Kentucky Burgoo

Yes, my faithful readers, I'm bringing this up again. This weekend is the Kentucky Derby and one of the traditional dishes served is Kentucky Burgoo. Burgoo is a hearty, bit spicy stew of just about anything.

I AM going to make this.

There's as many recipes for burgoo as there is for chili. I'm going to make my burgoo following a recipe from the outstanding book, Smoke and Spice by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs to 3 lbs smoked chicken
• 1 1/2 lbs veal or beef shanks (I'm going to smoke them)
• 1 lb smoked mutton or lamb
• 12 cups water
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 3 cups tomato puree
• 2 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
• 3 large baking potatoes, peeled if you wish, and chopped
• 2 medium bell peppers chopped
• 2 large onions chopped
• 3 to 4 medium carrots, sliced thin
• 2 large celery ribs chopped
• 3 garlic cloves minced - I might smoke this
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne or to taste
• 2 1/2 cups sliced okra, frozen or fresh
• 2 cups corn kernels, frozed or fresh

Cooking instructions:

• Place the chicken, beef or veal shanks and muttons or lamb in a stockpot. Pour the water over, sprinkle in the salt and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Remove any scum from the water as it surfaces.
  
• Remove the chicken and meats from the pot. When cool enough to handle, discard the skin, fat and bones. Shred the chicken and meats into bite size pieces.
• Return the chicken and meats to the pot Add the remaining ingredients except for the okra and corn.
• Continue to simmer over medium-low heat for 2 more hours, stirring frequently.
  
• Add the okra and corn and cook for at least one hour more, preferably two.
• Add more water is the stew appears dry.

As with Brunswick stew, (Another on my list of bbq accompaniments that I want to make) the ingredients should be cooked down and no longer easily identifiable. The stew can be served immediately, but it is even better reheated the following day.

Photo of the burgoo courtesy of The Last Bite.

March Madness: Day Three

Day three of March Madness has found me with a worsening cold, fever, chills and a very nasty cough. What fun.

Back when I decided to accept the madness and laid out my plans for the first week, I had put today aside as a day to que. I didn't have anything scheduled with my clients and the weather promised to be in the mid 50's.

I had purchased a rack of pork a little while back so that was going to hit the smoker today. As every barbecuer will tell you, it doesn't make sense to fire up the cooker for only one piece of meat. You fill that sucker up! But you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Ever since I got interested in bbq, I've been intrigued by two items; Brunswick Stew and Kentucky Burgoo. Looking over a couple of recipes I found in the incredible Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison, I found that I'd need some leftover pork; check - that would come from the rack of pork, chicken, lamb shanks, beef shanks and bacon. I purchased all the required meats and Brunswick Stew and Kentucky Burgoo were both slotted into the menu for this week. All that meat was going to be be barbecued today.

So what's happened? This damn cold has sapped all my strength. I just didn't have the energy to babysit a cooker all day.

But the Madness called and like a drunk looking for a drink I responded. Dinner tonight was an herb/nut encrusted rack of pork with oven roasted root vegetables and mushrooms. I took 6 cloves of garlic, a bunch of parsley, almonds and sun dried tomatoes. I minced them all fine and mixed them with some of the oil in which the tomatoes were packed, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little more olive oil and mashed it into a thick paste.

I scattered some carrots, potatoes and mushrooms in the bottom of the roaster pan and tossed them with olive oil. I placed the rack of pork on top and spread the herb/nut paste all over the meat. I roasted the meat for about 3 1/2 hours at 300 degrees.

When the meat was done, I removed it to a cutting board and tented it with tinfoil. I let it rest as I made a gravy out of the pan drippings adding marsala wine and mustard as it thickened. Now that was tasty. I've never used mustard in gravy before but it added a very interesting dimension to the sauce.

I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures, but damn this was a great meal. I've never had such tender and flavorful pork. I'm definitely making this again.

The picture of the rack of pork comes to us from The Daily Pork.

BBQ Foods: Kentucky Burgoo

It's Thursday and I don't have a lot to say.

So here's a link to a story about Burgoo. What's Burgoo you say? Well it's "the 150-year-old burgoo tradition in her hometown of Owensboro, Ky. There, men gather all night to grill on an epic level -- mutton, chicken and a cut of pork they call Boston butt -- to prepare burgoo for parish picnics that serve thousands and raise funds for their church communities."

Take a look at this great article from NPR all about the mysterious stew.

Burgoo: The Fellowship of Meat