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Hot Slaw

A warm cabbage salad dressed with egg, vinegar, butter, cream, sugar, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Hot Slaw

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Hot Slaw

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the cabbage

  1. Sprinkle the chopped cabbage with salt and place it in a well-greased hot kettle or saucepan.

  2. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching. Add boiling water if it becomes too dry.

Dress and serve

  1. In a bowl, mix the beaten egg, vinegar, butter, cream, sugar, salt, and pepper.

  2. Pour the dressing over the tender cabbage and stir well 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

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

  4. Cabbage + walnuttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the dish and turns tender as it simmers.
Egg
Thickens the dressing as it gently heats, giving it body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweet, rich cream dressing.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with gentle sweetness.

The step that matters

Simmering the cabbage. Cabbage left on heat without enough liquid or stirring can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Stirring often and adding boiling water when it dries out keeps it moist and evenly tender.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, egg, vinegar, walnut, butter, cream, sugar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, egg, vinegar, walnut, butter, cream, sugar. 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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