Fiesta Hot Slaw: or, The first cole slaw I have made in my life

Today, we're having an Illinois fiesta!

Fiesta Hot Slaw 1 medium head cabbage, shredded fine 1 2-oz jar chopped pimiento* ½ cup chopped sweet pickles ½ cup cider vinegar ¼ cup water ½ tsp salt ¼ cup sugar ¼ tsp paprika† ¼ tsp dry mustard ¼ cup cooking or olive oil 2 eggs slightly beaten ¼ cup heavy cream Place the cabbage, pimiento, and pickles in a large salad bowl. Set aside. Mix the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, paprika, and oil in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. While you're waiting, whisk the eggs and cream in a medium or large mixing bowl. When the mixture in the pot, pour it slowly into the eggs and cream, whisking thoroughly the whole time. Return everything to the pot. Cook over low or medium-low heat until it thickens, stirring constantly Pour the dressing over the cabbage, toss lightly, and serve at once. This is also good (if not better) served cold. Just make the dressing ahead of time, chill the cabbage, and toss everything together when ready to serve. *The original recipe says "2-oz can pimento, cut into thin strips," but it seems like you can only get chopped pimientos these days. †I used a lot more than this. Undated clipping (probably l930s or l940s), Chicago Tribune

This comes out of my great-grandmother's binder. Apparently the Chicago Tribune had an ongoing reader recipe exchange with prizes, just like the Philadelphia Inquirer did. And just like the Inquirer, the Tribune printed each person's address under their recipe. I understand printing each proud winner's name, but I don't see why they shared their addresses with the entire greater Chicago area. Maybe you were supposed to send a postcard that said "Dear Mrs. Peter Follis, I loved your fiesta slaw that was in the paper yesterday!" 

Incidentally, I have never made cole slaw before (hot or cold). 

Today's fiesta slaw starts with oil and vinegar dressing. I didn't think we were using a lot of vinegar until it got hot. Then the steam brought tears to my eyes.

Every recipe can teach you something new. Today we learned something minor but really nice. After using the same measuring cup for the oil and then the cream, the cream slid right out with nearly nothing left behind. I may start spritzing cups with cooking spray when measuring out cream.

After mixing everything and cooking for five minutes, the dressing had thickened up nicely and tasted a lot like thousand island. And because I had a brief flareup of planning ahead, we had our cabbage waiting with its pimientos and pickles already in place.

I'd like to note that I've gotten better at shredding cabbages since my first time. Also, this the perfect time to remind everyone to keep your knives sharp! You simply cannot make cole slaw (hot or otherwise) if your knife is dull enough for the kids to play with. I can't sharpen my own knives (not even with those "foolproof" sharpeners), and have to take them to a knife shop every few weeks. But my knives are always sharp anyway (and hidden from everyone else in the house, along with the fabric scissors.)

Despite my efforts to "serve immediately," our fiesta slaw cooled off before I could finish taking it to the table. I probably should have tossed everything over the stove for a minute, or at least taken the cabbage out of the fridge a lot earlier. But honestly, it was better after the leftovers had time to refrigerate. Like, this seems like it would taste best when someone brings it out of an ice chest when everyone's grilling at the park. 

With that said, the dominant flavor here is cider vinegar. If you don't like your cole slaw on the tart side, this might not be the recipe for you. But I think this would be really satisfying on a hot day.