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 ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Soak the cabbage in cold water to make it crisp, then dry and finely shave it.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, combine the butter and flour, stirring until smooth.
Add the vinegar and heat for 1 minute.
Stir in the beaten egg yolk and cream, then season with salt and pepper.
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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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the dressing.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter mixture so the dressing becomes smooth and cohesive.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies and thickens the dressing as it heats, giving it a creamy body.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and smoothness, softening the dressing's texture.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg yolk gently over heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heating, but if it gets too hot it scrambles and turns grainy. Keep the heat low and stir constantly while adding it, so the dressing stays smooth and creamy.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, vinegar, egg, cream, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, vinegar, egg, cream, 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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