Coleslaw

I have never used bagged, precut cabbage for coleslaw but would like to do so because of the convenience. Is it as good as doing my own from a head of cabbage, in flavor as well as in texture? I have used the bagged cabbage, and have shredded my own as well. Frankly, if it's fresh, the difference in either texture or taste is imperceptible - once all the other stuff goes into the mix. Make sure, though, that the sale date on the bag is still well within the limit and the shredded cabbage does not look wilted or discolored.

I have never used bagged, precut cabbage for coleslaw but would like to do so because of the convenience. Is it as good as doing my own from a head of cabbage, in flavor as well as in texture? I have used the bagged cabbage, and have shredded my own as well. Frankly, if it's fresh, the difference in either texture or taste is imperceptible - once all the other stuff goes into the mix. Make sure, though, that the sale date on the bag is still well within the limit and the shredded cabbage does not look wilted or discolored.

Remember cousin Effie? She's the good-hearted relative who sends birthday cards, teaches Sunday school and volunteers as a crossing guard. At family gatherings she's the one who brings the coleslaw.Ah, tradition.The cabbage mixture sinks in the middle. The milky dressing floats loosely to the top, surrounded by cabbage haystacks.Sure, it's tasty. Traditional cabbage, mayo, vinegar and sugar make great culinary comrades. Celery seeds, too.But it might be time to establish new coleslaw traditions.

The sweet flavor of oranges in this dish is balanced by a fairly assertive mustard flavor. If you prefer mustard to be less prominent, cut back to 2 teaspoons. Six cups of cabbage may seem like a lot, but bear in mind that it "shrinks" once dressed, and you'll end up with about 4 cups of salad. When you want orange segments, first peel an orange. Use a small paring knife to cut on each side of the membranes; wedge-shaped segments will pop right out. ORANGE COLESLAW Serves 6 1/2 cup light mayonnaise 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 6 cups shredded cabbage segments from 2 medium oranges, coarsely chopped Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, sugar, orange zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

It's lunchtime, and I'm standing in front of a delicatessen showcase eyeballing an assortment of cold salads, wondering which would best complement my pork-barbecue sandwich. Coleslaw, of course. But I pass. The slaw looked tired and unappealing - teeny bits of limp green cabbage drowning in a creamy dressing. I couldn't help but think Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps could cut a respectable backstroke through the stuff. One word describes that kind of coleslaw: passe. Crunchy coleslaw bursting with new and exotic flavors is replacing the kind served in little white paper cups, alongside fried seafood platters and packed in plastic containers at the grocery store.

Coleslaw was not high on my list of favorite dishes when I was growing up in Maryland. The mayonnaise dressings with heavy doses of sugar simply didn't appeal to me.Still, as a young bride in Israel, when I was trying to learn how to cook from books, I decided to try to make this popular American salad. After all, I knew that cabbage is inexpensive and healthful.One of the books on my shelf, the 1963 edition of "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook," had 17 different versions of coleslaw. There had to be one I would like!

During the summer when we often have weekend house guests, I always serve casual meals. I'll plan a menu that includes as its main course an interesting sandwich. My updated versions might include BLTs with heirloom tomatoes and arugula or pita pockets mounded with chicken salad seasoned with mango chutney and walnuts. Because sandwiches are such easy fare for warm-weather entertaining, I have continued to expand my repertoire, recently adding Po' Boys With Corned Beef, Creamy Caraway Coleslaw and Swiss.

Most salads, once dressed, die quickly. Put a leftover salad in the fridge after dinner and the next morning you'll find it transformed into a green, soggy mess.But coleslaw doesn't die once it's dressed. It positively thrives on neglect.In fact, time-in-the-cold is one of its major ingredients.Like homemade ice cream, which is good when it's fresh and heavenly a day later, newly made coleslaw is nothing but shredded cabbage until it has had time to ripen and mature.Cookbooks say you can hurry this process by using tender, crinkly Savoy cabbage instead of the tougher green or red varieties.

What's the definition of eternity? A ham and two people. I love that line from Joy of Cooking authors Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. On more than one occasion, I've baked a glorious ham for entertaining a crowd, only to discover the next day that there was enough meat remaining on the bone to feed my husband and me for an entire week. Take, for example, the fall dinner party I held several days ago where a large glazed ham was the star attraction. Even after all the guests had helped themselves to seconds and some had even left with doggy bags, there was still a shocking amount of ham on the platter when I opened the fridge the following morning.

