JimmyBuffettLiving.com

     Well after being gone for 2 months I finally made it back to the land of the blog, PLDT deigned to visit yesterday and bestow upon me DSL.  Over the holidays I was certainly busy as heck cooking and visiting with family.  So many times I was faced with banging something together from scratch with no internet to guide me.  One such time was the great cabbage explosion on Christmas Day.  I was making Kapusta, which is a tradition for my family back in the USA.  One ingredient is just regular cabbage.  So my wife comes home from the palengke with 4 heads of cabbage… ay sus!  What am I gonna do with all the extra cabbage, I only need 2 heads for the kapusta.  Well that’s when I hit on coleslaw.  I was a certified coleslaw freak in the US as long as it was made with marzetti’s slaw dressing and was served immediately before it became too soupy.  So I shredded the cabbage and added some grated carrot and set about to copy the Marzetti’s dressing I so love.  I had all the neccessary spices on hand, just needed to dib and dab until I got it right and believe me I did.  The thing that really sets it off is the Cane vinegar.  Many commercial producers use cane vinegar because of it’s distinctive taste and let’s face it… it’s rather hard to find for the regular shopper.  Distilled vinegar is just too tart and will dominate the recipe, cider vinegar comes close but is still rather tart and not as sweet as cane vinegar.

Maybe Marzetti’s Slaw Dressing

2 C Mayonaise or Miracle Whip (I used Lady’s Choice but my mock miracle whip will work well)

2T Turbinado Sugar (Light brown sugar in the Philippines)

1/2 C Cane Vinegar

1 1/2t Dry Mustard

2t Celery seed

1t Ground Black Pepper

1t Salt 

Mix everything together and let sit for 15 mins in the fridge so the flavours can meld.  Use just enough to moisten the cabbage and carrots and serve immediately if you like a creamy slaw.  As the slaw sits the cabbage will sweat water from the salt in the dressing, you can always add more dressing later.