I grew up in the Village of Manchester, just outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan. We take great honor in being the home of the FAMOUS (yes, really) Chicken Broil, a 600+ volunteer driven event that raises funds for community projects and organizations from band uniforms to Boy Scout equipment and just about anything in between. Chances are if you were a kid and grew up in Manchester, or have kids and currently live in Manchester, you have received some benefit from the cash raised by this mostly-male driven event which serves this amount of food in 4 hours:
- 19,000 lbs chicken
- 9,600 lbs charcoal
- 256 lbs butter plus 14,000 butter pats
- 48 22-oz containers of salt for chicken and dressing
- 1,100 lbs radishes
- 14,000 dinner rolls
- 40 gallons of vegetable oil for dressing
- 84 crates of cabbage
- 14,000 1-oz. potato chip bags
- 500 aprons and gloves
In honor of the 58th Manchester Chicken Broil serving over 12,000 meals this Thursday, I give you…. the secret recipe for the only vegetarian component of the meal, besides the roll. Which, let’s be honest, that’s not really part of the meal, it’s the afterthought/filler.
MANCHESTER CHICKEN BROIL FAMOUS COLE SLAW DRESSING
- 10 T sugar (or sugar substitute, I’ve used as little as 3 T sugar with great results)
- 1/2 C vinegar (white preferred, but I usually use rice vinegar)
- 1 C canola or veg oil
- 1 1/2 tsp Coleman’s dry mustard (no subs here)
- 1 T dried minced onions (I’ve used onion powder before, no probs)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T celery seeds
Add ingredients to a glass canning jar, shake well until all sweetener dissolves and serve over shredded cabbage.
Veg Bon Vivant 