Coleslaw

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Coleslaw is such a great side dish; it’s pretty easy to make, almost everyone likes it, and it’s nice and refreshing. Since it is so ubiquitous it seems as though everyone has his or her own favorite recipe, most likely handed down through the generations. We’ll give you ours, even though it is a modified version of one found in At the Kitchen Table, The Craft of Cooking at Home by Greg Atkinson. We think it’s the best. Try it and let us know.

Coleslaw

Author: Shawn

Ingredients

  • 1 cup homemade mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp pickling spice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 small head cabbage preferably red cabbage
  • 1/2 tsp celery seeds
  • 1/2 cup raisins

Instructions

  • Put 1 cup of mayo in a large bowl. Put the vinegar, salt, sugar, pickling spice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt, remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes.
  • Strain into the mayo and place the coleslaw dressing in refrigerator to cool.
  • Quarter the cabbage and remove the core and any wilted leaves. Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can. Cut through the shreds 4 or 5 times so that the cabbage is in somewhat bite-size pieces. Grate the carrots.
  • Toss the cabbage, carrots, raisins, and celery seed in the coleslaw dressing until everything is well coated and mixed.

Ingredient discussion:

The homemade mayo definitely adds to coleslaw and we really urge you to whip up a batch. Everything else plays second fiddle, so, if you want your coleslaw to shine, suck it up and make that mayo. We prefer the red cabbage just because it looks better than green, though a mix of red and green would be nice, too.

Procedure in detail:

vinegar and spices
One half of the slaw gravy. The vinegar with sugar and spices will soon be boiling.

Make the coleslaw gravy. Put 1 cup of mayo in a large bowl. Put the vinegar, salt, sugar, pickling spice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt, remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain into the mayo — you don’t want pickling spice in your coleslaw — and whisk together into a gravy-like consistency.

coleslaw sauce
Coleslaw gravy. Ours is a bit gravy-colored because we used regular Balsamic vinegar in the mayo, remember?

Place in refrigerator to cool. It’s not that much sauce, so it should chill down in the time it takes you to prep the rest of the ingredients.

Prep the cabbage and carrots. Quarter the cabbage and remove the core and any wilted leaves. Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can. Cut through the shreds 4 or 5 times so that the cabbage is in somewhat bite-size pieces. Grate the carrots.

assembling coleslaw
Put the remaining ingredients in with the coleslaw gravy, and toss to coat.

Assemble the slaw. Toss the cabbage, carrots, raisins, and celery seed in the coleslaw gravy until everything is well coated and mixed. That’s it.

We happen to think this is one of the best coleslaw recipes ever. It’s not too sweet and not too sour. It’s more like a sweet-sour sauce that plays nice with the savory taste of carrots and cabbage. It’s the only way we make slaw now, so 5 out of 5.

Worth the trouble?

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