This is our favorite vinegar & oil based cole slaw dressing. It may be more sugar than you want, but IIRC when I have reduced amount I wasn't satisfied with result.

1 large head of cabbage, finely shredded
I add enough shredded carrot for color
DRESSING

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. celery seed
1 cup white vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine dressing ingredients and bring to boil. Pour over cabbage and toss. Cool, then refrigerate. A wonderful topping for bbq sandwiches.

This keeps well forever, but it isn't usually around long enough to be a concern.

That sounds good, liz beth, thank you!

This is my tried and true recipe. Make it 2 days ahead.

1 head cabbage grated fine
5-6 green onions sliced including tops
1/4 minced parsley (dry is fine) for color
1/2 of a med onion grated. Pour onion and juice over cabbage.
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper.
Make dressing in a jar and shake well to blend. Pour over cabbage etc and mix to combine. Refrigerate for 2 days. Give it a good stir occasionally.

If you use a milder vinegar for all or part of your vinegar, like unsweetened rice vinegar, it will be easier to use less sugar because you won't have as much bite to counteract.

Thank you for the recipe, arjay, and the tip to use rice vinegar, dlm----I vaguely remember reading something to that effect in a Cook's Illustrated publication, and will def try it. I've never hosted (or been to, for that matter) a slaw tasting.....love the South!

Is your sauce going to be vinegar based as well? Usually pulled pork sauce is very tangy, so a sweet creamy slaw balances the flavors.

We aren't planning to use any sauce on the barbecue, Magdalena. The meat is so perfectly smoked it doesn't need the first bit of anything on it, and as you know there are just too many types of sauce for us to choose one and hope it makes folk happy. We're going to let the vinegar-y slaw do the work of a sauce. Good point though, if we were using one!

Sorry I can't contribute a recipe, but would love the details on assembly of the jar o' BBQ! For example, will you fit the cornbread to the jar or just put a corn muffin in the bottom? What are the proportions for the corn bread, meat and slaw? I think it's a great idea and would also like to have the winning slaw recipe. Cool!

I recently made the last one listed on the linked page. It was good and the bits of carrot and red pepper made it attractive as well. I used a small, thin-skinned cucumber that was not called a "Kirby". I think the idea is you don't want a cucumber with a big, seedy center.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled Coleslaw ala Zabar's

My brother made a jalapeño-basil slaw for us recently that was wonderful. Served it with pork tenderloin. It has no sugar but a little honey. I can send the recipe if you'd like. It was not hot since there are no jalapeño seeds. I also have a 9-day slaw we have made for years but it does have sugar. Stores and keeps well.

Some sugar is okay, it's just that between the members of our committee, our cookbooks that contain slaw recipes tend to be self published books from churches, Junior Leagues, and other service organizations. They are old fashioned and contain a TON of sugar. We are just looking for recipes with minimal sugar to try.

The Jalepeno Basil slaw sounds great, I would appreciate the recipe!

Javachick, we are planning to make flat cornbread and put squares of it , possibly crumbled, in the bottom, not a muffin as that would take up too much room in the jar. We'll play around with the proportions at the dry run when we make these for the board of directors' meeting in September. I think the volume of the container will dictate the proportions.

I've also heard of people layering individual banana puddings in small mason jars, using a cookie on the bottom, pudding, sliced bananas, repeat, with whipped cream (not meringue) on top. I'd love to try that one as well, but not at the same event with the barbecue.....too much trouble and too many jars!

Jamie's, I just read that recipe and it sounds great! I don't think it is something we would be able to give out to the board members and expect them to brine vegetables for a few days though--- I have another two years to serve on the board, lol!

The method makes a lot of sense, and I imagine that would be the crunchiest option.

It's been years, but I always thought KFC had the best vinegarette cole slaw. I could never make mine taste as good, even though I tried to duplicate the recipe. There was very little sweetness, more on the vinegar side. And you wouldn't have to buy the ingredients and make it. ;)

Kswl, here is the slaw recipe. Try this sometime, even if you don't do it for your event. It's great. Recommend finely shaved cabbage and onion.

