rumtastique replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow. It started with getting nearly run...

rumtastique
replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow.  It started with getting nearly run over…”

please share your coleslaw wisdom…..

Ooo! Gladly! So, I’ve never liked two things that most other people in North America seem to like - okay, so it’s way more than two things, but these are the two that came to mind: potato salad, and coleslaw. With potato salad, I never understood it: I like all of the things that typically go in there - potatoes, mayo, hard-boiled eggs, whatever variation (unless it’s raisins or something truly startling like that). But something about it all together is just awful. Or so I thought, until the day when I was in a mad hurry to buy something to eat on the ICE (high speed train in Germany) and spotted a container of Kartoffel Salat mit Speck and thought, what the hell. Speck = bacon, and bacon improves everything, right? So I ate it and it was DELICIOUS. It turns out that my time in Germany irrevocably changed my taste palate in two specific ways: 1) I now like carbonated water, which I had previously loathed, and 2) I have a much deeper appreciation for vinegar. 

Long story short, the secret to all of my main salads is to cut the sugar and increase the vinegar. A lot of salads start with a base of mayo, vinegar, and sugar. I generally don’t eat a lot of sugar these days, but I quickly realized that in salads, at least, I not only don’t miss the sugar - I prefer them without it! So my coleslaw base, just as with my broccoli bacon salad base, is literally just mayo and white vinegar. I don’t measure it. Tonight’s iteration went something like: blop about 4 tbsp of mayo into a mixing bowl, add a generous splash of white vinegar, stir it until it’s mostly not lumpy anymore (it really doesn’t matter), then add pre-shredded coleslaw mix. I would estimate it was about 4 cups of shredded cabbage. I add sea salt and pepper, and then my secret ingredients: toasted sunflower seeds and (pre-shelled) pistachios. It’s SO GOOD. It’s like crack, seriously! The extra salt and crunch from the seeds and nuts is an amazing contrast with the crisp crunch of the cabbage, and the sour/creamy tang of the mayo/vinegar base is just… *chef’s kiss* Try it!!! And if you do, let me know what you thought! 

Since I’m in a rambly mood and I mentioned it above, I’ll just go ahead and share my broccoli bacon salad recipe, too. Base: same as above. Blanch some broccoli florets (aka, put them in boiling water until they have that wet look, then take it out and chill it in cold water until it’s genuinely not-hot anymore). Cook some bacon, then crumble it (/cut it up). Toss the broccoli in the mayo/vinegar mix, then add in the bacon, a handful of shredded cheddar, toasted sunflower seeds, and some chopped green onion. So good! I can eat, like, an entire head of broccoli in a salad like this and make it the entire meal!