Crunchy Slaw
Salt the cabbage, wring it out, then dress it. Twenty extra minutes buys you a slaw that is still crisp an hour later.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- —
- Waiting
- 40m
- Total
- 1h
- Serves
- 6 as a side
- Effort
- Easy
Scale
Units
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1/2 head | Salt and leave to drain 30 minutes 30m Pre-salting removes the water that would otherwise dilute the dressing later. | Squeeze the cabbage dry in a tea towel 5m Properly wrung out. You will be surprised how much water comes out. | Toss everything together and chill 20 minutes 20m | |
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 1/2 cup | Whisk smooth 4m | |||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
-
Salt and leave to drain 30 minutes
30m- white cabbage 1/2 head
- coarse salt 1 tbsp
Pre-salting removes the water that would otherwise dilute the dressing later.
-
Squeeze the cabbage dry in a tea towel
5m- from 1 Salt and leave to drain 30 minutes
Properly wrung out. You will be surprised how much water comes out.
-
Whisk smooth
4m- mayonnaise 1/2 cup
- cider vinegar 2 tbsp
- Dijon mustard 1 tsp
- caster sugar 1 tsp
- black pepper 1/2 tsp
-
Toss everything together and chill 20 minutes
20m- from 2 Squeeze the cabbage dry in a tea towel
- from 3 Whisk smooth
- carrots 2
- spring onions 4
- celery seeds (optional) 1/2 tsp
Salt first, dress later
Undressed slaw goes watery because salt in the dressing pulls water out of the cabbage over the following half hour. Doing that on purpose beforehand — and throwing the water away — means the dressing stays where you put it. The cabbage also stays crunchier, because it is no longer sitting in brine.
Notes
- Do not rinse after salting unless you have been heavy-handed; the cabbage keeps enough seasoning.
- Shred finer than feels necessary. Thick slaw is coleslaw-shaped salad.
- Keeps two days, which pre-salted slaw genuinely does and unsalted slaw does not.