Side of Slaw

The baker/writer/teacher and bread maven, Peter Reinhart, once ran a small restaurant and wrote a cookbook with the recipes he served there. This cookbook was called Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe,, and it contained the perfect coleslaw recipe. There is nothing really unusual about this slaw, which is quite traditional, and has no secret ingredient of any kind. It is a classic American coleslaw of the mayo type, but the proportions are perfect and fail safe.

My daughter had a friend whose father consistently made the most satisfying coleslaw, and he told me that it came from this little book. Before I had these ratios to refer to, I made a similar kind of coleslaw. I didn't have a rule of thumb -I went by eye and nibble, and added or subtracted ingredients at whim. This earlier coleslaw of mine was never horrible, but sometimes it was much nicer than other times. Now my standard coleslaw is "just right" all the time, and never the source of disharmony in a meal. There are many other perfectly good slaws-including the classic vinagrette type. I like a lot of them, as well as numerous other cooked and raw cabbage dishes. And I love fennel slaw. But if you want the classic diner-side coleslaw, this is the recipe for you.

There are some foods which absolutely beg for this sort of slaw-on-the-side, in my view. These include homemade baked beans, fried fish and chips, fried or spicy steamed shrimp, pulled pork, fried chicken, and main dish chowders. It is great with other diner-esque dishes, hamburgers, meatloaf, liver and onions, grilled cheese, mac and cheese- the lot. Its cool creaminess and accompaying crunch perfectly set off that which is hot, soft ,chewy,fatty and/or gooey. It is insanely wonderful with barbequed ribs, and very nice indeed with a pastrami sandwich on rye. I like it heaped on a split and fluffed baked potato in its jacket, for any easy, cheap supper.

Personally, I prefer to make my slaw with cabbage I have shredded finely with a knife. I have had it, however, with grated cabbage, and it is good that way too.Once I made it with cabbage cut into 1/2" squares, and it was nice and looked somehow fancier.

To make P.R.'s perfect slaw, you need:

1 large cabbage, shredded or as you like
finely diced onion 1/2 cup
mayo (Hellman's, not homemade, for this recipe) 1 1/2 cups
cider vinegar 1/4 cup
granulated sugar 1/2 cup
freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp
salt to taste

Mix everything together, and let it sit from 2 hours to overnight, chilling. Taste for salt and pepper before serving. Keeps 2 days in fridge. Then it goes watery, and isn't as nice. This is the fifth recipe ever added to Volume One of my little notebook of recipes to keep. I've been making it a long time, and it has never failed me.

Note: A couple of new food blogs to check out: Try Little Bouffe. If you thought your kitchen was inadequate, see what she does with no real kitchen at all. And have a look at June's brand new Bread,Water, Salt, Oil.., for some good food writing with a real sense of place.

Noodge: If you are thinking about submitting a post to the Something Out of Nothing event, but have not yet done so, please send me the permalink by email today. I'll be starting to work on a roundup tomorrow.

Comments

[anapestic]

My poor, overworked office mate K., who is from Pittsburgh, is responsible for ordering our Saturday lunches during busy season. Yesterday, we got barbecue from Red Hot & Blue, and it was terrific. K., however, felt that coleslaw was unnecessary, and the southerners in the office were faced with the harsh reality of a pulled pork sandwich without any slaw, and they were decidedly unhappy.

My own coleslaw experience has been similar to yours (before you adopted the standard recipe), and it's good to have something that I know will be just right.

[Tania]

Lindy, I take it this is THE slaw you mentioned in a comment on my blog??

I grew up eating vinaigrette-dressed coleslaws, which were tasty but by no means "classic," if you know what I mean. Well, this sounds like The Classic. I can almost imagine its creamy coolness, its crunchy chewiness, its perfect slaw-ness. Yes, it sounds like just the thing to serve next to a side of gloriously greasy ribs or fish and chips. I will certainly have to try it for a Salad Sunday!

[Pamela]

I adore coleslaw and this one sounds great, I'll definately give this a try.

[Baking Soda]

I love coleslaw! But the ones you can buy here ready made don't have "it". Let's see if I can convert my husband..

[lindy]

Anapestic: Pulled pork without coleslaw...this is terribly sad.
Tania: Yes it is..your post started me thinking about it, actually.
Baking s. and Pamela: Thanks. I hope you like it.

[Luisa]

Yum - I love what you wrote about coleslaw and the 'disharmony' it can create in a meal if it's no good. This version sounds great, and just the thing next to my big pot of baked beans... I loved the round-up and getting to know some new blogs. Thank you! I'm sorry I couldn't participate - Ben's weekend-long packing-and-moving job kept me from my kitchen entirely... sob.

[Julie]

Looks good. Coleslaw is an essential ingredient in a pastrami sandwich as far as I'm concerned.

[farmgirl]

Oh, what a trip down memory lane. I actually worked for a short while in the small town that housed that little cafe--and my ex-husband sold Peter (known as Brother Peter back then) and his wife their very first bread oven--and several subsequently larger ones as the years went by.

I have Peter's first bread book (among others) and have noticed that one of their "secrets" appears to be using more butter/sugar/other "bad for you" ingredient than you would ever consider using yourself. Looks like this slaw is right in line with all that mayo. I bet it's sublime. (After years and years, I still get a laugh reading the R.S.V.P. reader's requested recipes in Bon Appetit magazine because inevitably in every single issue there is at least one--sometimes two or three--recipe that calls for a very substantial amount of heavy cream. Of course the recipe is delicous! : )

[lindy]

Farmgirl-I think you have the key to the "restaurant food is different" thing right there. If you use unbelievable quantites of butter and cream, it's going to taste amazing, and they do that very thing.
I view this type of slaw as a fabulous condiment, rather than a salad. And it's just what I want "on the side"-which is where it belongs!

[lindy]

Luisa-I'm thinking about making some baked beans myself shortly. Maybe it was the NYT article that got me going.
Julie-It has been a long while since I had me some pastrami..I really like pastrami sandwiches with fried egg on top? (Talk about applying food directly to the arteries.)

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. I personally like the mayo type cole slaw so much more so than the vinegar dressed ones you sometimes see. I'll have to see if mine comes out perfectly!

[Jeanie]

I see you mention fennel slaw. We ate some at a little seafood place in Newport OR called Local Ocean Restaurant. It had an oil and vinegar dressing of some sort. It was wonderful and I am looking for a good recipe for fennel slaw now. Can you help me?

[lindy]

Jeanie-Here you go. There is a fennel slaw recipe here:
http://www.lindystoast.com/2005/08/farmbox_viii_fe.html

I am very fond of this slaw.

[Rosa]

Thanks for the recipe - made it at the last minute before a BBQ and everyone loved it. Added celery salt, dill, and sliced scallions.

[Cheap Jordans]

The man who has made up his mind to win will never say "impossible".