Coleslaw 101

I'm sure when you clicked over here today the last thing you expected to see was a post about coleslaw. Believe me, it's not a subject I ever thought I would devote a whole post to, but here we are. I don't remember when or even how it started, but one day I became the official coleslaw maker in our family and now it is my most requested dish. My grandmother Opal was the original coleslaw maker in our family and I tired to replicate her slaw for some family event and ever since I've been the go-to coleslaw person. Even my grandmother loves it.

I make coleslaw for every holiday and cookout and all events in between and the funniest bit of all is that I don't even eat it. In fact, I don't even like the smell of it. I like coleslaw in general, but I guess when it's something you make all the time you kind of develop a distaste for it.

I often get requests for my "coleslaw recipe" and I hate it when people ask that because there is no "recipe". I just make it. There are no official measurements and that's what makes it difficult when people ask for the "recipe". Since I made coleslaw as part of our Father's Day lunch, I decided to put it in a post so I can refer people when they ask. There are still no measurements, but maybe this will at least help folks out when they are trying to make it on their own.

Here we go...

The Ingredients: Cabbage, Carrots, Onion, Mayonnaise, and Splenda (or you can use Sugar)

First, I chop the cabbage and then put in the food processor and pulse until it is very fine.  

The cabbage in the processor before it is pulsed

Chopped Cabbage

After chopping a bowl of cabbage only, I chop a bowl with cabbage, carrots and onion. In this case I used about 15 baby carrots and a little more than half an onion. The amount of onion you need will depend on how strong the onion is. You don't want the coleslaw to be overpowered with onion. 

The bowl now contains all chopped ingredients.

I use a spoon this size to scoop out the Mayonnaise. It's a serving spoon - bigger than a Tablespoon, but not as big as a giant serving spoon. The Mayonnaise jar I was using while making this batch of coleslaw was almost empty so I scooped as much as I could. Most of the time, if the jar is fairly full, I will scoop about three or four heaping spoonfuls of Mayonnaise into the bowl. 

 Here is the bowl with Mayonnaise scooped in.

Next I pour in Splenda (or sugar if you prefer). Again, there are no precise measurements, I just pour in the amount that looks good. If I were to guess I would say maybe a cup or so. 

Then I stir everything together. Sometimes I might add more Mayonnaise and Splenda depending on if the mixture is dry or not. Basically I just want it all to be mixed well an all the cabbage, carrots, and onion to be coated with the Mayonnaise and Splenda. (Yes, I keep my mixing bowl in the sink while I'm working.) 

Finally, I place the coleslaw in a pretty bowl, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving. That way it will be cold and all the flavors with me melded together. 

Here's an up close photo of how finely everything is chopped and what it looks like after mixed. 

And that, my friends, is how I make my infamous coleslaw. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out.