Old-Fashioned Coleslaw
Every family do of my childhood had a bowl of this on the table — cold ham, roast chicken, fish and chip Fridays, the works. Granny's coleslaw was nothing like the wet, over-sweet stuff from the corner shop: hers was crisp, creamy and just sharp enough, and it was somehow still crisp two days later. For years I assumed that was luck. It wasn't — it was one quiet bit of technique.
Here it is, the make-or-break rule: salt the shredded cabbage for an hour, then squeeze it dry. Cabbage is mostly water, and if you don't draw it out first it weeps into the mayonnaise and by teatime you've got slaw soup. Salted, rinsed and wrung out hard in a tea towel, the cabbage stays crunchy and the dressing stays thick for days. The second rule is patience: dress the slaw at least an hour before you serve it, so the cabbage softens just slightly and the flavours meld and mellow.
The dressing itself is the proper old deli balance — mayonnaise sharpened with cider vinegar, sweetened with a little caster sugar, and given its old-fashioned savour with mustard and celery seeds. And if your family were vinegar people rather than mayonnaise people, there's a no-mayo vinegar slaw in the tips below that's every bit as old-fashioned.
Old-Fashioned Coleslaw
Crisp, creamy deli-style slaw — the salting trick keeps it crunchy for days.
Ingredients
- 900 g white cabbage (1 medium head), quartered, cored and finely shredded
- 2 carrots (about 150 g), coarsely grated
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt, for salting the cabbage
- 200 g mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar and 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp celery seeds and ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ small onion, finely grated (optional, but proper)
Method
- Shred. Quarter and core the cabbage, then shred it as finely as you can — sharp knife or mandoline, ribbons not chunks. Coarsely grate the carrots; finely grate the onion, if using.
- Salt. Toss the cabbage and carrot with 1 tbsp fine sea salt in a colander set over the sink. Leave for 1 hour — you'll be surprised how much water drains away.
- Squeeze. Rinse briefly under cold water, then wring out hard in a clean tea towel, a handful at a time, until nothing drips. Don't be gentle — this is the whole trick.
- Whisk. Stir the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seeds & pepper until the sugar dissolves. It should taste a touch too sharp and too sweet on its own.
- Dress and chill. Toss the vegetables through the dressing until every shred is coated, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour — overnight is even better. Stir, taste for salt and serve cold.
The dressing should taste a touch too sharp and too sweet on its own — the cabbage mellows it. If it tastes perfect in the jug, it'll taste dull in the bowl.
Tips for crisp, creamy slaw
Salt, then squeeze
The hour of salting pulls the water out of the cabbage before it can thin the dressing. Wring it out hard in a tea towel — what you squeeze out now is what would puddle in the bowl tomorrow.
Dress it an hour ahead
Coleslaw isn't at its best straight from the whisk. An hour in the fridge — or overnight — lets the cabbage soften just slightly and the flavours meld.
The no-mayo version
For the old vinegar slaw, skip the mayonnaise: whisk 4 tbsp cider vinegar with 3 tbsp neutral oil and the same sugar, mustard & celery seeds, then toss and chill as usual.
Questions, answered
Why is my coleslaw watery?
Because cabbage is about 90 percent water, and the salt in the dressing slowly draws it out. Salt the shredded cabbage first — 1 tbsp fine sea salt, 1 hour in a colander — then rinse and squeeze it hard in a tea towel before it meets the mayonnaise. The water comes out in the sink, not in the bowl overnight.
How long does homemade coleslaw keep in the fridge?
3 to 4 days, covered, in the coldest part of the fridge. Because the cabbage is salted and squeezed first it stays crisp rather than turning to soup — just give it a good stir and a quick taste for seasoning before serving.
Can I use a bag of ready-shredded coleslaw mix?
Yes — swap in about 1 kg of bagged slaw mix (usually two large bags) for the cabbage and carrot. Still give it the full hour of salting and a hard squeeze, though: bagged mix is cut thicker and weeps just as much water as home-shredded.
Can I freeze coleslaw?
No — mayonnaise splits when frozen and the cabbage collapses to mush as it thaws. Make it up to 2 days ahead instead; it genuinely improves overnight as the flavours meld.