I figured Sheldon would know how to cut cabbage for cole slaw.

I make lots of coleslaw, now that I discovered it's the glucosimine
and chonroitin and the vitamin c pills that were doing havoc with my
stomach.

What I do is I take off the loose leaves and I like the green leaves
that are clean so I roll them up and slice them thinly and I also cut
them in half because they'll be too long.

Then I cut the rest of the cabbage in quarters and do a diagonal cut
to remove the hard stem. Then I cut each quarter in half and put them
in the Cuisinart with the thin blade. If it's a big cabbage you might
have to do extra surgery. That goes pretty fast. I also go through
the sliced cabbage looking for large or thick pieces, there are always
a few, and throw them in the Cuisinart with the chopping blade on
pulse a few times.

I use the shredding blade for the baby carrots, green pepper ( and
drain the liquid) and the thicker slicing blade for scallions and
celery. Then some vinegar (not too much maybe 1/3 of a cup, some mayo
( about a cup), some sugar (3/4 of a cup) or 10 splenda and some water
and you have great cole slaw. For a medium sized cabbage you should
get three quart containers. I never made it any other way than by
site so you may have to adjust some of the amounts.

On Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:26:06 -0400, brooklyn1
> wrote:

>On Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:11:31 -0700, sf > wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 11:09:21 +0100, "john hamilton"
> wrote:
>>
>>> Is there any way that professionals set about cutting up and then slicing a
>>> white cabbage very *finely* on one of those fixed blade graters (mandolin)?
>>>
>>> If you are not hitting the leaves in a certain direction, parts of leaves
>>> just float off. So is there a specefic economical way of cutting up; and
>>> then slicing to avoid this ?
>>>
>>
>>The only thing I can think of would be to slice it toward the core,
>>not away from it. Otherwise consider those leaves collateral damage
>>and slice them by hand when you're finished using the mandoline.
>
>No, no, no... cutting a cabbage towards the core is the worst thing to
>do... and using an ordinary mandoline will gaurantee you'll lose some
>skin. First thing is to remove those few loose very outer leaves, not
>really good for much other than compost. Next carefully slice off the
>very top of the head to create a small flat. Then slice off the stem
>flush to the head. Stand the head in your sink on the stem with flat
>up and run some cold water into the flat, this to crisp up the head,
>it will be easier to slice when crisp. Allow to drain. Stand on flat
>on a board and carfully bisect the head through the stem. Next lay
>each half on it's side and slice into quarters... with the stem core
>intact the leaves will hold solidly. Lay a quarter on its side on a
>board on a cut face with the other face facing away. With a large
>well sharpened chefs knife begin to slice at the top end working
>towards the core.. you'll be able to see when you are there... then
>stand the section on the flat you just made and continue to slice
>parallel to the core all around. Proceed to the next quarter. With
>experience one should be able to shred an entire head paper thin in
>under eight minutes. I like to use a carbon steel knife for shredding
>cabbage, they can be steeled to a much keener edge than any stainless
>steel cutlery. For one, two, even three heads once in a while one
>doesn't need a cabbage shredding device like the one I posted earlier,
>a hand held knife will more than suffice. It's not possible for a
>home style food processor to shred cabbage, it will produce a chewed
>up mess. For me the only time consuming part is to pare away the
>bitter outer parts of those core quarters to produce cook's treat.
>Those tough outter leaves are good for wrapping fish for grilling.