Jalapeno Basil Slaw:

1 lb (~ 4 cups) red or white cabbage, shaved (or combination)
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
1 carrot, julienned
2 jalapenos, seeded and julienned
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a large bowl, combine cabbage, onion, carrot, jalapeno, and cilantro. Chill until ready to serve.

For the dressing, in a blender place the basil, shallot, garlic and oil. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in honey, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Assembly: Pour dressing over slaw 5 minutes before serving.
Garnish (optional): Sprinkle chile-roasted pecan halves over the top

My DIL makes the best Cole slaw in the world. To one bag of slaw add 1/3 cup mayo and sour cream mixture, onion (very thinly sliced), vinegar, garlic powder, salt and lots of black pepper. Doesn't sound all that amazing, but everyone ALWAYS ask for the recipe. It is really unbelievably good.

Outside, thank you for that, it sounds like something my family would like!

Caminnc, that sounds wonderful! We're trying to stay away from mayo based slaw because the slaw will be sitting out a few hours, but I wouldn't mind trying that out on its own!

Yes you can't tell it has any mayo/sour cream in it, so be careful not to over do (she doesn't love anything white) and more onion and black pepper than you would think but if you get the portions right it's to die for.

This post was edited by caminnc on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 14:55

Just curious, how do you keep the cornbread in the bottom from getting soggy? It definitely sounds like a cute idea.

For the banana pudding in jars in the future, try it with a good pound cake cubed instead of nilla wafers, that is quite yummy.

Tish, keeping the cornbread dry is one of the reasons we'll use no sauce on the barbecue,and the slaw can't have too much liquid. The ones served at cousin's rehearsal dinner---which was a very casual supper at their home by the pool---were just perfect, and we hope to duplicate that. This was a wedding in a beach town and there were a lot of out of town relatives and guests. There were at least fifty people at the dinner; it was a low country boil, but these barbecue parfaits were def the hit of the party! The catering company had to have made a ton of them beforehand and they were just right in terms of taste and texture.

Chuck Muer restaurants in Michigan served the best vinegar slaw. Here's a link to the recipe:

Here is a link that might be useful: Chuck Muer vinegar slaw

Thanks!

Curious minds want to know if you and your choral society have picked a winning slaw recipe for the fall function?

Yes, arjay! We enjoyed a very successful slaw tasting, lol, trying all the ingredients together in different combinations. The unanimous slaw winner was the recipe from Bon Appetit:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 8-ounce packages coleslaw mix

Whisk first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Mix in green onions. Add coleslaw mix; toss.

The person who made this reduced the amount of sugar slightly. We thought the onions would be too strong but they were actually wonderful. And we ended up adding a small amount of a local Georgia vinegar based barbecue sauce to the pulled pork (because it needed some added moisture when sitting on top of a piece of cornbread) and added a tiny sweet gherkin pickle to the top! We christened this the Barbecue Parfait and I made twelve for our board meeting the next evening which were a huge hit with everyone.

We have purchased red and white gingham tablecloths and I bought 120 cotton bandanas in navy blue to use as napkins, and we have four darling blue pitchers shaped like mason jars to take to the florist for daisies. I think it will be a great themed reception for the bluegrass band, the singers and their families, and our patrons!

Btw, we are asking everyone who contributes food to this endeavor to use Martha White Cotton Country cornbread mix, as it is complete, EASY (just add water) and is not the least bit sweet.

I am already thinking about our Celtic concert in mid May....it is the last of the season and DH and I are throwing a massive pub crawl theme party the next night for singers and spouses/SOs, our patrons and program advertisers. I am going to have to come up with two beer options, two wines, and a signature cocktail that uses Irish whiskey! And a LOT of heavy hors d'oeuvres that are good and at least faintly Irish. So please be thinking, as I will be calling on the GW peeps for help on that one, too!