Continuing in the tradition of Hockey Monkey’s wildly successful and informative watermellon thread, I bring you a simple poll about the simple (and arguably “summer” food): coleslaw.
Apparently when I was a wee tot, I could not get enough of our neighbor’s coleslaw. My mom suspected that was because our neighbor put sugar in it. I do not recall this heretical portion of my early years, and for as long as I can remember I have had a visceral and undeniable aversion to even the hint of added sweetness in my coleslaw.
I’m fine if the cabbage itself has some sweetness, but the idea of adding sugar or using a mayonnaise or “salad dressing” abomination that has a sweet flavor to it to make coleslaw, is…most unsettling.
For me, the perfect coleslaw consists of: chopped cabbage, a liberal amount of Hellman’s/Best Foods mayo, some black pepper, and maybe a dash of lemon juice. Cool savory goodness.
What I don’t like is when a restaurant tries to “customize” it. Without exception, they make it worse. I’ve seen it with a mixture of dressings, with sliced grapes, red and green sliced peppers in place of carrots, etc. Leave my cloeslaw alone!
I’m very ecumenical when it comes to slaw. I love all kinds. BBQ slaw from Honey Monk’s, the tangy slaw they serve at Bridge’s, the middle of the road slaw at Famous Dave’s…hell, I even like the Colonel’s. I put both vinegar and sugar in the stuff I make at home!
My mom made it with just cabbage, carrots, mayo, salt & pepper, sometimes a bit of celery seed; like ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies, I’m not down with the sweet stuff.
Cannot STAND sweet cole slaw. I also don’t like it all sloppy, either (which sugar eventually does to it). I’ve been looking all my life for a more savory, crisp sole slaw. I’ve only had it a few times (if I remember correctly, they have something similar at The Pantry in L.A.) and have attempted to do it myself, with less than favorable results (imagine the flavor of mayonnaise-y cabbage, that’s pretty much what I get when I try to make it myself).
Water/ooze content is also attributable to how finely the vege components are chopped, as I was just reminded this past 4th of July. A (different) neighbor had given us a HUGE cabbage head from his organic garden, and in a last minute rush my Mom and I decided to cut corners on our way to the big community BBQ by using her food processor to chop the cabbage, and it ended up too finely chopped. I mixed in the usual amounts of Best Food and such, but it was immediately too watery. Even after letting sit in a strainer over the sink for 10 minutes didn’t allow nearly enough of the excess water to drip off.
I can only handle the Colonel’s if I bombard it with salt and pepper.
Chop up desired amount of cabbage fairly fine, add about a teaspoon of sugar, about 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and about a cup of Duke’s mayo per 1/2 head of cabbage. Mix, chill and enjoy.
ETA: Thanks for the props Cookies! (My first ones I think.)
I’m really picky about coleslaw, but there have been both sweet and savory types that I’ve liked. My favorite is a distant memory, though: Brown’s Chicken old “tangy” 'slaw. They still offer something with that name, but it ain’t what it was in the '80s, sadly.
I toss in enough finely grated carrots to add a bit of sweetness, but negatory to any abominations of sugar, pineapple or raisins for me. I think my mom used to put pineapple in hers, but it was awful and I’ve modeled my own after our neighbor’s recipe.
Vinegar-based coleslaw preference here. I may add a touch of sugar to mellow the acidity a little, but not always. At any rate, it doesn’t taste sweet. Generally, my coleslaw is cabbage, cider vinegar, hot pepper flakes, black pepper, and celery seeds.
3 parts green cabbage, minced
1 part red cabbage, minced
If I have the time, these then go in a colander over a bowl in the fridge overnight.
Add:
Red pepper flakes to taste
3 glugs red wine vinegar
2 spoons of sugar, more or less
celery seeds to taste
a palmful of dried onion flakes
one jar of Marie’s cole slaw dressing, more or less. Wishbone used to make a wonderful dressing, but I haven’t seen it around here in decades.
The White Spot, a world-famous-in-British-Columbia restaurant chain, has the best “not homemade” coleslaw. I would like it better if the cabbage was a little shreddier, not so chunky, but’s good.
I make it with about 3 parts finely shredded cabbage, 1 part shredded carrot, a crunchy apple if I can get it and some Miracle Whip thinned with a bit of white vinegar. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of sugar and sometimes I don’t.
For simplicity’s sake, I use the bagged cole slaw mix from the grocery store. It’s comprised basically of shredded cabbage and shredded carrots. Then I shred one large apple (usually Gala, though Red Delicious would do in a pinch), add some lemon juice to keep it from browning (that balances out the sweetness, as vinegar would), add some Splenda (I’d just as soon not have the sugar), and plenty of real mayo (hubby loves mayo).
Let it sit for three hours to overnight before enjoying with pork or beef barbecue.
