I’m sick of mayonnaise. I never thought it would happen, but eating a ton of sandwiches and macaroni salads has finally taken it’s toll. I can hear the mayo-haters out there saying “Hallelujah!”, and for the rest of you, you get to benefit as well.
Because we are making coleslaw without mayonnaise today.
This is Cole Slaw And Dressing!
AuthorRetroRuth
From The Queen's Book, 1967
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Cook dressing over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Add celery seed and pour over shredded vegetables. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator for the flavors to come together.
Ingredients
Directions
Cook dressing over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Add celery seed and pour over shredded vegetables. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator for the flavors to come together.
First off, everyone please admire this photo taken by Alex. She says that she wants to be the one to take all of the pictures for Mid-Century Menu, so I let her take a crack at it. She has to grow a few feet, but we have been practicing with her standing on a step stool for now.
Anyway, this week my CSA came with a head of cabbage and a bag as big as TJ filled with carrots, so we had to whip out something to use up the cabbage. It had been bruised a bit and was going downhill fast, so time was of the essence.
Excuse my cole slaw bits. I can only find the “blitz” disk for my food processor. You probably want to make it with bigger chunks than this. We also didn’t have a green pepper, unfortunately, but I figured we could still make this work.
“is it good?”
“Yup. Now all I need is an old-school style Wisconsin fish fry so this coleslaw can be in it’s true element.”
The Verdict: Fish-Fry Good
From The Testing Notes –
This was a good, classic, vinegar-dressed coleslaw. Sweet and sour tangy dressing on crunchy veggies. Nothing fancy, but still delicious. In terms of the salad itself, it did unfortunately get that extra water in it that coleslaw has when the cabbage hits salt and starts to weep. So if you have a full-proof way of at least reducing that significantly, please feel free to share it with others in the comments. I didn’t do any of my normal tricks because I didn’t want to mess with the flavor, but this needed some kind of moisture prevention. In terms of taste, I did a quick taste right after I added the dressing to the veggies, and it tasted waaaay too sweet. However, it was perfect after sitting overnight, so make sure you give this time to meld and do it’s thing before you serve it. Oh, and we did add some red pepper flakes after the official taste test as a sub for the missing green pepper, and they definitely improved the salad overall.
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This seems like the kind of recipe that I would make once and immediately start to think of ways to improve, because it could go in a lot of directions.
The trick to getting all that water out is exactly as you noted: when the cabbage hits salt, it starts to weep. So shred it, mix it with the salt called for in the recipe, and let it sit in a mesh strainer for an hour or two over a bowl while you do all your other prep. Then wring it out — you can put it in a clean dishtowel if you really want to extract maximum moisture — and proceed with the recipe as directed. You will almost certainly have to add more salt, but you can do that just before you serve it.
My dad used to make coleslaw that was just cabbage, vinegar, half-and-half, and brown sugar, mixed to taste. I’ve never heard of coleslaw with mayo.
If you toss the cabbage with a teaspoon of salt and let it sit in a colander for a couple of hours before dressing it, the excess water will drain out. You don’t have to rinse afterward because most of the salt drains away with the water, but you might want to use less salt in the dressing and then adjust it later.
This! Pre-salt and let it weep, then roll it in a huck towel and wring out some of the extra. I can’t stand watery cole slaw.
I made this once for Thanksgiving! My husband said it tasted like candied cabbage (I don’t know if that meant it was good or bad, lol). It was interesting and tasty, but I prefer mayonnaise in my slaw – maybe with a little crushed pineapple.
This is classic southern slaw, right down to the finely ground cabbage (not my fave–I prefer a fine shred).
I’d add some crushed pineapple to this. If it messes up the sweet to sour, you could remove sugar or add vinegar.
This coleslaw looks delicious and fresh and perfect for a hot summer day (with or without a fish-fry)! Next trip to the market will have cabbage on the list — that’s the only thing that is’t in the fridge or pantry right now.
I really like the small cup Tom is holding too. By any chance, do you happen to recall the maker or where you found them?
This is Pennsylvania Dutch Pepper Cabbage like Grandma used to make.
We made this a few weeks ago – we had red and green cabbage that needed to go, plus an old apple or two (ADD AN APPLE, IT’S AMAZING) and some carrots. We don’t do regular onions for dietary reasons, but green onions work well subbed in.
We also added green pepper because they were in need of eating. But the base dressing is absolutely correct, and you can play around with ingredient quantities until it tastes right.
Hi, Marty! The cups are from a discount store (Marshall’s) about 10 years ago. They don’t have a maker mark on the bottom, sorry. 🙁
Would blanching the cabbage for a few minutes then rinsing in iced water work? I’ve often done that for cabbage salad but never for coleslaw so I don’t know if that’s going to give the texture you’re after.
I have been making coleslaw with this dressing since the 1960’s. You do not have to cook it. Just stir a lot to dissolve the sugar(I use brown sugar) into the vinegar (cider vinegar), pour over the cabbage, and serve. The basic idea is to use roughly the same amount of cider vinegar and sugar to balance the sweet with the sour.
If any is leftover, I usually add a more dressing the next day as it loses a bit of flavor overnight.