How James Beard Award Winner Alice Waters Adds Heat To Boring Coleslaw

Coleslaw is a great side dish that goes with many of our favorite foods, but there are several ways to make it even better when you make it at home. Beyond ensuring you don't use too much dressing — which is one of the key reasons why restaurant coleslaw is usually better than homemade — adding some spice to the mix is always a great way to level up the dish, and Alice Waters knows the perfect method to do so. The multi-time James Beard Award winner suggests adding a large jalapeno rather than a spicy sauce or paste to increase the heat optimally.

Jalapenos are among the most underrated coleslaw add-ins, as they can be a pivotal aspect of the dish when used correctly. For Waters' coleslaw recipe, which she first shared with New York Times Cooking, the green pepper is especially vital, as it is one of just a few vegetables included in the dish. As far as the heat is concerned, jalapenos can give your coleslaw varying amounts of spiciness depending on how many seeds you decide to leave in the recipe. While Waters suggests removing the seeds altogether before finely dicing the pepper, leaving the seeds in translates to a hotter dish overall.

When it comes to jalapenos, the big question is whether you should pickle them first or leave them as is when adding them to coleslaw. While I find that pickled jalapenos blend with the taste of coleslaw even better than fresh ones do, Waters' five-star recipe didn't specify which type of jalapeno to use, so it's ultimately a matter of personal preference.

Outside of her ingenious use of jalapenos, the rest of Alice Waters' coleslaw recipe is as strong as they come, using several other key ingredients that make it unlike standard homemade coleslaw. For starters, Waters uses green cabbage (likely the best kind of cabbage to use for coleslaw) to give it a crispy texture and more malleable flavor. From there, she skips out on mayo entirely, opting to make a dressing composed of lime juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sugar instead. Chopped red onions and cilantro are added to the mix to complete the slaw, giving it a strong taste full of intricate flavors that are capable of completely changing the way you look at the staple dish.