Burgoo

This traditional Kentucky stew with lamb and many other good things gets served on Derby day and that's what we did. I was flying a bit blind, because I've never been to the Kentucky Derby and on my one trip to Owensboro to visit my aunt and uncle I was served salmon my uncle had caught in Alaska.

A couple of our stew cookbooks had versions that quickly emerged as not quite authentic after some Internet research. While everyone says that like cassoulet there are many versions, there was a fair consensus on the ingredients. It includes lamb as a surrogate for the mutton that they use in western Kentucky, where they have a lot of sheep. I would like someday to cook a burgoo with mutton, but many people find it a bit gamey and it's hard to find anyway. Every recipe also included chicken, and then either beef or pork. In olden days, it would be whatever varmint was at hand -- squirrels, possum, venison, whatever. All versions included potatoes, corn, okra, tomatoes and carrots. There was some heat -- from chiles, hot sauce or cayenne. Some included Worcestershire sauce and other flavoring ingredients. It became clear that burgoo has to cook a good 12 hours, whereas the cookbook recipes just said 3 or 4.

It was hard to know from the different recipes just how soupy it was supposed to be, how much tomato or how spicey. YouTube answered the soupy and tomato questions (it is soupy and tomato-ey), but couldn't really help with the spicey question. Maybe someday they'll figure out how to get taste on the Web.

After considerable research, I settled on a version by Chef Susan Goss of Zinfandel in Chicago as a master recipe. Her recipe served 14, so I doubled it. She had lamb, chicken and pork, but I also used beef since so many recipes called for beef. So I used about 3 lbs lamb shoulder, 3-some lbs of chicken parts, scant 2 lbs pork shoulder, and 2 lbs beef shank. I cooked these for 2 hours Thursday in beef broth, chicken broth and water. I removed the meat from the broth and when it was cool enough, took out all the bones, gristle, fat I could and loosely shredded the meat, which was falling apart anyway. Everything in the fridge overnight.

On Friday, I skimmed off the layer of fat from the broth, put the meat back in and added around 2 c each of diced potatoes (I used red bliss), fava beans (fresh), red and white onions, corn (frozen), green peppers, carrots and 1 c of celery, which Goss didn't have but most other recipes did. I did not use the ancho chile she called for; store was out and nobody else used it that I saw. I did put in some cayenne pepper and some salt and pepper and simmered all this for 3 hours.

At that point, I added the okra (fresh), tomatoes (canned), cider vinegar, lemon juice, bourbon, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, and simmered for another 6 or so hours. I added some tomato sauce and chicken broth as it simmered. Back into the fridge overnight.

On Derby day, it remained only to warm it up, chop the parsley and serve it with cornbread and rolled oat biscuits (prepared by the marvelous baker in the family). It was preceded by mint juleps during the race, and accompanied by a couple of very nice bulk wines. Everybody seemed to like it. Dessert was out-of-the world grasshopper squares (brownies with a layer of white chocolate-creme de menthe ganache and a layer of chocolate ganache) and some very delicious capuccino chocolate chip brownies.

I think probably this burgoo, though delicious, was not soupy enough, but too stewy. In Kentucky, it is served with a barbecued mutton sandwich. It probably needed to be a little spicier as well. I may have a chance to stop and visit my cousin in Owensboro on our road trip in August and taste the genuine article. Then I would be ready to cook Burgoo II next May!