The Hirshon Ultimate Cole Slaw — Cole Slaw Image Used Under Creative Commons License From bigoven.com

My Citizens – whilst I continue My ongoing recovery from a truly horrible upper respiratory illness (bacterial, not COVID) the Count of Confession – YOUR TFD! – will share a guilty, dark secret with TFD Nation! …I have an unnatural and ravenous hunger for KFC cole slaw on a regular basis! Yes, I know it’s from a fast food giant. Yes, I know there are presumably better slaws out there. Yes, this is still my favorite guilty pleasure – but I am confident the Exarch of Experimentation can improve even upon their seminal recipe!

It is also worth noting that I am a commissioned Kentucky Colonel, which means I am not only honor-bound to enjoy KFC due to it being founded by my fellow Colonel (Sanders), but equally honor-bound to share just how good it actually is – though that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and improve upon it, as only the unstoppable force that is TFD can accomplish!

I prefer the minced texture of KFC-style slaw to sliced – the finely-chopped cabbage and carrot are easy to pile on a sandwich, a hot dog or just a spoon to enjoy straight! This style of cole slaw is distinctly Southern, as is the use of a buttermilk dressing for tang with a goodly amount of sugar to counterbalance the buttermilk and vinegar in the slaw – plus Southerners (as well as TFD!) have a known sweet tooth and this manifests in their cole slaw recipes. No purple cabbage will EVER see the light of day in my slaw recipes, BTW!

As it happens, the history of cole slaw is actually quite ancient, and the name’s origin is probably not what you were expecting! Allow the Hetman of History to regale you with the tale of cole slaw and why it has evolved into an American favorite all across the land! The origins of cole slaw can in fact be traced back as far as the ancient Romans, who served a dish of cabbage, vinegar, eggs and spices thousands of years ago.

Coleslaw, also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrette or mayonnaise. Coleslaw prepared with vinaigrette may benefit from the long lifespan granted by pickling. The term “coleslaw” arose in the 18th century as an anglicization of the Dutch term ‘koolsla’ (‘kool’ in Dutch sounds like ‘cole’) meaning ‘cabbage salad’.

The 1770 Dutch cookbook ‘The Sensible Cook’ (Dutch: ‘De Verstandige Kock’) contains a recipe attributed to the author’s Dutch landlady, who mixed thin strips of cabbage with melted butter, vinegar, and oil. The recipe for coleslaw as it is most commonly prepared is fairly young, as mayonnaise itself was not actually invented by the French as one of their so-called ‘mother sauces’ until the mid-18th century.

According to The Joy of Cooking (1997), raw cabbage is the only entirely consistent ingredient in coleslaw; the type of cabbage, dressing, and added ingredients vary widely. Vinaigrette, mayonnaise, and sour cream based dressings are all listed; bacon, carrots, bell peppers, pineapple, pickles, onions, and herbs are specifically mentioned as possible added ingredients.

As noted on the exceptional website culinarylore.com:

The term coleslaw came from the Dutch term koolsla, meaning cabbage salad. The kool part is the Dutch word for cabbage and the sla part is a Dutch abbreviation of the word salade.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Dutch settlers flooded into New York, so much so that the city was originally called New Amsterdam. They brought with them their recipe for chilled cabbage salad, which today is a mixture of the shredded vegetable with mayonnaise, salad dressing, sour cream or buttermilk with vinegar, sugar and other seasonings added.

The word kool eventually was anglicized into cole. Along the line, the original meaning of kool became a bit confused and many people thought it meant cold, especially since the salad was indeed served chilled. So there was an attempt to turn coleslaw into cold slaw, but it never really took hold. However, the term cold slaw is sometimes seen on restaurant menus, which, to me, is as offensive as tomatoes and carrots in a Caesar salad!

The word cabbage came into the English language in the Fifteenth century and gradually replaced the word cole. The term has persisted in Scotland as kale, which refers to a cabbage whose leaves curl outward instead of inward to form a head. The Dutch word for this was boerenkool, meaning “farmer’s cabbage.”

Today, in the United States, kale, once an important but humble green, is being recognized for its superb nutritional content, and its ability to grow in the worst of soils. Most people think of kale as one specific vegetable but in fact there are many different cultivars, some with different names.

The German version of the word cole exists in kohlrabi, meaning cabbage-turnip, which is another variety of cabbage. It is also present in the word cauliflower, which means “flowered cabbage.” The original origin of the word was probably the late Latin caulus, a variant of the Latin caulis which mean simply “stem.” This came into the Germanic languages early on. The terms hole and holloware also related, since originally the word had the connotation of describing a hollow stemmed plant.

The original wild cabbage, which is indigenous to the coastal areas of western Europe and Great Britain, did not form tight heads like the varieties we think of today as cabbage. The leaves grew outwards and the plant more resembled collards and the aforementioned kale than the domesticated varieties popular today.

There are many variations of the recipe, which include the addition of other ingredients such as purple cabbage, pepper, shredded carrots, onion, grated cheese, pineapple, or apple, mixed with a salad dressing such as mayonnaise or cream. A variety of seasonings, such as celery seed, may be added. The cabbage may come in finely-minced pieces, shredded strips, or small squares. Cream, sour cream, or buttermilk are also popular additions. Buttermilk coleslaw is most commonly found in the southern United States.

Today, cole slaw graces nearly every outdoor BBQ in the South and the buttermilk variant is in fact what the KFC version is based upon! North Carolinians love slaw – so much so that it graces their famous hot dog as a mandatory ingredient! While I dearly love the KFC version and have in fact cloned its flavor and texture profile to perfection, I have decided to gild the lily and make it fancier and in fact even more flavorful with My mastery of flavor and spicing sorcery!

First off, I add a single clove of roasted garlic, as I find it really enhances the overall flavor and enjoyment of the slaw – the roasting tempers and mellows the clove, never fear Citizens! You only need one clove – I recommend you use the remainder of the head of garlic to serve spread on slices of lightly-toasted country bread with olive oil from roasting the garlic head itself!

Next up – a secret (IMHO) of the finest Southern-style cole slaw – a more than liberal hint of kosher dill pickle juice! It’s just like adding vinegar, but lighter and with the added benefits of the spices from the pickle brine as well as a goodly hit of probiotics! Please be sure to get KOSHER garlic dill pickles for this – they do not use added vinegar, only the natural acetic acid produced by the probiotic bacteria in the brine. For a spicier version, you could try the brine from kimchi, but I like the pickle juice very well indeed here!

I prefer to add my spice instead from a hit of wasabi powder mixed with vinegar – it adds a sharp, spicy edge to the slaw that I just love. I prefer to use white pepper in my slaw to avoid the black ‘speckles’ from black pepper that detract from the look of the final product. A few minced capers add their briny, sour presence to the cole slaw and I do like to add a tiny bit of finely-ground coriander seed to the recipe as well.

Instead of the classic celery seeds, I instead opt for finely-ground radhuni seed instead – it’s a wild celery seed that IMHO has far better flavor and is used in many Indian Bengali recipes. It’s a far superior product to domestic celery seeds and I strongly recommend trying them – buy an excellent product from here. I have balanced the recipes multiple levels of sour by using different souring agents – capers, pickle juice, buttermilk, and lemon juice to achieve a perfect ratio of flavor against the relatively large amount of sugar.

My Citizens, I have every confidence that you will find great favor in the flavor of My ultimate cole slaw recipe – it’s KFC, but BETTER! I hope that people from all over our great nation can come together as one to endorse our love for cole slaw – wherever its origin, no matter the recipe – and enjoy its cooling and delicious sweet flavor on your table with the greatest of pride!

Battle on – the Generalissimo