Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Chop the cabbage and place it in a bowl.
Cover with cold water and add the salt; let it sit for 2 hours.
Drain the cabbage.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, beat the eggs with the vinegar until frothy, then heat over low heat, stirring constantly until thick and hot but not boiling.
Remove from heat and add the mustard, black pepper, salt, and melted butter or salad oil.
Let the mixture cool before combining it with the cabbage.
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 + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they set gently over low heat, giving it a creamy body.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the eggs and fat.
- Butter or salad oil
- Adds fat and smoothness, giving the dressing a rounder mouthfeel.
- Mixed mustard
- Adds sharpness and a pungent flavour that cuts through the sweetness of the cabbage.
- Cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad and absorbs the dressing.
The step that matters
Heat the egg and vinegar gently. Egg proteins set and thicken with gentle heat, but overheating or boiling will curdle them into lumps. Stirring constantly and keeping the mixture below boiling gives a smooth, thick dressing.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cider, vinegar, mustard, pepper, butter):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cider, vinegar, mustard, pepper, butter. 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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