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Cabbage Pickle

A fermented cabbage preserved in vinegar, salt, sugar, onion, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,001 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cabbage Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Quarter the cabbage and split each quarter.

  2. Place the cabbage pieces in a wooden tray and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

  3. Let the cabbage sit for 24 hours, then drain off the salt.

Pack and seal

  1. Pack the drained cabbage in a jar, layering with sugar, chopped onion, and spices.

  2. Boil the vinegar until hot and pour it over the cabbage, ensuring it is fully covered.

  3. Seal the jar tightly.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Cabbage + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 pickle and keeps its crisp texture as it cures.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cabbage, softening it and concentrating its flavour.
Vinegar
Acidifies the brine, preserving the cabbage and giving it its sharp taste.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the packed jar.

The step that matters

Draining off the salt after 24 hours. Rinsing and draining thoroughly removes excess salt and surplus liquid; leftover salt makes the pickle overly harsh, while the cabbage must still be drained well so the vinegar brine is not diluted.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, sugar, 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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