[2] Conventional American cole slaw with mayonnaise (photo © Blu Restaurant | NYC [alas, now closed]).

[3] Vietnamese fish sauce (photo © Red Boat).

So many slaws, so little time! On summer weekends, we try different slaw recipes and different potato salads.

When made without mayonnaise, cole slaw is a very low-calorie food, and cabbage is an antioxidant-packed cruciferous vegetable. That’s what you’ll find in the Asian-style slaw recipe below.

Today’s tip also highlights a relatively unfamiliar ingredient to Americans, fish sauce. But first:
 
 
WHAT’S A SLAW & WHY IS IT “COLE?”

Long a part of the culinary repertoire, “koolsla,” short for “koolsalade,” means cabbage salad in Dutch; Dutch travelers to the New World made the dish with local cabbage. Instead of being torn into bite-size pieces like lettuce salad, the cabbage was thinly sliced or shredded.

Cabbage, the “kool,” is pronounced “cole.” “Sla” is short for “salade.” The term got anglicized in the 18th century as cole slaw (and sometimes, cold slaw).

In English, “slaw” came to specify a salad of shredded vegetables. Over time, shredded cabbage slaw was joined by carrot slaw and more recently, broccoli slaw and shaved Brussels sprouts slaw.
 
 
WHAT IS FISH SAUCE?

Called nam pla in Thai and nuoc mam (“salted fish water”) in Vietnamese, fish sauce is an amber-hued condiment prepared from fermented anchovies and salt. An umami flavor lauded as “the fifth taste” after sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, fish sauce is a major ingredient and condiment in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine.

Numerous brands are imported to the U.S., including Red Boat Fish Sauce.
 
Umami, The Fifth Taste

Fish sauce provides a flavor known as umami, often explained as savory or brothy.

We consume “umami foods” every day: anchovy paste, asparagus, beef stew, bouillon, cured ham, ketchup, lamb shank, miso sauce and soup, MSG, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, ripe and sun-dried tomatoes, soy sauce, steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce, among others.
 
European Garum & Colatura Di Alici

Umami and fish sauce are also part of Western culture. Beginning in Greece and appearing in nearly every ancient Roman recipe as early as the 7th and 8th centuries B.C.E., garum, a fermented fish sauce, was the universal condiment used to add flavor to food.

As ketchup (and more lately, hot sauce) is to American fare, as soy sauce is to Chinese cuisine, the favorite condiment in ancient Rome was garum, an anchovy sauce. It involved into colatura di alici, juice of anchovies, still popular in Italy. It’s also called anchovy sauce or anchovy syrup; the latter is inaccurate, as a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid.

As strange as “anchovy juice” may sound, colatura is an aromatic condiment that enhances any dish, adding flavor without fuss.

Colatura (the word comes from the Latin colare, to strain) is made by curing anchovies with salt and extracting the free-run liquid that drains from them. It’s a laborious and painstaking process to create a truly artisan food. Different brands are imported from Italy.
 
The History Of Worcestershire Sauce

Things came full circle in the 19th century when British sea captain Henry Lewis Edwardes (1788–1866) brought the recipe for a fish sauce condiment home after travels in India. It somehow got to John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, two dispensing chemists (pharmacists) in Worcester, England, who created the first “umami sauce” (Worcestershire Sauce) sold commercially in England, in 1837.

Here are more uses for fish sauce, colatura di alici, or whatever you choose to call it.

RECIPE: VIETNAMESE CABBAGE SLAW

This recipe was created by Gail Simmons for Pure Leaf Tea. She pairs it with Sweet Honey Green Pure Leaf. We paired it with Unsweetened Green and Unsweetened Lemon Flavor Pure Leaf.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

For The Dressing

 
For The Slaw

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the dressing so the shallots have time to marinate. Whisk the ingredients except the shallots in a large mixing bowl. Then add the shallots and set aside.

2. FINELY SLICE the cabbages, radishes, and cucumbers using a mandolin or a food processor with the slicer and grater attachments. Grate the carrots and separate the cilantro leaves.

Top: Thai Cabbage Slaw. You can add an optional peanut garnish (photo courtesy ACommunalTable.com, which added coconut). Bottom: Use your Mason jars to serve slaw (photo courtesy Nestle).

