# Am I crazy or just German? Horseradish in cole slaw - yea or nay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922 "2012-04-16T03:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/1 "2012-04-16T03:54:46Z")
We had a pot luck meal at work tonight and I brought in a tub of cole slaw made in my usual way. Mayo, some sweet pickle brine and a spoonful of horseradish for just a bit of a playful nip to balance the sweetness. From the way my coworkers talked you’ve thought I made it with asbestos and puppy squeezins. It tasted good to me. That’s the way my dad, a former army cook, taught me to make it. That’s they way my whole transplanted Germanic clan eats it. What do you think? Horseradish in cole slaw - tasty or trash it? ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/2 "2012-04-16T03:56:07Z")
Could a mod edit the title please? I don’t even know Amy.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/3 "2012-04-16T04:41:34Z")
That’d be very different to the types I’m used to eating. It sounds interesting and I’d give it a try, but yeah, most of my family and friends would think it’s nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/4 "2012-04-16T04:44:44Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Could a mod edit the title please? I don’t even know Amy.:smack: I fixed it. I don’t know why you had to go dragging Amy into this. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/5 "2012-04-16T04:46:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I fixed it. I don’t know why you had to go dragging Amy into this. Many thanks ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/6 "2012-04-16T05:16:02Z")
I wouldn’t normally make it that way, but I think I would love it - horseradish sounds like a perfect addition to coleslaw. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/7 "2012-04-16T05:48:53Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Am I crazy or just German? Horseradish in cole slaw - yea or nay? Just German and, though I’ve never had it, I have to make it. I wondered why my wife bought a whole gallon of bread and butter pickles until I had the broccoli salad she made today. Okay, I thought I knew exactly why she bought them (to eat them, and in a week they’re nearly gone), but I wondered why she hadn’t drained off any of the juice. Now I have a use for it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/8 "2012-04-16T05:58:26Z")
I’ve never had it either, but it sounds pretty good. I’ll have to try that next time I have cole slaw. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/9 "2012-04-16T06:05:48Z")
I don’t put a lot of horseradish in a batch. Somewhere between one and two tablespoons per quart of slaw is enough to just perk it up a little and give a little tickle to the sinus. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/10 "2012-04-16T13:19:52Z")
[pet peeve]Coleslaw is one word, not two.[/pet peeve] ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/11 "2012-04-16T13:28:52Z")
I’ve had coleslaw made with some kind of cabbage that was so strong, I thought there WAS horseradish in it. So I can see putting a little in, to make it more of a condiment. I can chow down on coleslaw till the dish is empty, horseradish would slow me down some. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/12 "2012-04-16T13:49:45Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever had coleslaw with horseradish, but it sounds like a good to me. I make a variety of different types of coleslaw, including mustard slaw, so the horseradish slaw sounds like the same basic idea. I could see how your slaw would confuse people, especially if they’re expecting one set of flavors when they bite in taste an ingredient they’re not used to having in slaw. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/13 "2012-04-16T13:56:42Z")
“Crazy” and “German” are not mutually exclusive, you know. In fact… But horseradish in coleslaw is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/14 "2012-04-16T14:00:20Z")
horseradish goes with everything. sounds tasty. is nontraditional to the common style so i would label it as such to not have food wasted and people distressed. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/15 "2012-04-16T15:29:20Z")
I’d love it. I just had a creamy coleslaw this weekend that had some kind of briny zing to it; maybe they used horseradish as well. I remarked to my husband that I liked the flavor, but I can see that someone who expected a sweeter slaw would be put off. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/16 "2012-04-16T15:29:30Z")
I’ve never had coleslaw with horseradish; it’s definitely not part of the typical recipe from my neck of the woods. I see that [Emeril has a horseradish coleslaw recipe](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/horseradish-coleslaw-recipe/index.html), but he also puts Granny Smith apples in it, which does not sound remotely appealing. I think I’ll skip the apples, but I’ll try putting horseradish in the next batch of slaw I make. I love horseradish. > [@twickster](#): > > [pet peeve]Coleslaw is one word, not two.[/pet peeve] And Cole’s Law is a regulation governing cabbage slice thickness. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/17 "2012-04-16T15:50:58Z")
Sounds good! The last batch I made had a little Sriracha in it; fortunately my friends already know that my favorite celebrity chef is Dr. Frankenstein, so they weren’t taken unawares. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/18 "2012-04-16T16:25:19Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > [pet peeve]Coleslaw is one word, not two.[/pet peeve] You’ve witnessed “coleslaw” being referred to as “cole slaw” enough times that it has become a pet peeve? What do you do- edit cookbooks? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/19 "2012-04-16T16:27:47Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > You’ve witnessed “coleslaw” being referred to as “cole slaw” enough times that it has become a pet peeve? What do you do- edit cookbooks? I’ll edit anything someone will pay me to edit. The rest of the time I just note errors and seethe. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922/20 "2012-04-16T16:48:10Z")
Some cole slaw made with horse radish, pick ills, cab ag, and mayo nase sow nds pret tea day um goo ud to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-just-german-horseradish-in-cole-slaw-yea-or-nay/618922.md?page=2)