āColeslawā is thought to come from the Dutch koolsla (kool meaning cabbage, sla meaning salad). I bring this up defensively; thereās been some recent disagreement around these parts about the true nature of slaw.
The source of the trouble is a Southern side dish called hot slaw, found ināamong other placesāThe Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, whose authors, Matt and Ted Lee, came across the dish at the Greyhound Tavern, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. (The dish contains bacon, so naturally Paula Deen has a recipe too.) The āhotā here denotes how itās served: warm (though in truth it is a little spicy too, and in further truth itās great at room temperature). And this is what caused the consternation. A colleague asked: Can a slaw be hot, or is slaw by its very nature cold? And wouldnāt āwarm braised vinegary cabbageā be a more accurate name, or at least one that would sound less like a salad left too long in the sun?
The skeptical may change their tune when presented with the slaw itself: sliced cabbage lightly cooked in an assertive dressing of bacon fat and vinegar, popping with celery seed and red pepper flakes, studded with chunks of slab bacon. Hot slaw is the brawnier, bolder cousin of warm spinach salad; it's a safer bet for potlucks than its mayo-dressed cousins; and it is the absolute perfect complement to fried chicken. Or grilled chicken. Or any kind of chicken, for that matter. Or just meat, in general.
Anyway, history wonāt let us rename itāāhot slawā has been in the lexicon for centuries. A recipe in the 1839 cookbook Kentucky Housewife instructs makers of āwarm slaughā to cook cabbage in butter, vinegar, salt, pepper, and unnamed āseasoningsā just until itās heated, then garnish it with hard-boiled egg yolks. (The author of Kentucky Housewife was named Lettice Bryan, so where vegetables are concerned I think she knows what sheās talking about.) A version appeared in the 1915 Suffrage Cook Book suggesting the mixtureāhere called āhot slawāābe cooked for 20 minutes. (Alas, no bacon in this one either.) It seems that in the history of slaw, it's the cold mayonnaise dressing that is the interloper, the aioli-come-lately. Vinegar slaw, cool or hot, was there first.