Top: Blackberry Gin Fizz (photo courtesy NathanandChristinaMakeFood.com). Here’s the recipe, made with muddled fresh blackberries instead of blackberry brandy. Bottom: Blackberry brandy. Check the back label to be sure it’s made with natural flavors (photo courtesy Leroux).

We keep a running list of cocktails we’d like to try. Friends and neighbors know that it’s “open house” on late Sunday afternoons: They can stop by and try the weekend’s special.

We discovered a bottle of blackberry brandy in the liquor cabinet, so this weekend we’re mixing up a pitcher of Blackberry Gin Fizz: gin, blackberry brandy and Prosecco.

WHAT’S A FIZZ?

A fizz is a type of mixed drink—a variation on the older sour recipe. Sours are a family of mixed drinks that combine alcohol with lemon or lime juice—the sour component—plus a sweetener (fruit juice, grenadine, honey, liqueur, maple syrup, simple syrup, sugar, etc.). Sours are one of the original cocktails described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book, How to Mix Drinks.

Famous sours include the Daiquiri (rum, lime juice and sugar), Margarita (tequila, cointreau and lime juice), Sidecar (cognac, triple sec and lemon juice) and Whiskey Sour (whiskey, lemon juice and sugar).

A sour becomes a fizz with the addition of carbonated water. The first printed reference to a fizz (spelled “fiz”) is in the 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide, which contains six “fiz” recipes.

Adding carbonated water to a Gin Sour—gin, lemon juice and sugar—creates a Gin Fizz, a.k.a. a Tom Collins). Substituting blackberry brandy or liqueur for the sugar creates a Blackberry Gin Fizz.

The Fizz became widely popular in America between 1900 and the 1940s, and spread internationally. Known as a hometown specialty of New Orleans, the Gin Fizz was so popular that bars would need to employ extra bartenders to shake them.
 
RECIPE #1: BLACKBERRY GIN FIZZ

This recipe comes from the Salt Creek Grille in Princeton, New Jersey, which used Tanqueray gin.

You can make your own blackberry brandy from fresh blackberries and regular brandy (recipe below). If you have extra bottles of brandy, go for it—but note that it takes two months for the fruit to fully infuse.

You can use the blackberry brandy to make Blackberry Juleps, Margaritas, Mojitos and other cocktails.

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE first four ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into an ice-filled collins glass.

2. TOP with prosecco. Garnish with a notched berry on the rim, or a cocktail pick with blackberries.

Variations

 
_______________________
*Liqueurs are sweeter than fruit brandy, and are grain-based (gluten) instead of grape-based (gluten-free).

†We recommend Asti Spumante from Italy, Yellow Tail Bubbles from Australia, Cava from Spain (Freixenet is the most widely available):
Crémant from France, Woodbridge Brut from California (Robert Mondavi, Domaine Ste Michelle Brut from Oregon.

RECIPE #2: HOMEMADE BLACKBERRY BRANDY

Don’t buy the cheapest brandy on the shelf. What you put in determines what you get out.

Ingredients For 1 Liter

 
Preparation

According to StarkBros, a purveyor of fruit trees, you should wait to add the sugar until the end of the infusing process.

1. DIVIDE the blackberries and sugar among the jars; pour in the brandy. Seal the jars tightly and shake well.

2. STORE the jars in a cool, dark place, shaking every other day for a week. Then shake, once a week for two months or longer. The longer it steeps, the better the brandy will be.

3. WHEN you’re ready to drink it, strain the liquid into a 1 liter bottle (33.8 ounces).
 
For your next batch, you can consider adding another layer of flavor: a whole clove, a strip or two of lemon peel (pith removed) and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla.
 
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CORDIAL, FRUIT BRANDY, LIQUEUR, EAU DE VIE, LIQUEUR, SCHNAPPS

While many people use these terms interchangeably, and they are all flavored spirits, there are differences in terms of sweetness and color—and in the case of fruit brandy, the base alcohol.

Top: Homemade blackberry brandy (photo courtesy StarkBros.com). Bottom: Make a slush by adding blackberry sorbet (photo courtesy Ciao Bella).

 
In sum: If you want a less sweet, clear spirit, choose schnapps/eau de vie over liqueur. For something sweet and syrupy, go for a liqueur or cordial.
 
