The secret to good coleslaw

I recently watched an episode of Good Eats by Alton Brown and he talked about how to make good slaw. He claims that the secret is salting your cabbage and letting it sit for a few hours before making your slaw. This draws the moisture out and keeps your coleslaw dressing from getting watery and disgusting. Amazingly, the cabbage stays crunchy. It also allows the slaw to sit in the refrigerator for days and stay crunchy and delicious.

I decided to try it out. I adapted one of his recipes and came up with the following slaw that I really love. Using the whole head of napa cabbage gives a variety of colors, from the dark green of the outer leaves to a pale yellow in the center of the head. The carrot adds beautiful color as well.

Napa Cabbage Slaw

1 large head napa cabbage, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated (or more if you like)

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 T. pickle juice (I used the juice from my zucchini relish)

2 t. dry mustard

2 T. chopped chives

• Generously salt the cabbage and put it in a colander to drain for at least 3 hours (or over night.) Rinse well with cold water.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mayo, yogurt, pickle juice, dry mustard and chives.
• In a larger bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots and half of the dressing. Taste to see if this is enough dressing. Keep adding dressing until you like it. Save the extra dressing for adding the next day. Over time, the salad soaks up some of the dressing, so it's nice to have more on hand to add as needed.