Recipe: Everyday Cole Slaw

I was making some cole slaw to go with fried fish the other night and mentioned I was doing nothing special, just everyday cole slaw—actually I needlessly used a four-dollar synonym, “quotidian”, and my wife commented “to me, all cole slaw is quotidian”. When you have been married a long time and plan to stay married you have to ignore slights like that, plus I had brought it on myself by denigrating the product at hand.

The fact is, every cole slaw is unique and wonderful in its own way. We waxed poetic in a long ago post, The Miracle of Cole Slaw, and everything said therein is still true. This one follows the basic proportions for a slightly acidic dressing but with a couple of tricks: celery salt (you could also use ½ t celery seed and 1 t Kosher salt, if you don’t have celery salt) for added tang and red wine vinegar instead of the usual cider vinegar. Makes 8-12 servings.

Ingredients:
2 lbs green cabbage, shredded with a box grater
3 T mayonnaise
1 T buttermilk
1 ½ T red wine vinegar
1 t celery salt
½ t Kosher salt
½ t ground black pepper
2 green onions, sliced into rings, including some of the green

Method: add all other ingredients to shredded green cabbage and mix thoroughly. It will be a big dry, but the cabbage will throw off liquid as it cures. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.