It no longer has a subject index, but Edge says his coleslaw research definitely expanded. "I took another tour around the South to update and expand 'Southern Belly,'" said Edge. "It did bring into relief the prevalence and the diversity of coleslaw.
" The Carolinas aren't the only place that puts coleslaw on a barbecue sandwich. Edge found that in Mississippi and Memphis, too. "But it's integrated in the Carolinas.
I see a high preponderance of slaw dogs in the Carolinas. I see French fries dipped in slaw in the Carolinas." Then there's the slaw that the rest of the country can't even imagine: The strange slaw-sauce of R.
O.'s Barbecue in Gastonia. A soupy mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup, hot spices and a little minced cabbage and relish, it's slathered on sandwiches and served in cups with a spoon.
People buy it by the quart for everything from hot dogs to chip dip. "It's like the bastard child of McDonald's special sauce and bloodshot coleslaw (red slaw)," says Edge, who added a page about R.O.
's slaw to the new book. "It's no longer recognizable as slaw by anyone unless they are from Gastonia or read the label." Who knows how the many coleslaws of the Carolinas got started?
Cabbage is cheap, a little cabbage makes a lot of coleslaw, and it keeps for several days. But the Fourth of July seems like a great time to salute the Carolinas' unique tastes in coleslaw. Call it a metaphor for a melting pot nation: Just another example of a people united by their differences.
|(Serves 6 to 8)| Yes, most places that serve mustard-based slaw probably use mayonnaise, not cream. But this version from Bill Smith, chef of the Chapel Hill restaurant Crook's Corner, is a change worth making. It no longer has a subject index, but Edge says his coleslaw research definitely expanded.
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