5. Pour off the liquid, then shake the cabbage in a cloth to dry it.

Pickle and store

  1. Transfer the cabbage to a stone jar.

  2. Boil 1 pint of vinegar with the spices, allow it to cool covered, then add another pint of vinegar.

  3. Pour the vinegar mixture over the cabbage, adding more vinegar if needed to cover it.

  4. Tie the jar tightly and keep it unopened for at least 6 weeks.

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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Red cabbages
Forms the bulk of the pickle and provides the crisp, fibrous texture that holds up after salting.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the shredded cabbage through osmosis, firming it and concentrating flavour before pickling.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.

The step that matters

Salting and draining the cabbage. Salt must be layered evenly and the liquid fully poured off before pickling. Leftover water dilutes the vinegar and can cause spoilage, while thorough drying lets the cabbage stay crisp.

Swap the cabbage

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, ginger, clove. 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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