Why This Recipe Works

There’s nothing like spice to cut through smoky, sweet, fatty barbecue. So for this recipe, we used a three-pronged approach to turn up the heat in this common barbecue side dish. But before we could concentrate on the dressing, we needed to work on the cabbage, which contains a good amount of water. Tossing the chopped cabbage with a little salt and sugar before dressing it drew out the vegetable’s excess water and kept the dressing from becoming diluted. Microwaving the cabbage for a few minutes accelerated the draining process. For the dressing, we combined horseradish, dry mustard, and cayenne to create a dynamic, spicy kick.

Before You Begin

To save time, we shred the cabbage in a food processor fitted with a slicing disk. If you don’t have a food processor, slice the cabbage wedges crosswise 1/8 inch thick. Shred the carrots on the large holes of a box grater. For an extra spicy kick, up the horseradish to 2 tablespoons. The flavors will intensify as the coleslaw chills.

Instructions

Toss cabbage, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in bowl. Microwave, covered, until just beginning to wilt, about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Transfer half of cabbage to center of clean dish towel. Gather ends of towel to form bundle and twist to squeeze out excess water. Transfer to clean bowl and repeat with remaining cabbage.

Whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, horseradish, Worcestershire, garlic, mustard, cayenne, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in large bowl until smooth. Stir in cabbage and carrots and refrigerate, covered, until chilled, at least 1 hour. Serve. (Coleslaw can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)