Chapter 1: Preparing the slaw. What makes coleslaw really good is the "pickling" of the cabbage. First you slice the cabbage real thin layering it in a bowl with a generous amountof salt (you will eventually wash all this salt away), then you place the ca hours until the cabbage is wilted and well... pickled. My father used to place the cabbage directly on top of one of the big refridgerator compressor in the back room. Once "pickled" throughly wash to remove as much salt as possible.

Chapter 2: Other ingredients

Here are a bunch of suggestions to add variety to your slaw

~ thinly sliced red or yellow or green onions ~ Red cabbage as well as green ~ A good slaw must have grated carrots - bean sprouts

Chapter 3: Dressings

Now for dressings. Mayo is out but there are lots of alternatives

~ Balsamic or rice vinegar to taste (if you "pickle the cabbage first, you'll need less vinegar) ~ Ginger, vinegar and sugar (kind of sweet and sour)

~ Vinegar (ginger and sugar) and roasted mustard seed (add a nice look and crunch, to roast the mustard seed, heat a heavy sautee pan and add the seed to the hot dry pan for about 30 seconds to a minute) ~ Vinegar and a good dijon mustard

Remember to let the slaw sit in its dressing for a while before serving.

Happy slawing!

Nancy Lehrer