Nishie's Slaw

My first memory of Nishie's slaw had to have been on a Saturday morning in the early 60s at our old house in Lattimore. The "Hewitt House", as it was called before we lived there, is a two story brick house with a big kitchen, lots of bedrooms, wide porches and wide hallways. The upstairs hallway was so wide that the five of us, and assorted friends and cousins could hula hoop and dance up there without bumping in to each other unless we wanted to. We did the 'wrangler stretch' and the Twist. We danced and sang with the new "Meet the Beatles" record. Sometimes we crawled out the upstairs windows and danced on the roof. This was a really fun house.

We spent alot of time outside 'jumping' on our trampoline and playing in the huge playhouse that Daddy had Slick Henderson build for us. Mama hung clothes outside on a clothesline and one time Judy's goat ate the clothes. That was the end of the goat. There was a huge fenced pasture in the back and some woods where my older sisters told me Bambi lived. We spent alot of time searching for 'Bambi's Cave'. It never occured to me that maybe deer didn't live in caves. Or that there probably weren't any caves in the Lattimore woods. It was all about the adventure. We had several horses - my favorite was a Tennesse Walker named Bud - and a small tack room with saddles and bridles and horse blankets. I loved the smell of leather and horsefeed in the tackroom. On Saturday mornings, we watched shows about horses like "My Friend Flicka" and "Fury" and other westerns like "Sky King". We watched these shows upstairs in the 'private room'. Today's version of the man cave. Daddy loved to hunt and had alot of bird dogs so Mama fixed up the 'private room' with a masculine hunting decor. It had curtains with bird dog fabric, pine paneling, a big black and white TV and a dark green couch so Daddy could get away from the craziness that living in a house with five daughters can create. The room never was private. We all piled in there and I'm not sure Daddy was ever in there by himself.

While we were watching the Saturday morning westerns, Nishie and Mama would be in the kitchen downstairs cooking fried fish, pintos, cornbread and slaw for Saturday lunch. There were no fast food places and very few restaurants anywhere close by so we ate most meals at home.

Nishie's slaw is a favorite today although, like all recipes, Mama continues to make little changes to make it better. Nishie's slaw consisted of cabbage, onion, mayonaise, cider vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. She added a little lettuce (that she called lettish) to make it tender. Mama adds a little grated carrot and sometimes green pepper or red cabbage to add color. She says we should eat something of every color because the colors make everything prettier and healthier. If she didn't have something colorful to add to the slaw, she would slice red tomatoes and arrange them on a plate in a circle with the slaw in the middle.

The most important things about slaw are 1) slice up the cabbage to the perfect thinness; 2) the onions should be sweet, not hot and they need to be uniformly chopped. Mama taught Daddy how to make slaw and now he has become an expert at slicing and chopping the perfect size.

This is another recipe with no amounts so you have to use trial and error. It starts with a head of cabbage, a head of lettish, and a big sweet onion. Add small amounts of mayo, vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper until you get it right. Mama says to start with small amounts because 'you can always add more, but you can't add less'.

Nishie's Slaw

Grate a head of Green Cabbage (we finely slice it now - angel hair style)
Chop a little Lettish (we use one head now)
1 Tbsp of Vinegar
Some Chopped Onions (diced small and uniform)
Mayonaise till it looks right (use less than you might think)
Pinch of sugar
Salt and Pepper

Mama and Daddy Add:
Grated Carrot
Sometimes a little chopped green pepper, red cabbage, red onion for color

I fixed Nishie's slaw for this year's Easter Saturday Supper. Sometimes, it's necessary to deviate from the standard menu and this Easter we needed a little additional comfort food. So we added Peas, Slaw and cornbread to the Typical Easter menu. There is nothing better than peas, slaw and cornbread.

Mama taught me how to make cornbread and that deserves a post of it's own.