Fruit Brandy Vs. Liqueur

 
MORE THINGS TO MAKE WITH BLACKBERRY BRANDY

[1] Add beets, dill, carrots, peas and onions for a Russian-style potato salad (photo and recipe © Idaho Potato Commission).

[2] Fresh dill is a delicious accent for any potato salad, but is often used in Russian recipes (photo © PaperChef).

To us, a basic potato salad includes quality mayonnaise, diced raw vegetables (carrots, celery, red onions, maybe some bell pepper) and fresh dill and parsley. This was our mother’s potato salad.

But these days we want more: more layers of flavor, more excitement. We try new recipes on most warm-weather weekends, and delight in the process of invention (our reigning favorite, mini whole potatoes, salmon caviar, a sour cream-mayo blend, sweet onion and lots of fresh dill).

Here are two we’ll be making for Memorial Day festivities. Both from the Idaho Potato Commission. There are links to more recipes below, for a total of 16 specialty potato salad recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: RUSSIAN BEET & POTATO SALAD

Ingredients

 
For The Dressing

 
_______________
*You can buy horseradish mustard, but it’s simple to make. Just combine Dijon mustard with prepared white horseradish. Start with a 3:1 ratio, and add more horseradish to taste.

1. ADD the potatoes and salt to a medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until just tender, 4-5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.

2. COMBINE the potatoes, peas and carrots, and onion in a large bowl.

3. WHISK together in a small bowl the mayonnaise, yogurt, dill and horseradish mustard. Add the potato mixture and gently combine.

4. PLACE the beets on a paper towel and gently blot dry—or else your potato salad will turn pink! Fold the beets into the potato mixture very gently; do not over-mix. Serve within 1 hour for peak flavor and appearance.

The signature condiment of Argentina, chimichurri sauce is a parsley-based, garlicky vinaigrette with a verdant green color.

Red chimichurri, a more recent development, adds paprika and red wine vinegar, which create a dark red background for the herbs. Both are served as accompaniments to grilled meat in Argentina, which makes them a great match with what you’re grilling.

This recipe was created by Latino Foodie for the Idaho Potato Commission.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. They are small so they should be done in about 10 minutes (be careful not to overcook or they will turn into mashed potatoes). To test for doneness, insert the tip of a steak knife into the middle of a potato. If it slides off easily, they are done. Drain and allow the potatoes to cool slightly.

2. ADD the remaining ingredients except the oil to a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are roughly chopped. Slowly drizzle in the oil while pulsing the food processor. You can make the sauce chunky or smooth, as you prefer.

3. HALVE or quarter the potatoes. In a large bowl, gently toss the potatoes with a quarter of the chimichurri, adding more as needed. The remaining sauce can be used to marinate the vegetables or steak for the meal.

4. STORE any remaining chimichurri in a tightly-sealed jar. It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

[3] Red Chimichurri Potato Salad (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[4] Red chimichurri sauce, a classic Argentine condiment (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[5] Baby Dutch yellow potatoes (photo © Melissa’s).

Top: Lebanese Mixed Grill, served at the Four Seasons Hotel | Cairo: chicken, chicken sausage, lamb chops, lamb sausage, onions and tomatoes on flatbread. Bottom: A British mixed grill served at The Chophouse | Singapore: beef, lamb chops, different sausages and tomatoes.

Many cuisines feature a traditional dish called Mixed Grill. Some examples of typical combinations:

 
So today’s tip is: Mix it up this season. Come up with a list of different proteins and vegetables you’d like to try.

How about:

 
Our ideal mixed grill would include duck, lamb chop, lobster tail and pork belly with onions, radicchio and tomatoes.

What’s yours?

Layer the flavor, as with this Skillet Cornbread With Scallions & Cotija Cheese from Good Eggs. Here’s the recipe (photo courtesy Good Eggs | San Francisco).

Cornbread is a staple in the Southern U.S., and found not-often-enough in other regions. It can be plain or accented with popular mix-ins like corn kernels and minced jalapeños.

It can be baked in a cake pan or a skillet. And it can be much more:

Instead of simple, overly sweetened cornbread, we turn cornmeal into cornbread recipes layered with flavor: those corn kernels and jalapeños plus bacon, diced ham, fresh sage, scallions (green onions), shredded Cheddar or Jack cheese, sundried tomatoes and more.

