Coleslaw

• 1 mediumgreen cabbage · about 2 lb, quartered, cored and shredded 1/8 inch thick
• 1/4 headred cabbage · shredded the same thickness, for colour and a slightly firmer bite
• 2 mediumcarrots · coarsely grated on a box grater, not julienned in a processor
• 2 tspkosher salt · for drawing water out of the cabbage, most of which gets rinsed away
• 1/2 cupfull-fat Greek yogurt · it carries the tang and cuts the mayonnaise by half
• 1/3 cupmayonnaise · full-fat, and the emulsion here needs real mayonnaise rather than a light version
• 3 tbspapple cider vinegar · added in two stages, half in the dressing and half at the end
• 1 tbspDijon mustard · it emulsifies as well as seasons
• 1 1/2 tbsphoney or maple syrup · less than most recipes, and adjust after the first taste
• 1 tspcelery seed · whole, and this is the flavour people recognise as coleslaw without knowing why
• 1/2 tspblack pepper · freshly ground
• 3 wholescallions · thinly sliced, whites and greens
• 1/4 cupflat-leaf parsley · roughly chopped, optional
• 1/2 smallwhite onion · grated on a microplane so it disappears, optional and traditional

Methode

1. 1

   The salting step, which is the entire recipe

   Toss the shredded cabbage and carrot with two teaspoons of kosher salt in a colander set over a bowl and leave it thirty minutes. Salt draws water out of the cells by osmosis, and you will collect a surprising amount of liquid. That water is the water that would otherwise come out into your dressing an hour after you serve it. This one step is why restaurant slaw stays thick and homemade slaw goes soupy, and it costs you half an hour of doing nothing.

2. 2

   Rinse, then squeeze, and squeeze harder than feels reasonable

   Rinse the salted cabbage under cold water for fifteen seconds to remove most of the surface salt, then take handfuls and squeeze firmly over the sink, or wrap it in a clean tea towel and wring it. It will reduce in volume by about a quarter and it will look mildly abused. It recovers completely once dressed. Skipping the rinse leaves the slaw too salty; skipping the squeeze leaves the water where you started.

3. 3

   Shred it yourself, an eighth of an inch, with a knife

   Quarter the cabbage, cut out the dense core at an angle, lay each quarter flat and slice across it about an eighth of an inch thick. A mandoline is faster and equally good. What is not good is the shredding disc on a food processor, which tears rather than cuts and produces ragged edges that weep liquid. Bagged pre-shredded slaw mix is cut days earlier, is already partially dehydrated at the edges, and tastes of nothing.

4. 4

   Grate the carrots, do not julienne them

   Coarse box-grater shreds tangle into the cabbage and distribute through every forkful. Matchsticks cut on a mandoline stay as separate rigid sticks that sit at the bottom of the bowl. Two medium carrots for a two-pound cabbage is the right ratio; more and the slaw turns sweet and orange. Grate them after the cabbage is already salting, because grated carrot oxidises and dries fast.

5. 5

   Half yogurt, half mayonnaise, and why not all of either

   All mayonnaise gives a heavy, flat dressing that coats the cabbage in fat and mutes it. All yogurt gives a thin, sharp dressing that slides off and separates as it sits. Half and half gives you the cling and richness of the mayonnaise emulsion plus the acidity and body of the yogurt, at roughly two thirds of the calories of a standard slaw. Use full-fat versions of both. Low-fat mayonnaise is thickened with starch and breaks.

6. 6

   Dijon does two jobs, and one of them is structural

   Mustard is an emulsifier. The mucilage in ground mustard seed holds oil and water together, which is why a vinaigrette with Dijon in it stays combined and one without it splits. In a slaw dressing that is carrying both mayonnaise and yogurt and then a good slug of vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon is what stops the whole thing breaking in the fridge overnight. It also adds a sharpness that reads as savoury rather than as mustard.

7. 7

   Celery seed is the flavour you cannot name

   The specific taste most people identify as coleslaw, as distinct from cabbage in dressing, is celery seed. It is grassy, slightly bitter and faintly medicinal in a good way, and a teaspoon across eight servings is the correct dose. Use whole seeds rather than celery salt, which is mostly salt and will unbalance a recipe you have already salted deliberately. If you genuinely dislike it, a rib of finely diced celery gets you partway there.

8. 8

   Less sugar than the recipe you grew up with

   Supermarket deli slaw commonly runs to 12g of sugar per half-cup serving, which is more than a chocolate biscuit and is why it tastes like dessert with cabbage in it. A tablespoon and a half of honey across eight servings, giving about 3g each, is enough to balance the vinegar without the slaw reading as sweet. Taste after the first mix and adjust up if you must, because you can always add and you cannot subtract.

9. 9

   Vinegar in two stages, half in the dressing and half at the end

   Acid volatilises and it also gets absorbed by the cabbage as it sits, so a slaw seasoned perfectly at mixing time tastes flat two hours later. Put half the cider vinegar in the dressing and stir the other half through just before serving. The second addition sits on the surface and hits the palate immediately. This is the same reason the finishing squeeze of lemon exists in almost every other dish on this site.

10. 10

    Dress it thirty minutes before serving, not four hours

    Even properly salted and squeezed cabbage keeps softening once acid and salt are on it. Thirty minutes in the dressing is the sweet spot: long enough for the flavours to combine and for the cabbage to lose its raw squeak, short enough that it still has real crunch. If you need to be further ahead, keep the squeezed cabbage and the dressing in separate containers in the fridge and combine them at the last minute.

11. 11

    The no-mayo version, which keeps better and travels better

    Skip the yogurt and mayonnaise entirely. Whisk a third of a cup of cider vinegar with a third of a cup of extra-virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of Dijon, two teaspoons of honey, celery seed and pepper, and pour it over the squeezed cabbage while it is still slightly warm from the salting if you can. This is the version for a picnic, a hot car, or anyone avoiding dairy, and it holds up for four days rather than three.

12. 12

    The variations worth making, and the ones that ruin it

    Good additions: thinly sliced apple or fennel, toasted caraway, buttermilk in place of some yogurt, jalapeno and lime and cilantro for a taco slaw, shredded Brussels sprouts in place of a quarter of the cabbage. Bad additions: raisins and tinned pineapple, both of which add sugar and water; and pre-cooked bacon, which goes limp within minutes. Add crunchy things like toasted seeds or fried shallots at the table rather than in the bowl.

13. 13

    What it is for, and why it belongs next to rich food

    Coleslaw exists to cut fat and salt with acid and crunch. That is why it sits next to pulled pork, fried chicken, brisket and fish tacos rather than next to a salad. Judge a slaw by whether it makes the thing beside it taste better, not by whether it is interesting on its own. A slaw that is sweet and heavy fails that test, which is most of the argument for the low-sugar, half-yogurt version here.

14. 14

    Storage, and what day three actually looks like

    Three days refrigerated for the creamy version, four for the vinegar one, in a sealed container. It will shed a little liquid regardless, so drain it and stir before serving rather than adding more dressing. What it will not do, if you salted and squeezed it, is collapse into a grey pool by morning. As meal prep it is one of the few salads that is genuinely better made ahead, which makes it worth doubling.