Convenience-minded cooks who can't live without good nutrition have made prepared salads and coleslaws the hottest item in supermarkets since onion soup mix.Sales have jumped 76 percent in the last year, according to a study by Information Resources Inc., a market research firm in Chicago."

It's lunchtime, and I'm standing in front of a delicatessen showcase eyeballing an assortment of cold salads, wondering which would best complement my pork-barbecue sandwich. Coleslaw, of course. But I pass. The slaw looked tired and unappealing - teeny bits of limp green cabbage drowning in a creamy dressing. I couldn't help but think Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps could cut a respectable backstroke through the stuff. One word describes that kind of coleslaw: passe. Crunchy coleslaw bursting with new and exotic flavors is replacing the kind served in little white paper cups, alongside fried seafood platters and packed in plastic containers at the grocery store.

What's the definition of eternity? A ham and two people. I love that line from Joy of Cooking authors Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. On more than one occasion, I've baked a glorious ham for entertaining a crowd, only to discover the next day that there was enough meat remaining on the bone to feed my husband and me for an entire week. Take, for example, the fall dinner party I held several days ago where a large glazed ham was the star attraction. Even after all the guests had helped themselves to seconds and some had even left with doggy bags, there was still a shocking amount of ham on the platter when I opened the fridge the following morning.

During the summer when we often have weekend house guests, I always serve casual meals. I'll plan a menu that includes as its main course an interesting sandwich. My updated versions might include BLTs with heirloom tomatoes and arugula or pita pockets mounded with chicken salad seasoned with mango chutney and walnuts. Because sandwiches are such easy fare for warm-weather entertaining, I have continued to expand my repertoire, recently adding Po' Boys With Corned Beef, Creamy Caraway Coleslaw and Swiss.

I enjoy trying new restaurants, especially when out of town, so when friends invited us for a weekend to their house on Cape Cod, I suggested that we eat out one of the evenings. Our hosts responded enthusiastically and chose a seaside restaurant that had opened earlier in the season. I eagerly read the menu and, intrigued by a side dish of Parmesan-Black Pepper Coleslaw, ordered it along with roasted halibut on a bed of asparagus. The fish and vegetables were cooked perfectly, but my slaw was unexceptional.

The work of conceptual artist Coleslaw Baklava moves through a dizzying succession of phases, not the least significant of which was his photographic investigation of parking lots. These include close-ups of reserved parking spaces. "They're about status," says A. Clarke Bedford, artist and lecturer, pointing to a slide of an untitled piece known simply as "RESERVED 796." The numbers, you see, the notion of hierarchical structure and, well, it's probably too deeply political to go into fully right here and now. "And then these arrows," says Bedford, showing two slides of arrows painted on the asphalt, "which is all about direction.

Holiday Greeting, Vol. 29 Dear _______ : Happy holidays! It's that time again to think of all our friends we haven't stayed in touch with throughout the year. We've missed you so much, and you missed out on so much! Since we can't personally call each of you, we hope this form letter will be the next best thing to having to make eye contact with you. Where to begin? Last year, as we e-mailed you, our little Johnnie left middle school to enter the NFL draft. Well, the tough little guy tore his anterior cruciate ligament on the first day of practice.

If you were told this technique of baking in individual tasty packages was termed "en papillote," you might well pass over the recipe without a second glance, especially if you were in a hurry.But this quick-baking version doesn't call for the traditional parchment paper cut with its rather involved enclosure; rather, simply use aluminum foil folded so the food inside will steam.The ingredients are very simple and yield a mellow flavor when baked. A mild whitefish fillet can be substituted for the tuna pictured here.

Holiday Greeting, Vol. 29 Dear _______ : Happy holidays! It's that time again to think of all our friends we haven't stayed in touch with throughout the year. We've missed you so much, and you missed out on so much! Since we can't personally call each of you, we hope this form letter will be the next best thing to having to make eye contact with you. Where to begin? Last year, as we e-mailed you, our little Johnnie left middle school to enter the NFL draft. Well, the tough little guy tore his anterior cruciate ligament on the first day of practice.

It didn't matter that the sun never appeared, that the thermometer never reached 70 degrees or what the calendar said. In Maryland, summer starts on Memorial Day weekend, when the crab-slinging begins. So yesterday, at Gabler's Shore Restaurant, the mallets were raised in mass tribute to the new season and to the harmony of Old Bay and cold beer. At this Harford County crab house on the Bush River, the summer tradition has been preserved by three generations of one family. "That's what we love about it," says Brenda Edmondson, who made a three-hour pilgrimage to the land of Chesapeake blue crabs with family and friends from Pottsville, Pa., yesterday morning.