Today’s tip is to serve cornbread with the salad course: We have a fun and flavorful recipe below for Buffalo Chicken Cornbread. But first, some…
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CORNBREAD

Corn is native to Mexico, where the ancient peoples learned to grind the kernels into foods. Tortillas—flatbreads—were created.

As corn spread from Mexico northward, it was cultivated by Native Americans across the southern region of what is now the continental U.S.

European settlers learned to cultivate and cook corn from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek. They adapted cornmeal to European recipes: bread loaves and muffins, corncakes, corn pone (fried simply), fritters, hoecakes and pancakes, liquor, porridge and so on.

Cornbread became popular as the main ingredient for a dressing or stuffing with fowl (the difference: stuffing is cooked inside the bird; dressing is cooked in a separate pan). It is now a staple at barbecue restaurants.

Raw corn kernels spoked in hot water and an alkaline mineral like calcium hydroxide is called hominy (pozole in Spanish) and ground and mixed into masa harina, the dough used to make tamales and tortillas.

Cornbread can be baked or fried, even steamed. Steamed cornbread is more like cornmeal pudding or mush, moist and chewier than a traditional bread.

Here’s more on the evolution of cornbread plus early cornbread recipes. One thing to note:

Originally cornbread did not contain sugar. As disposable income increased, this expensive ingredient was added as a variation, to make cornbread more like a cake. Unfortunately, more and more sugar was added until cornbread became an overly-sweet, simple bread.

That’s fine if you want cake; you can serve sweet cornbread with berries and whipped cream.

But if it’s bread you want, lose the sugar. We prefer to add whole corn kernels for sweetness, or enjoy cornbread as a savory bread.

Finally: Is it cornbread or cornbread? Either spelling is fine. Many words evolve into compound nouns over time (bed room > bedroom, blue bird > bluebird, motor cycle > motorcycle, red head > redhead, under ground > underground and so forth.
 
CORN VS. MAIZE: THE DIFFERENCE

Maize is another word for corn. The only difference is in the word origin:

 
Now, for that delicious recipe we promised earlier:

RECIPE: BUFFALO CHICKEN CORNBREAD WITH BLUE CHEESE SALAD

As an alternative salad course, top a “loaded” slice of cornbread with the salad.

If you like blue cheese, this imaginative variation of cornbread was submitted by Sonya Goergen to the recipe section of the Lodge Manufacturing website. She uses a Lodge skillet, of course!

You can serve cornbread and salad at brunch, as a soup-and-salad lunch, or as a salad course at dinner.

Prep time is 20 minutes, cook time is 30 minutes.

Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Cornbread

 
For The Salad

 
______________________
*Sonya used Martha White Yellow Cornbread Mix (not the “sweet cornbread” mix, which is much sweeter). You can use another brand.

Top: Buffalo Cornbread With Salad (photo courtesy Sonya Goergen | Lodge Manufacturing). Center: Flat-leaf parsley. Bottom: Curly parsley (photos courtesy Good Eggs). See the difference between curly and flat leaf varieties below.

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Spray a 10-1/4” cast iron skillet with cooking spray.

2. COMBINE the egg, milk and oil in a medium bowl. Add the cornbread mix, Cheddar cheese, blue cheese, diced hot wings, red pepper flakes and cilantro. Stir until well blended and pour into the skillet, spreading evenly.

3. COOK for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

4. Combine the lettuce, celery, red onion and crumbled blue cheese in a medium bowl. Toss with the blue cheese dressing. Cut the cornbread into 8 wedges and divide the salad atop the portion. Garnish with diced tomatoes and cilantro and serve.

 
FLAT LEAF VS CURLY LEAF PARSLEY

There are numerous varieties of parsley, but flat leaf and curly are the varieties most often found at the store, and can be used interchangeably in recipes.

 
Don’t toss the stems: Stronger in flavor than the leaves, they can be used in a bouquet garni, stock, and minced to flavor dishes from beans and eggs to pesto and salads. You can freeze the stems until you need them.

The plant, native to the Mediterranean, is a member of the Apiaceae family, commonly known as the carrot, celery or parsley family. It is a family of mostly aromatic plants with hollow stems.

Family members include angelica, anise, arracacha, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, chervil, cicely, coriander (cilantro), culantro, cumin, dill, fennel, lovage, and parsnip, among others.