There is the promise of coleslaw, crunchy and creamy, and then there is the all to common reality of limp, soggy cabbage in a watery dressing. What is it about this simple recipe that can go so wrong? In a word; water. Cabbage is full of water and the dressing will slowly draw that moisture out of the shredded leaves until your slaw is more of a cabbage soup. Yuck! The best way to deal with this is to remove the excess water from the cabbage before dressing it by salting the shredded leaves and allowing time for the salt to draw out the water. Its a little extra work, but you will be rewarded with a much more appealing result and the leftovers (if any...yeah its that good) will keep much longer as well.
Share Contents Used
Cabbage
Cabbage
Ingredients
6 cups shredded green cabbage
2 tbs grated onion
1 small carrot, peeled and shredded
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1.5 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper
6 cups shredded green cabbage
2 tbs grated onion
1 small carrot, peeled and shredded
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1.5 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper
Preparation
Place the shredded cabbage, onion and carrot in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Mix a few times to distribute the salt evenly and then set the colander over a bowl and let sit for 1 hour. The salt will draw excess water out of the vegetables. When the hour is up, discard the water and then rinse the salt off of the shredded veggies with fresh water. Allow to drain thoroughly and then dry by spreading the shredded vegetables on one or two tea towels, then roll the towels up and squeeze to wring out as much moisture as you can. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, mayo, vinegar, sugar and pepper. Return the vegetables to a clean bowl and then toss with the mayo mixture. If the slaw seems too dry (which can happen depending on how aggressively you wrung out the tea towel) add a bit of fresh water back in and mix. Or, if you have some handy, try using pickle juice. I used juice from some sweet bread and butter chips for this batch and it added a great level of flavor. Just go slow with the additions and taste often lest your slaw ends up tasting more like relish.
Place the shredded cabbage, onion and carrot in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Mix a few times to distribute the salt evenly and then set the colander over a bowl and let sit for 1 hour. The salt will draw excess water out of the vegetables. When the hour is up, discard the water and then rinse the salt off of the shredded veggies with fresh water. Allow to drain thoroughly and then dry by spreading the shredded vegetables on one or two tea towels, then roll the towels up and squeeze to wring out as much moisture as you can. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, mayo, vinegar, sugar and pepper. Return the vegetables to a clean bowl and then toss with the mayo mixture. If the slaw seems too dry (which can happen depending on how aggressively you wrung out the tea towel) add a bit of fresh water back in and mix. Or, if you have some handy, try using pickle juice. I used juice from some sweet bread and butter chips for this batch and it added a great level of flavor. Just go slow with the additions and taste often lest your slaw ends up tasting more like relish.
No comments:
Post a Comment