[wtdedula]

Hello All;
I am wondering what tool or machine is most commonly used for chopping cabbage for cole slaw by the experts ? Thanks.

Tim

[phatch]

I would think a basic kitchen knife though that's a broad category.

[boar_d_laze]

With good knife skills:

Half a dozen heads of cabbage or less: Chef's knife, 9-1/2" or longer. If you know what a usuba is, it doesn't need comment. Same if you don't. Box of cabbage or more: Power grater like a food processor or grater attachment for a stand mixer. Some number of heads in between, depends on available time and particular degree of ignorance at the moment.

Lousy knife skills:

Box grater for one or two heads, but if more cabbage a food processor or stand mixer.

If you prefer "chopped slaw" (like KFC), an FP for any amount more than two heads, no matter what your skills. It's just too messy otherwise.

Good luck
BDL

[bughut]

No matter the volume, the knife you like.

You get through it in no time and there's a lot less washing up if you ignore the processor. ( besides, it leaves big chunky bits you have to sift through and chop anyway).

[ED BUCHANAN]

Run the 1/2 cored out heads on meat slicer(for cases)

French knife for under a case(i'ts good practice for you)

[amazingrace]

I prefer shredded cabbage for cole slaw, rather than chopped or grated. I get the best results with my adjustable manoline, as it can be set to make very fine slices. Not a lot of cleaning up. After a quick rinse to knock off the loose stuff, it goes into the dishwasher. I do handwash the blade, mainly because the thing is wicked sharp, and I don't want it in the DW, since taking out the clean dishes is hubby's self-appointed duty. He has fumble thumbs, , so I try to minimize risk as much as possible for him. I do occasionally use the food processor with the slicer-blade, if I'm hurrying, but I don't really care for the results, and it seems to me a lot more cleaning up afterward.

[MikeLM]

When we hung out at antique stores and fairs, we saw a lot of of home-made, wooden cabbage-shredding mandolines - with metal blades - from the days when families put away serious quantities of kraut for the winter.

I remember my father, a Kraut himself - from a southeast Missouri farming family - made kraut during WW II and stored it in a large earthenware crock in the root cellar in our house, built in the mid-1930's, in Bethesda, MD.

I doubt if many families in Bethesda make kraut these days.

Mike

[KYHeirloomer]

It's not a question of what "experts" do. It's a question of quantity.

For the typical home cook, who is doing one or two or even three heads of cabbage, there's no need to ever consider any other tool but a sharp chef's knife. It's the fastest, easiest way to shred or chop the cabbage. The longer the better. I wouldn't think of anything shorter than 8" myself, and prefer my 10" blade.

In my experince, most home cooks are more comfortable quartering the cabbage, coring each quarter, and then slicing away. More experienced knife workers usually just halve them.

If you happen to have a mandolin then use it---carefully---cuz it's quick and does make uniform cuts. With cabbage you pretty much have to quarter the cabbage. But, despite all the talk, I wonder how many home cooks actually own one? And of those who do, how many are actually comfortable using one?

For more than two or three heads, power tools come into play. But how many times does a home cook do that sort of quantity? Certainly not for making slaw.

[MikeLM]

"...more than two or three heads, power tools come into play."

I've got an eight-inch jointer which should be able to process a truckload of cabbage in a few minutes.

It would be a little hard to gather up, though.

Mike

[buzzard767]

How about the 300mm Hiromoto HC on the right. That ought to do the trick.

[KYHeirloomer]

>It would be a little hard to gather up, though. <

Nah, Mike. That's what that fancy vacumn system is there for.