"Watch Out, Vodka" Winter Salad

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather the ingredients for the salad. This salad is best made with fall-variety vegetables—ripe and juicy, but fresh and unblemished—since the recipe uses minimal cooking. Pull the outer leaves off the cabbage (use a firm head), cut out the core, and shred the cabbage into thin strips. Put it in a bowl and scrunch it with your hands so it releases its juice.

2. Step 2:

   

   Wash the bell peppers, remove the seeds and core, rinse again, and cut them into thin strips.

3. Step 3:

   

   Wash and peel the carrots and grate them on the coarse side. A food processor can speed this up.

4. Step 4:

   

   Peel the onion and cut it into quarter-rings.

5. Step 5:

   

   Wash the cucumbers, trim the ends, and dice them—or cut them into strips or rounds, whichever you like.

6. Step 6:

   

   Wash the tomatoes, cut out the stem ends, and cut them into wedges.

7. Step 7:

   

   Put all the prepped vegetables in a pot or other metal container—just not aluminum, which would react and release unwanted compounds. Add the sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and vinegar, and stir everything together. Cover and let it sit for an hour, so the vegetables marinate well.

8. Step 8:

   

   Then set the pot of salad over the heat, bring it to a boil, lower the heat to medium, and cook for about ten minutes, stirring now and then—gently, ideally with a wooden spoon, so you don't turn the vegetables to mush. Meanwhile, sterilize your jars; small ones are best, so a jar gets eaten in one go once it's opened. You can sterilize the jars in a water bath or in the oven. Boil and dry the lids too.

9. Step 9:

   

   Pack the finished salad into the sterilized jars and pour the marinade left in the pot over the top. Seal with canning lids or screw-top lids. Let the salad cool somewhere warm: turn the jars upside down and cover them with a warm blanket. Leave them until completely cool. After a day, move the jars to a cold place for storage. Enjoy!