(Great) Grandma's Coleslaw

Going through my mother's cookbooks, I found this recipe for coleslaw tucked away:

(Great) Grandma's Coleslaw

1 Small Head Green Cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Small Onion, Minced
1 Small Green Pepper, Cut Rings for Garnish, Finely Chop Remainder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 C (1/2 Stick) Butter or Margarine
1 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 C Sugar
1 C Vinegar
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 tsp Celery Seed
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Eggs

Use outer leaves to line bowl.
Coarsely shred cabbage. Shred carrots.
Add together with onion, green pepper and 1/2 salt.
Toss and set aside. Melt butter, stir in flour.
Add sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery seed, pepper and remaining salt.
When hot, but not boiling, remove from heat; set aside.
Beat eggs. Whip in about 4 Tbsp of vinegar mixture into eggs, adding 1 Tbsp at a time.
Cook over medium heat, stir constantly until thickens.

These instructions are missing the implied step of adding the tempered eggs back into the vinegar mixture.

So, we gave this a try. Way too sweet for my brother and me. Next time, half the sugar or less, more of all the spices, add some black pepper. I had never seen this type of butter/flour/egg sauce before.

My great-grandmother, Mama Maude. I believe that it was her coleslaw my mother was trying to recreate when she wrote this recipe down; and, someone told her that it was, in fact, my great-great-grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Powell Shepherd's (b.1867) recipe, passed down to Mama Maude and her eight daughters.

How our tastes change. My mother taught me to make coleslaw without any sugar. My brother starts with the Joy of Cooking recipe, so about a tablespoon. I grew up with a mayonnaise-based slaw. Some carrot, onion, dill pickle and a bit of the pickle juice. Sometimes a little horseradish and caraway seed. Good with fried fish or barbecue.