January/February 2006
Warm up with Kentucky Burgoo
BY ELLEN BIRKETT MORRIS
"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting."
— Abraham Maslow, psychologist.
In
the depths of winter it is hard to imagine that spring is just around the
corner. When it comes to consoling ourselves and finding ways to warm up,
soups or stews are the perfect choice.
Soups and stews have been around a long time. Some of the first restaurants
were started in Paris in the 18th century and served soups to restore (restaurer)
the cold and hungry.
When you are looking for a recipe, it is easy to come across an abundance of
traditional favorites—chicken noodle, vegetable, creamy tomato—but regional
soups are often more complex and flavorful. Kentucky burgoo is a good
choice, especially if your family favors rich, meaty dishes.
Burgoo has come a long way since the 17th century, when it was gruel made of
grain or hardtack and molasses cooked together that was served to sailors at
sea. The origin of the word burgoo is unknown, but some think it’s a hybrid
of the words ragout, the French word for stew, and bulgur, the grain.
Burgoo eventually made its way to dry land and evolved into a meat-based
stew. In frontier days it was made with the kind of wild game we can still
find in our backyards today: squirrel, rabbit, turtle and possum.
Thankfully, modern versions of the dish call for pork, veal, lamb, chicken
and beef.
Burgoo is the centerpiece of the Kentucky Colonels’ Barbecue held each year
in Bardstown, Ky., the day after the Kentucky Derby. The charity barbecue is
part old-fashioned political picnic and part church service where folks come
to give thanks to the pigs that gave up their hindquarters to make the day
special.
The most popular people at the Colonels’ barbecue are the Burgoo Crew.
Several years ago, "Burgoo King" Billy Hurst, a hog farmer in his 80s from
Nelson County, Ky., shared a story with me.
Hurst supervised the cooking of the burgoo, which is done outdoors in large
kettles set over gas heaters. Each year the group starts cooking early Derby
morning and cooks through the night so the burgoo will be ready by noon on
Sunday.
With tongue firmly in cheek, Hurst said he knows there will be an especially
good batch of burgoo when the crew hears a "plop" in the middle of the
night. Legend has it there is a nest of black snakes in the trees above the
kettles and from time to time one of the snakes will climb out onto a limb
to get a whiff of the stew and fall in.
One of burgoo’s strengths is its versatility. You can use the vegetables you
have on hand—onions, potatoes, corn, cabbage, okra, lima beans. The meat and
vegetables cook in a tomato-based sauce that you can make sweet (try brown
sugar) or spicy (use hot sauce). Make big batches to freeze or invite your
neighbors over to join in the fun.
"Everyone’s burgoo is a little different, but families tend to make it the
same way from generation to generation," said Patrick Bosley, manager of
Moonlite Bar-B-Q, based in Owensboro, Ky. Moonlite, which began as a
barbecue joint with 30 seats, has grown considerably since the early 1960s.
It now includes a 350-seat restaurant, a USDA-inspected processing plant, a
catering department and a wholesale division.
Moonlite Bar-B-Q’s Burgoo
Recipe
4 lb. mutton
1-3 lb. chicken
3/4 lb. cabbage, ground or chopped fine
3/4 lb. onion, ground or chopped fine
5 lb. potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cans corn, 17 oz. each (we like Shoe Peg), or 2 cups fresh corn
¾ cup tomato catsup
3 cans 10 ¾ oz. tomato puree
Juice of one lemon
¾ cup distilled vinegar
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 ½ Tablespoons salt (or more to taste)
2 Tablespoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne (more if you like)
Boil mutton in enough water to
cover. Cook until tender, about 2-3 hours. Throw out the broth and bones.
Chop meat fine. Set aside. Boil chicken in 2 gallons of water in large
kettle until tender. Remove chicken; add potatoes, cabbage, onion, corn,
catsup and one gallon of water to chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile,
chop chicken meat, discarding bones and skin. When potatoes are tender add
chicken, mutton, lemon, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and
puree. Let this simmer for two hours or longer, stirring often from the
bottom as it thickens.
Yield: 3 Gallons
Bosley offered the following
tips for making the perfect burgoo:
-
Allow the stew to thicken
naturally through slow cooking; don’t add flour or cornstarch. A good
burgoo should be thick, but still soupy.
-
Use mutton. It gives burgoo
a wild-game-like flavor that holds its own against the red pepper and
vegetables in the stew.
-
White Shoe Peg corn adds a
sweet taste and crunchy texture to the dish.
Ellen
Birkett Morris is the product of a mixed marriage between
her mother, a skilled home cook and epicure, and her father, an aficionado
of fast food who regularly burns his toast. She writes about food and travel
for national and local publications.
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