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Cabbage, Pickled, Red

A pickled red cabbage preserved in vinegar, pepper, allspice, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Cabbage, Pickled, Red

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and quarter it.

  2. Remove the center stalk and cut each section into very fine strips.

  3. Place the shredded cabbage on a large dish and sprinkle it liberally with coarse sea salt.

  4. Let the salted cabbage sit overnight.

Make the spiced vinegar

  1. Boil the vinegar, whole pepper, and allspice (tied in muslin) together.

  2. Allow the vinegar mixture to cool completely.

Pickle and serve

  1. Drain the cabbage in an earthenware or enamel colander.

  2. Transfer the drained cabbage to a large jar.

  3. Pour the cooled vinegar over the cabbage in the jar.

  4. Let the pickled cabbage sit for 3 to 4 days before using.

  5. For best crispness, consume within a short time.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Cabbage + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together443 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage
Forms the crisp, crunchy body of the pickle once salted and soaked in vinegar.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cabbage, softening it slightly and concentrating its flavour before pickling.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives the pickle its sharp taste.
Whole pepper
Infuses the cooled vinegar with warm, pungent spice.
Allspice
Adds aromatic, warm spice notes to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Salting the cabbage overnight. Salt draws moisture out of the cabbage by osmosis. Draining well and then keeping the cabbage cool and submerged helps it stay crisp rather than turning limp.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits about as well
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, allspice. 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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