Over the weekend, I hosted a few friends to watch the Kentucky Derby and eat on my back patio. Apart from the 30 seconds when I left a slab of ribs unattended on the grill, it was a great day of cooking and baking that included a batch of fried chicken biscuit sandwiches I’m still thinking about 48 hours later.
First of all, the biscuits. They made me wonder why I hadn’t baked a batch in something like a decade and a half. When I was in high school, I made biscuits at least once a month. It’s easy, gives you an almost immediate payoff (no yeast! no proofing!) and delivers what I consider to be the platonic ideal of a breakfast bread, which can also live on through lunch.
As I planned my sandwiches for Saturday, I knew I wanted lightly breaded chicken, sharp white cheddar and some element of crunch. I bought a head of red cabbage and improvised. I plucked mint from the garden and whisked together miso, honey, buttermilk and a few spices. I liked what I came up with a lot, which meant the next day involved a trip back to the grocery, more cabbage, more buttermilk, lots of recipe tweaking and even more whisking. My mint plant needs a week or two to recover.
The finished product is a slaw that can stand on its own as a side dish at a summer barbecue or live happily atop pulled pork or fried chicken. Remember to consider a biscuit instead of a bun.
½ cup buttermilk
⅓ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 head of green cabbage
½ head of purple cabbage
10 scallions
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (about 20 leaves, give or take)
//1//Whisk the buttermilk, sour cream, miso and honey together in a small bowl until the miso is fully incorporated. I like to use a glass bowl — or even a liquid measuring cup — so you can see if there are any miso clumps lurking at the bottom.
//2//Add the paprika, pepper and salt, and whisk some more.
//3//Slice the cabbage into thin strips, and then chop those strips into small pieces. Slice the scallions on a diagonal, using all but the last quarter or so, the very greenest part. Pile the mint into two or three stacks, rolling each up into a tight cylinder, and then slice each cylinder on the diagonal. so you wind up with thin strips of mint. Mix the cabbage, scallions and mint together in a large bowl.
//3//Add the dressing to the cabbage/scallion/mint mixture. You should have just about a cup of dressing, which should be pretty perfect for 1½ heads of cabbage — but since every cabbage is a slightly different size, be judicious! Pour slowly! Taste as you go! You don’t want soggy slaw. Let the whole concoction come together in the fridge overnight, and then use it as a side dish or — my preference — as a garnish on a fried chicken or pulled pork sandwich.
Note: This makes a decent amount of slaw, so go ahead and halve the recipe if need be, especially if you’re using it for a garnish rather than a side. Also, if you’re halving and you’re not in the mood to buy a whole red cabbage just to only use a quarter of it, skip it and go all green. The red cabbage does offer a slightly crunchier vibe and a fun splash of color, but losing it won’t upend the taste, which is all that really matters.
Sounds delicious 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