Old King ColeSlaw-
Summer classic takes on new dimensions, new flavors

With cookout season in full swing, Matthew Pivnick, executive chef at Gary's Wine & Marketplace in Madison, counts on a combination of cabbage, radicchio, frisée and avocado tossed with a mayonnaise dressing flavored with citrus juice, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce as a surefire crowd pleaser.

"That salad is a home-run hit every single time," he said. Garnished with wontons and orange segments, it is, at heart, simply a coleslaw.

The darling of diners and delis, coleslaw is classic summer fare. "It tends to lean toward barbecued food, grilling. It's light and fresh," said Pivnick. "It's a great dish. Everyone has it, so you can't really turn your nose up at coleslaw."

Strictly speaking, coleslaw requires but one ingredient: shredded cabbage. Its name comes from the Dutch, koolsla, a shorted form of koolsalade, which means "cole salad" or "cabbage salad." Mayonnaise, which often is used to dress coleslaw, is actually not essential. Neither is vinegar, which is often used to cream the mayonnaise into a sauce, explained Pivnick.

In many European countries, coleslaw is commonly made with vinegar and oil and a variety of seasonings. In Sweden, for example, shredded cabbage tossed with vinegar and oil is typically served as an accompaniment to pizza. In the southern region of the United States, coleslaw is a popular topping for hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue sandwiches.

"The typical green cabbage and carrot coleslaw is very pedestrian," said David Kamen, a professor of culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. "We are seeing lots of variations on that theme."

In one continuing education class, for example, CIA students prepared a warm slaw in which red and green cabbage was wilted in hot oil before being tossed with vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and caraway seeds. Adding an uncommon ingredient, such as finely shredded fennel, or even substituting it entirely for the cabbage is another way to give coleslaw a new spin. "It has a similar texture, but it's got a way different flavor," said Kamen.

"You can change the flavor profile by changing the vinegar," he added -- for example, by substituting white balsamic for red wine vinegar, or even opting for lemon or lime juice instead. "If you want a creamy base, you can use buttermilk or sour cream instead of mayonnaise. We could go at this for days."

One of the world's oldest cultivated vegetables, cabbage, the main ingredient in coleslaw, is the ancestor of the other cole crops -- broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi -- heading the family of cruciferous vegetables, which get their name from their cross-shaped flowers (crux or crucis is Latin for "cross").

Currently, local growers are harvesting their spring crop, which was planted in March, said Wes Kline, a vegetable specialist with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County. But fresh cabbage sales tend to be sluggish in summer because of the availability of summer vegetables and because the fall cabbage crop, which produces larger heads in the cooler weather, has a reputation for being sweeter.

Demand for fresh shredded cabbage, however, is steady year-round at F&S Produce Company, Inc., in Rosenhayn (Salem County), which cuts several tons of cabbage each week for institutional clients like cafeterias and supermarket deli operations, said Sam Burleson, the company's vice president of sales and marketing. A native of New Orleans, Burleson recalls regularly eating homemade coleslaw with fried fish as a child. "People aren't doing that stuff at home any more," he said. As the demand for take-out has risen, so has the call for shredded cabbage from his institutional customers -- so much so that he estimates that sales have doubled in the last 10 years.

Though tempting to pick up at a local market, coleslaw is easy to prepare. And since it requires a few hours in the refrigerator to allow the flavor of its ingredients to properly meld, it's the perfect make-ahead dish for entertaining at home or contributing to a friend's buffet table. When serving coleslaw made with mayonnaise outdoors in hot weather, Pivnick recommends cutting and chilling the ingredients separately the night before they're assembled and keeping the salad refrigerated until ready to eat. "Put it out at the last second a small batch at a time," he suggested.

For best results, use a very sharp knife or mandolin to shred the cabbage instead of a food processor, said Pivnick. "When you cut something too many times, you're not cutting it any more; you're just bruising it. The water will bleed out and you'll end up with a runny mess. Hand-cutting minimizes the damage done to the leaf," he explained.

Another way to ensure that the coleslaw doesn't become watery is to avoid adding ingredients with a high moisture content, such as cucumbers and tomatoes. Carrots, onions and celery are good choices, as are Brussels sprouts, which "are just mini cabbages," said Pivnick.

"Consistency is key," he noted. "Some like it really mayonnaisey, some like it less." As with any salad, the dressing should never drown the main ingredients, however. Seasonings to consider include garlic, dill, basil, parsley, oregano and red pepper flakes, in addition to the more commonly used caraway seeds, salt and pepper.

For color interest, combine red and green cabbage. That will also boost the dish's nutritional content. All cabbages are rich in isothiocyanates, cancer-preventing compounds, but red cabbage has almost twice as much vitamin C as green cabbage, plus cancer-fighting anthocyanins, phytochemicals that give it its brilliant color. Green cabbage, however, has about twice the amount of folate as red cabbage.

Summer, alas, isn't endless, but when it comes to preparing coleslaw, it seems the possibilities just may be.