slaw mmmmm
 

I've been a big veggie eater since I was a teenager and cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. I prefer it cooked. But, if I eat it raw, it has to be shredded or chopped because I hate the way it squeaks on my teeth.

I love cole slaw and add it to a hot dog or ham sandwich readily.

My favorite slaw was what I used to get at Friendly's restaurants in New England. Fresh. Chopped. Crisp. Not too much mayo. And a little hot spice of unknown orgin.

I found a recipe for warm slaw that I tried this weekend. Cabbage and apple. Bacon. Dressing of vinegar, water, brown sugar, bacon fat and celery seed. Turned out well enough that there were no leftovers.

Any other favorites out there?

As to the history - it is a remnant form Dutch colonial days in the US. The Dutch name is "Koolsla". Pickled cabbage was a common way to preserve vegetables for use in the winter months.

My supermarket recently began carrying bags of broccoli slaw - a simple mix of shredded broccoli, red cabbage and carrots. I add a bit of the Whole Foods brand of wasabi dressing plus whatever else I feel like having - tomato, broccoli florets, onion, crumbled cheese, tuna, etc. It makes a very refreshing salad.

I'm a big fan of veggies as well. Never met one I didn't like.

And as to slaw, the Cole Slaw at Joe's Stone Crab, Miami Beach, FL (and locations now in Chicago, IL and Las Vegas, NV) is my favorite.

It's a giant mound of very finely shredded cabbage mixed with a piquant vinegar dressing and topped with a huge dollop of home-made mayonnaise.

Houston's (the chain restaurant) makes a great coleslaw - a little mayoey but goes great with their fantastic ribs.


I second that, because EVERYTHING at Joe's Stone Crab (at least at the Chicago location) is delicious.

I'm reminded of one that was different and a little disappointing. There's a chain of Asian stir-fry restaurants called Stir Crazy. I ordered an appetizer, satay maybe and it came with an asian slaw. The dressing was quite good, but the cabbage was just a little too fresh. At home, I like my slaw to marinate in the dressing for an hour or so. More than that, it starts to get soggy. Less, and it's too squeaky.

It's not a surprise that Joe's has good slaw. For whatever reason, it gets paired with seafood almost everywhere so if your seafood is top grade and your atmosphere is not too formal, you'd better serve a slaw and do it properly.

Another good slaw is that sold at the El Pollo Loco chicken chain here on the West Coast.

It's always freshly made, crisp and with a minimal mayo-based dressing.

Although I'm a fan of their chicken as well, I'll many time just order the slaw to go and serve it with something else I'm preparing.

I know everybody's taste varies widely but the biggest turnoff for me with slaw is sweetness. I like the dressing to be heavy on the vinegar and mayo but very, very light on sweetness.

Not only is AVL no longer a BBQ wasteland, But the slaw at 12 Bones is very good as well. It is a non mayo variety.

Mayo-based sitting on a pulled pork sandwich. Mmmmmm......

My favorite cole slaw has always been KFC's. I know, I know , but still haven't found any I like as much.

Blech, ate too much of that stuff as a kid and can't stand it now. It was always too watery for me.

There's some decent slaw in NC. I've yet to do the Barbecue Trail or whatever it's called, but even the 'cue places on the touristy side do a decent job on it.

Some of the nicest slaw I've had in a long time (and eminently worthy of topping a pile of pulled pork under a bun) was at 3 Little Pigs Bar-B-Q in Memphis. Chopped fine, in a light sauce with good sweet/sour balance, with the usual add-ins also chopped in (a little onion, a little carrot, some pickle relish) and with the nice addition of grated raw cucumber. Awesome!

The kind served with pupusas at a pupuserías, also almost any served with BBQ.

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From Wikipedia: Both at home and abroad, pupusas are now traditionally served with curtido (a pickled cabbage relish, possibly containing hot peppers) and tomato sauce

Sweet Willie, have you tried making it at home?

In NYC, Fairway on 74th & Broadway in Manhattan has some of the best cole slaw I have had. Well worth it if you are around there - in fact their entire deli counter is worth the time! ^