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Salad

Mixed Hungarian Salad

A salad of salted cabbage, caraway seeds, tomatoes, green pepper, vinegar, and oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Mixed Hungarian Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble

  1. Place the salted and chopped cabbage in the center of a glass dish.

  2. Sprinkle the cabbage with caraway seeds.

  3. Surround the cabbage with sliced tomatoes and green peppers.

Dress and rest

  1. Pour the vinegar and oil mixture over the salad.

  2. Let it sit for two hours before serving.

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 + carawaytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together60 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together333 recipes

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

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

White cabbage
Forms the bulk of the salad and becomes tender-crisp as salt and vinegar soften it.
Caraway seeds
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that pairs with cabbage.
Tomatoes
Contribute juiciness and mild acidity to the salad.
Green pepper
Adds a fresh, slightly bitter crunch.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens the salad and softens the cabbage.
Oil
Carries flavour and adds richness that balances the vinegar.

The step that matters

Let it sit for two hours before serving. Salt and vinegar draw water out of the cabbage and soften its fibres, so the resting time changes texture. Too short a rest leaves the cabbage crunchy and the dressing unabsorbed.

Swap the caraway

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, pepper, vinegar. 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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