Green Cabbage

On the few nights that he is not at Lantern, Miguel cooks Mexican at home. He has not seen his family since moving to North Carolina in 1999, and the goal of his home cooking is to make his dishes taste as close to his mother’s and grandmother’s as possible with the ingredients he can get here. He thinks that he is getting close with these carnitas.

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of boiled potatoes mashed with green onions, leeks or sometimes chives, kale or cabbage, and milk or cream. I like mine extremely green, with lots of black pepper.

Coleslaw is probably the side dish most often associated with barbecue, and its simple flavors match so well with smoked meat. The most common varieties include vinegar-based, mayonnaise-based, and mustard-based. Big Bob Gibson realized the harmonious relationship between slaw and barbecue early on. When he opened his first restaurant, vinegar slaw and Golden Flake potato chips were his only side-dish offerings, and a sweet tangy scoop of his coleslaw graced every barbecue sandwich that left the kitchen. As he told his customers, “If ya don’t like slaw, scrape it off!” Very little has changed in more than eighty years at the restaurant, including Big Bob’s original coleslaw recipe.

When it comes to side dishes, Big Bob felt keeping it simple was the way to go. Consequently you won’t find a long list of accompaniments to choose from on our menu, just potato salad, slaw, baked beans, and potato chips. His original vinegar-based coleslaw (see page 176), made from only four ingredients, was the only slaw that was ever used in the restaurant. In 2003, Martha Stewart wanted to feature some of our favorite Southern-style sides on her television show and requested both baked bean and slaw recipes. We happily sent her recipes for half the side dishes on our menu. The next day we learned the show preferred we give them a “customary” mustard-based slaw typical of the Memphis Barbecue Region. I’d never heard of such a slaw, but who can argue with Martha Stewart? Thus was Crisp Spicy Southern Mustard Coleslaw born. The recipe has since been served to raves at the James Beard Foundation in New York City and at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.

Sprinkling the onions with salt as they cook not only seasons them, but extracts some of the water and intensifies their flavor. Keep the water hot before adding it to the soup, as described below, and you won’t interrupt the cooking—it will flow smoothly from start to end. Remember this when braising meats like the short ribs on page 218, or when making risotto. You can use the method outlined below—bringing the beans to a boil, then soaking them in hot water for an hour—anytime you want to cook beans without soaking them overnight, or anytime you’ve forgotten to soak them a day in advance. It works especially well here because, by soaking the pork along with the beans, you kill two birds with one stone. (I soak the dried or cured pork to remove some of the intense curing-and-smoking flavor. If you like it intense, just rinse the pork under cold water before adding it to the soup.)

Pat: In Memphis, if you run a barbecue joint, you better have coleslaw on your menu and it better be good (ours is some of the very best). Indeed, you could spend a day in Memphis tasting slaw from rib joints all over town. And yet there are people who visit our fair city who are hesitant to try it, especially folks from the West Coast. This is a mystery to me. Coleslaw and pulled pork go together like lettuce and tomatoes on a burger, and salted peanuts in a bottle of pop (I bet some of you haven’t tried that, either). Bottom line: You come down Memphis way, you have to try our slaw. When we started Neely’s, Tony and I recognized the importance of slaw and knew we would have to come up with a killer recipe, one that would complement our sandwiches and our sauce. It had to be sweet yet spicy, because our barbecue sauce was truly mild. We also wanted it to be coarse and fresh (with a little onion flavor, and carrots for color). A big key for us was using two types of pepper, black and cayenne, which work together as well as Tony and I do. Then came some sugar, as sweet as my Gina. All of these ingredients have given us a coleslaw we are very proud of. For years in the restaurant this was my dish—no one made it for either location but me. I didn’t use measuring cups; everything was done by feel. As we grew, I knew I would eventually have to develop it into a standard recipe so others could make it. Now we have customers who come in and buy slaw by the bucket to take home and have with their catfish, spaghetti, or whatever they are cooking. This recipe will convert even those West Coast hard-liners who claim they “don’t eat slaw.” Gina: On our show, we like to tease that Pat is the sweet and I am the spicy (only my man knows for sure!). At Neely’s restaurants, the famous and addictive coleslaw happens to be both. We often double this recipe for parties, because leftovers are so delicious (and a food processor makes quick work of all that shredding). When making this slaw at home, it’s a good idea to use both red and green cabbage. It’ll give your slaw more color. Be sure to select the freshest, best-looking cabbage available for the prettiest, crispest, and crunchiest coleslaw you have ever tasted.

You'll achieve fresh, fiery flavor for only a few calories with this Mexican stew. And although hominy isn't technically a whole grain (the germ and hull are removed), its high fiber makes it a bona fide waist-whittling carb.

This recipe originally accompanied Baja Fish Tacos .

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. Although this dish is eaten less frequently nowadays in Ireland, for Irish expatriots it conjures up powerful nostalgic images of a rural Irish past. Originally it was a traditional Easter Sunday dinner. The beef, killed before the winter, would have been salted and could now be eaten after the long Lenten fast, with fresh green cabbage and floury potatoes. Our local butcher corns beef in the slow, old-fashioned way which, alas, is nowadays more the exception than the norm.

Classic stuffed cabbage is a time-consuming endeavor. This unorthodox version, which uses dried cranberries and a combination of beef and pork, is much easier—and, we like to think, even better.

This finely chopped slaw has just the right balance of sweet and tart. It goes on top of the pulled pork, not alongside it.

Editor's note: The recipe below is adapted from Elizabeth Karmel's Web site, girlsatthegrill.com. This coleslaw originally accompanied Karmel's recipe for North Carolina Style Pulled Pork.

Encurtido de repollo In addition to mounding this refreshing slaw on every bite of the Salvadoran Stuffed Masa Cakes , you can proudly serve it as an accompaniment to burgers or grilled chicken.

Spicing up store-bought barbecue sauce with a touch of cayenne and a splash of vinegar is an easy trick that makes a big difference. Here, pork burgers get a triple hit of flavor: The sauce gets mixed into the meat, slathered onto the cooked burgers for the last minute of grilling, and brushed on the bun. A cabbage slaw with a creamy dressing tops them off with just the right crunch.

This vegetarian showstopper will bowl you over with its layers of flavor — one bite is enough to understand why it's often called one of the world's great dishes. Barley couscous, lighter and more aromatic than the well-known semolina version, serves as a nutty, fluffy base; tender-firm vegetables and a fragrant, golden broth are ladled over; and crunchy fried almonds and sweet onion confit add even more texture and flavor to the beguiling complexity.

Editor's note: This recipe is reprinted from The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook, by Sharon Lebewohl and Rena Bulkin. On Succoth, a joyous seven-day autumn harvest festival (a kind of Jewish Thanksgiving), stuffed foods—most notably holishkes, but also kreplach, stuffed peppers, and strudels—are served to symbolize abundance. Stuffed cabbage has been a staple of Jewish cooking since the fourteenth century, when it was introduced in Russia by Tartars. There are an infinity of recipes for it, both Eastern European and Middle Eastern; ours, in a sweet-and-sour sauce, is of Polish derivation. Note: When you're confronted with a bin of cabbages, you'll notice that some are quite light, whereas others have the heft of bowling balls. Choose the lightest ones for stuffing; their leaves peel off much more easily.

Sugar snap peas add a fresh crispness to this slaw; buttermilk dressing keeps it tangy and light and contrasts nicely with the other dishes on this menu. And it's so easy to make. We bet that, after a taste, you'll never rely on that mayonnaisey deli slaw again.