Is it possible to get good coleslaw in this town? While researching the now famous burger issue, we must have had coleslaw at twenty establishments and maybe one or two were passable, but not one was near crave-able. Generally all those slaws were cloyingly sweet and soggy with no depth.

Crave-able is high praise, reserved for those foods that can make your day. To me, great slaw is one of those foods. The beauty of coleslaw is how easy it is to make from near scratch. There is really no need for any of that overly sweet slaw dressing in a bottle and a bag of shredded cabbage. Great creamy slaw needs to have the right proportion of vinegar, salt, sugar, creaminess, and celery seeds (the key secret ingredient). It also needs to sit for the right amount of time: dress it too early and you get a soggy slaw that purges water from the cabbage, dress it too late and it doesn’t macerate enough to slightly soften the cabbage. The exact proportion is what makes my slaw different from the guy next door or the tavern down the street.

Simple Slaw Dressing
•    1 cup mayonnaise, not salad dressing or Miracle Whip
•    1/3 cup cream
•    1/3 cup sugar
•    1/3 cup cider vinegar
•    1/2 tsp cayenne
•    1 tsp Dijon mustard
•    2 teaspoons celery seed
•    Salt and black pepper to taste

Whisk all together and let sit for 1 hour prior to dressing cabbage.

Vegetable Mixture
•    Half a medium head of green cabbage
•    Half a medium head of red cabbage
•    1 large carrot, grated
•    1 medium onion, grated or sliced paper thin (not diced)

Core and shred cabbage into bowl, toss in carrot and onion. Dress the vegetables about 2 hours before serving—not more than two hours.