Hot Slaw, Mrs. Spencer Watkins

Hot slaw coleslaw side dish served with hot dog and caramelized plantains on pink plate

Cole Slaw or Cold Slaw? I think I’ve personally always called it coleslaw, but I’m not even sure. And we are talking about a food that I love.

Cole/d slaw, it turns out, is one of those words that has been adapted to its meaning ala “scrapple” or “gingerbread”. In Dutch ‘koolsla’ means cabbage salad.

But this is American food we’re talking about and we don’t let linguistics quell our appetites.

In turn, “cold slaw” christened its less-famous cousin “hot slaw.”

I’ve got a handful of hot slaw recipes containing anything from sour cream to bacon fat. “Queen of the Kitchen” Mary Lloyd Tyson simply instructs the reader to heat up some cold slaw. Peasant of the Kitchen Old Line Plate is going to go ahead and tell you not to do that.

If you’ve enjoyed any “kil’t kale” or greens wilted with dressing you will understand why. Something about subduing those cruciferous vegetables with a splash of grease and acid brings out a wonderful sweetness.

I used a recipe from an 1897 church cookbook from Montgomery County, “The Up To Date Cook Book of tested recipes.” The book benefited St. John’s Church, and many of the recipes presumably came from its congregation. Also included are some recipes from a contemporary church cookbook from Kenton Ohio, entitled “The Kenton Cook Book.”

The Hot Slaw recipe comes directly from Mrs. Spencer Watkins, one of the compilers of “The Up-To-Date Cook Book.”

When I found this Montgomery county cookbook I was excited to see a different side of Maryland. So many Maryland cookbook authors of the 1800s (excepting Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, who also resided in Montgomery County) tend to be so Southern seeming and have plantation upbringings and Confederate leanings to show for it. “The Up-To-Date Cook Book” might be different. It has a page of Cuban recipes!

Mrs. Spencer Watkins, I soon learned, was from the Potomac area of Maryland, where she was born Maria Brooke in 1844.

Portrait of Mrs. Spencer Watkins, a Civil War era woman who befriended Maine soldiers and enjoyed music and social gatherings

Aside from the “The Up-To-Date Cook Book”, the other account of Mrs. Watkins’ past proved to me that she was not so unlike those other Confederate cookbook authors after all.

According to “The First Maine heavy artillery, 1862-1865”:

“She had been reared in Southern society, and believed in slavery as a divine institution. She was fully convinced that all this fuss and war, this loss and suffering, and this excitement, was due to the wild imaginings, perverse distractions, and evil intent of Northern Yankees. She, like most young ladies in the South, not only believed all this and many more awful things about the Yankees and their cause, but she believed in asserting herself and in defending her opinions and her sacred rights.” –
“
The First Maine heavy artillery”, 1862-1865 by Horace Shaw

According to this account, Maria Brooke, whose father’s Potomac plantation “had suffered severe loss by his slaves taking sudden leave,” was a fearless, dashing horseback rider, and skilled with a rifle. She rebuffed some (Pennsylvania) “Dutch” troops with her sassy attitude before a regiment from Maine arrived. She befriended these men, first enjoying their music and horses, then attending Sunday service with the regiment, and befriending their wives.

First Maine Band musicians in uniform posing with instruments at the Brooke residence during the Civil War era

The First Maine Band in front of the Brooke residence. Maria was a lover of music and befriended the soldiers. (The First Maine heavy artillery, 1862-1865)

Young Maria Brooke’s allegiances changed. The story concludes:

“Rollicking romp on foot or horseback among her young companions, delightful entertainer of friends, supercilious scorner of whomsoever she disliked, tender-hearted nurse to the sick, motherly woman to the helpless and needy, and spiteful tormentor to the shiftless; attracting suitors, yet spurning softness and repelling audacity in any. She is a loyal Unionist now. She married Mr. Spencer Watkins, and at this writing is still living in Washington. Like the rest of us, time has been speeding her along.”

Maria Brooke became Mrs. Spencer Watkins around 1860. He passed away in 1904. They had at least four children, two of which survived to adulthood. She died in 1907, but not before contributing nearly forty recipes to “The Up-To-Date Cookbook.”

Recipe:

1 small head of cabbage
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons cream
1 Tablespoon sugar
.5 Teaspoon mustard powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
minced onion
parsley
2 Tablespoons vinegar

Whisk together eggs, cream, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper and onion over low heat or in double boiler. Slowly whisk in vinegar. Cook until thickened and add parsley. Stir in chopped cabbage, cooking just until heated (do not let the eggs cook). Serve immediately.