Dolly Parton's Secret To Unforgettable Coleslaw Was A Splash Of This Sweet, Tangy Liquid

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Dolly Parton may be gone, but the national treasure left us with a trove of music, books, movies, and, you may be surprised to learn, culinary secrets. One of these was a recipe for coleslaw that includes a simple ingredient that changes the game by taking the salad in a slightly different direction. While dill pickle juice isn't unheard of as a coleslaw ingredient, Parton opted for a less common option in hers: sweet pickle juice. Sweet pickles include sugar and often have warming spices like cinnamon and cloves. They're different from bread and butter pickles because the latter are a bit brinier and use different spices. Sweet pickles' sugary flavor also makes them differ from tangy dill pickles.

This pickle juice gives coleslaw a touch of sweetness that balances out the flavors of the rest of the ingredients, like the punchiness of white vinegar and cabbage's tendency towards bitterness. The idea is similar to Asian quick pickled veggies that also lean into sweetness. We don't want to give the impression that sweet pickle juice is tooth-achingly sweet — it's still got some brininess that also works well in coleslaw, giving it a depth of flavor. But Parton didn't stop there. Besides the typical ingredients like cabbage, onion, and carrots, her coleslaw included other add-ins that worked in harmony with the sweet pickle juice.

Besides the sweet pickle juice, Dolly Parton also included some other unique ingredients like chopped bell peppers and either chopped pickles or prepared dill relish. The bell pepper adds a bit of earthy crunchiness while the relish brings more brininess and dill. The sweet pickle juice helps bind all these flavors together as does a few teaspoons of sugar. Parton's original recipe, which appeared in the 1986 book "Cooking With Country Music Stars," doesn't include any mayonnaise, making her version closer to a German-style coleslaw. But three years later, she put out a slightly different version.

Parton's coleslaw recipe that appeared in her 1989 cookbook "Dollywood Presents Tennessee Mountain Home Cooking" included mayo. In this version, the sweet pickle juice, besides adding sweetness and flavor balance, also helps keep the richness of mayonnaise in check and prevents the coleslaw from being too thick. Whether you try her original or altered coleslaw recipe with mayo and find it to your liking, Parton has a ton of other recipes, like a simple but flavorful chicken casserole. Parton may have spent her storied career focused on music and acting, along with philanthropy, but she was no slouch in the kitchen.