Bonefish Grill Coleslaw

Home reconstruction

Coleslaw fails on a timer. It is right when you make it, and an hour later there is a centimetre of cloudy liquid in the bottom of the bowl and the dressing has been diluted to nothing.

That liquid came out of the cabbage, drawn by the salt in the dressing. It was always going to come out. The only question is whether it comes out into your bowl or into the sink.

Salt the cabbage first, wait an hour, and squeeze it dry.

What you get for the hour

A dressing that stays put. The main reason.

Better texture. Salted cabbage is denser and crunchier, not limp — it has lost water, not structure.

More flavour per bite, since what remains is concentrated.

Rinse briefly after salting and squeeze hard, or the slaw will be too salty. A quick rinse does not undo the draining.

Shred it finer than feels right

Restaurant slaw is cut fine — a couple of millimetres. Home slaw is usually cut in ribbons two or three times that thick.

Fine shreds carry more dressing per gram and eat as one thing rather than as separate strips of cabbage. A mandoline or the slicing disc of a food processor does it in seconds; a knife works if you halve and core the cabbage first.

The dressing wants acid and it wants sugar

Both, in reasonable quantity. Cabbage is sulphurous and slightly bitter, and a plain creamy dressing sits on top of that rather than balancing it.

Cider vinegar for the acid, a spoon of sugar to round it, and celery seed — which is the flavour that makes a coleslaw taste like coleslaw rather than like cabbage in mayonnaise.

Do not skip the celery seed. It is the single most identifiable ingredient in American slaw and there is no substitute for it.

What you need

• 1 small white cabbage (about 700 g), finely shredded
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 tbsp salt, for salting
• 150 ml mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced

Method

1. Shred the cabbage finely and grate the carrots.
2. Toss with the tablespoon of salt in a colander. Leave 1 hour over a bowl.
3. Rinse briefly, then squeeze out hard — in handfuls, or in a clean tea towel.
4. Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seed and pepper.
5. Toss the cabbage and carrot through with the spring onions.
6. Chill 30 minutes before serving.

Squeeze harder than feels reasonable

A handful of salted cabbage will give up a surprising amount of liquid when you really press it. If nothing is coming out, you are not squeezing hard enough.

A clean tea towel wrapped round the cabbage and twisted is the most effective method.

Thirty minutes, not three hours

Enough for the dressing to take. Beyond a few hours even salted cabbage starts softening.

Storing

Three days in the fridge, and it holds far better than unsalted slaw. Drain any liquid that does collect and stir before serving.

Do not freeze — cabbage turns to mush and mayonnaise splits.