Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Dinner Tonight: Cabbage Salad with Cornichons and Capers

Posted by Blake Royer, March 31, 2008 at 4:00 PM

This might look a lot like a coleslaw recipe, and I'll be the first to say that coleslaw isn't one of my favorite foods. I've had too many disappointing experiences with the stuff in little paper cups, tasting like it had been tossed in Miracle Whip. No disrespect; it's just not my thing.

And yet, this cabbage salad recipe from Pork & Sons—a side dish to the smoked Boston butt—really makes the case for cabbage with mayo. Rather than shredded, the raw cabbage is sliced into wide ribbons, which maintain their crunch under the blanket of silky sauce, a homemade mayonnaise with a piquant handful of cornichons, capers, and shallots. And what a sauce it is—I made extra and have been painting it on bread to make amazing ham sandwiches. Red wine vinegar and mustard provide an appropriately spicy background to balance out the richness. I think of it as French-ified coleslaw.

About the author: Blake Royer lives in Brooklyn and spends most of his free time cooking and writing about it here at Serious Eats and on The Paupered Chef. From 9 to 5 weekdays, he works as an assistant book editor in Manhattan.

Cabbage Salad with Cornichons and Capers

- serves 6-8 as a side dish -

Adapted from Pork & Sons

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup sunflower or other neutral oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
10 cornichons, diced (gherkins, though similar, are too sweet - try Trader Joe's)
1 shallot, diced
1 bunch fresh chives, diced
1 tablespoon capers
1 white or green cabbage, sliced into ribbons
Salt and pepper

Procedure

1. In a mixing bowl, beat egg well with the mustard. Beginning with the neutral oil, gradually add, 1 teaspoon at a time, until about 1/2 of it has been incorporated. By using the cheaper neutral oil first, there's less risk of wasting good oil if the emulsion fails and you have to start over.

2. Once 1/2 the neutral oil is incorporated, whisk in the vinegar, then the remaining oils in a slow stream.

3. Stir the cornichons, shallot, chives, and capers into the mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then toss with the cabbage.

1 Comment | Tags: salads, sides, vegetarian

View other entries from Dinner Tonight.