Name: A Salad of Cabbage and Celery
Ingredients: 1 pint cabbage, shredded; 1 pint celery, chopped; 1 cup vinegar; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 teaspoon mixed mustard; 1 tablespoon rich cream; Salt to taste; Cayenne pepper to taste; Yolks of 2 eggs

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

A Salad of Cabbage and Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a bowl, combine the cabbage and celery.
In a separate bowl, mix vinegar, butter, mustard, cream, and egg yolks until smooth.

Dress and serve

Pour the dressing over the cabbage and celery.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
Toss well to combine and serve.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,840 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

Cabbage: Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, slightly savoury flavour.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances richness.
Egg yolks: Emulsify with butter and cream to give the dressing a smooth, thick body.
Butter: Adds fat and a rounded, mellow richness to the dressing.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Mix the dressing until smooth. Egg yolks, butter and cream must be blended thoroughly with the vinegar so they emulsify. If the mixture is not smooth or is overheated, the dressing can split or curdle instead of coating the vegetables evenly.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, vinegar, butter, mustard, cream, pepper, egg):

Horseradishfits better
Lettucefits better
Chivefits better
Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, vinegar, butter, mustard, cream, pepper, egg. 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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A Salad of Cabbage and Celery