Pineapple Coleslaw

Late October and the city is doing its Halloween thing — carved pumpkins on every stoop in Bay View, leaves coming down in earnest now. I put a pumpkin on our apartment steps last weekend and Megan drew a face on it with a marker instead of carving it. I asked why and she said carving pumpkins is a gateway to finger injuries and she has to write on a whiteboard all day. I love her practical brain.

I've been on a smoked meat kick lately. The balcony smoker has been getting a workout. This week I did a pork shoulder — twelve-hour smoke, cherry wood and apple wood, starting at midnight so it's ready in the afternoon. There is something almost meditative about a long smoke. You set the temperature, you check it every hour or so, you go about your life and the smoke does the work. Megan woke up at three in the morning and said the apartment smelled like a barbecue restaurant, which she meant as a concern and I meant as a compliment and we were both right.

Pulled pork for dinner, sandwiches the next day, went into a pasta sauce the day after that. One twelve-pound shoulder lasts a very long time for two people. Not complaining.

Spent some time this week working on the RecipeSpinoff post for the smoked pork shoulder. I've been thinking about what makes a really useful recipe post versus just a recipe post, and I think the answer is honesty about what can go wrong. My first long smoke, four years ago, I let the temperature drift too low for three hours and the pork sat in the danger zone long enough to make me nervous. Nothing bad happened but I've been obsessive about temperature logs ever since. I put that story in the post. I think people learn more from the mistakes than from the perfect results.

Bachelor party conversations are starting. My buddy Kevin from the brewery wants to do a weekend in Chicago. My friend Marcus (different Marcus, not my work Marcus) wants to go fishing in the UP. I suggested bowling and a brewpub because I am thirty-two years old and the brewpub option sounds genuinely more fun to me than either of those. I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm choosing not to worry about it.

The twelve-hour smoke is the main event, but the sandwich-the-next-day situation is honestly where the whole project pays off — and a good pulled pork sandwich needs something bright and crunchy to cut through all that rich smoke. This pineapple coleslaw has become my automatic move whenever a pork shoulder comes off the smoker. It takes about fifteen minutes, it’s done before you’ve even finished pulling the pork, and the sweetness of the pineapple against the vinegar dressing does exactly what you want it to do alongside the cherry-and-apple-wood flavor in the meat.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min (plus 30 min chill) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 small head green cabbage (about 6 cups), thinly shredded
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple, well drained, juice reserved
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Drain the pineapple. Press the crushed pineapple through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing firmly with the back of a spoon to remove as much liquid as possible. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice for the dressing. Set the drained pineapple aside.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, reserved pineapple juice, honey, celery seed, salt, and pepper until smooth and well combined.
Combine the slaw. Add the green cabbage, purple cabbage, carrots, drained pineapple, and green onions to the bowl. Toss thoroughly until everything is evenly coated in the dressing.
Taste and adjust. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed. If you want more tang, add another splash of apple cider vinegar. If you want it a little sweeter, add a touch more honey.
Chill before serving. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. This gives the cabbage time to soften slightly and the flavors time to come together. The coleslaw keeps well covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pineapple Coleslaw — The Side That Made Our Pulled Pork Sandwiches Unforgettable