Home › February › Cabbage Salad
Cabbage Salad
Use only the center of a firm head of white cabbage. Shred it very fine and cover with ice water until crisp. Drain thoroughly and mix with one medium-sized, thinly sliced Spanish onion. Mix with either French or Cream Salad Dressing (for recipe see Page 105).
A plain winter slaw from a book built around seasonal Sunday menus. The instructions are brief because the technique carries the dish: cold water, fine shreds, and thorough draining.
- Shred fine, by choice of toolA mandoline or the slicing disc of a food processor gets closer to the intended hair-fine cut than a knife will. The finer the shred, the more dressing clings to it.
- The ice-water soak is the hingeThe recipe gives no time, only "until crisp"; twenty to thirty minutes in heavily iced water is usually enough to restore turgor and make the cabbage snap rather than bend.
- Drain harder than seems necessarySpin the cabbage in a salad spinner or roll it in a clean towel and press. Residual water thins the dressing and pools in the bowl within minutes.
- Spanish onionThen as now, a large-bulbed, mild onion variety, here called for in a medium size. A sweet onion or a mild yellow onion stands in; a small pungent cooking onion will dominate the cabbage.
- "Only the center"The pale inner heart of a firm winter cabbage is sweeter and more tender than the outer leaves. A 2 to 2 1/2 lb head yields roughly 4 cups shredded from the center; keep the outer leaves for braising or soup.
- Dressing choiceThe cross-reference on page 105 covers both a French dressing and a cream dressing. The oil-and-vinegar version suits the crispness better; a cream dressing softens the cabbage on standing and is best mixed just before serving.
- YieldProbably about four servings as a side, though the recipe gives no yield. Season with salt and pepper at the point of dressing, not before, or the salt will draw water back out of the shreds.
Cabbage salad of this kind belongs to the long American habit of eating raw cabbage through the months when nothing else green is in the market. Cabbage stores for months in a cellar or cold room, and a firm head cut open in midwinter is still crisp at the core, which is why the recipe insists on the center. The name "slaw" comes into English from Dutch koolsla (from koolsalade), cabbage salad, and the older cookbooks use "cabbage salad," "cold slaw" and "cole slaw" more or less interchangeably.