Kohl Slaw

Four sentences and no quantities, which was normal for a salad entry in a 1907 chocolate-company cookbook. The technique is sound and worth reading closely, because the soak is the whole point.

• Acidulated waterCold water with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice; about a tablespoon per quart is enough. The cold water crisps the shreds and the acid helps keep the cut edges pale. Twenty to thirty minutes chilled is plenty, after which the cabbage should be drained hard and patted dry or the dressing will slide off.
• Cream dressingNot whipped cream and not modern bottled dressing. In books of this period the name covers either a cooked dressing — egg yolk, mustard, sugar, salt, vinegar and cream, thickened over hot water and cooled — or simply cream sharpened with vinegar and seasoning. A boiled dressing recipe from the same era, or a well-seasoned sour cream and cider vinegar mix, both fit.
• The shredFine means fine — 1 to 2 mm on a mandoline or the long side of a quartered head against a sharp knife. Coarse cabbage in a thin dressing tastes raw rather than dressed.
• Which cabbagePlain green or white cabbage, cored. Savoy is too loose-leaved to shred cleanly; red will bleed into a pale dressing.
• Serve very coldThis is the instruction to obey. Dress the cabbage no more than 30 minutes before serving and keep it chilled; salt and acid draw water out fast and a slaw left standing an hour becomes a bowl of thin liquid.
• QuantityA medium head, about 2 lb trimmed, yields roughly 8 cups shredded and serves six to eight as a side. Figure about three quarters of a cup of dressing for that much cabbage.