Burgoo [was: "Wanted: Homemade Bourbon BBQ Sauce Recipe]

[Gillman]

Not exceed, Tim, you were the one who twigged me to the U.K. connection!

Gary

[bobbyc]

If one follows your link , Gary , and also goes to the" What is Burgoo anyway" They will find this picture. I couldn't resist, It looks as if Craig Beam could also cook up a little Burgoo!

[Gillman]

Yes I saw it and it's a great picture mostly because it's real. Such expressions of tradition are often to be found in areas where (to state the obvious) change comes more slowly than other places. Not to say being real doesn't exist in many contexts, and also (or what comes to saying the same thing) there are many kinds of communities - our online forum here provided courtesy of Jim Butler is one I value very highly.

Gary

[tlsmothers]

Thanks for bringing attention to burgoo. I've never heard of it and am now eager to try my hand at it. My version will have to have some bourbon added. Ya know, a little for the pot and a little for the cook.

[Paradox]

I'd call the Talbot Tavern in Bardstown and get their recipe, it was SO good in 2002! Burgoo is one of the dishes I wait to have every year when we go down to KY...

[brendaj]

Hey Tonya,
I'll jump in here. After that terrific Bourbon Jelly, I owe you one
I can't take credit for this recipe, it came from a friend in Owensboro. I've used it a couple of times, and it's the real stuff. I don't have a grinder, so I just chopped things real fine. The original called for pounds and gallons of stuff, so we cut it down:

Frank's Burgoo
2 1/2 lbs. beef
2 1/2 lbs. mutton
1 hen
3 qts. whole tomatoes
1 qt. tomato puree
1 qt. ketchup
2 qts, baby limas
40 oz. white shoepeg corn
1 pt. salt
1/2 lb. pepper
4 oz. worchestershire sauce
4 oz. vinegar
1 6 oz. bottle Frank's Hot Sauce
1 lb. onion
5 lbs. potatoes
2 lbs. cabbage
1 lemon

Boil beef, mutton and hen for approx. 3 hrs (until cooked). Beef will not take quite that long. Remove from water, cool and remove bones. Coarse grind meat. Strain broth left in kettle to remove all bones.
Put all meat back in the kettle and add tomatoes, puree, ketchup and baby limas.
Grind onions, potatoes, cabbage and add to kettle. After all ingredients are in kettle, finish filling with water. After ingredients have boiled for about 1 hr., add corn, hot sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce and lemon. Don't add these ingredients all at one time, add slowly until desired taste. Remove the lemon after one hour.


Here are some old photos of the Owensboro BBQ Festival, where Burgoo and mutton rule:
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/burgoo/bf98.html
And Moonlite BBQ serves it all year.

Bj

[tlsmothers]

Thanks, m'dear! I can't wait to try this stuff (with a little booze added in). I can't believe I've never even heard of burgoo before, but then again, I grew up in the backwoods of Alabama far, far away from Kentucky. This sounds like it will be so good with some iron skillet cornbread made with lard and buttermilk.

[brendaj]

I grew up in the backwoods of Alabama far, far away from Kentucky.

Geez, I always thought of Alabama as a neighboring state (Yer just the other side of Tennesee )
Really, I believe Burgoo is just Kentucky's version of Brunswick Stew. Originally, both were made with various little woodland critters Or, maybe Brunwick Stew is just a Virginia version of Burgoo . But they seem to be an awful lot alike.

iron skillet cornbread made with lard and buttermilk.

Ouuu Baby! I know some of the guys here are cringing right now. But I agree 100%! If you want a flakey crust or decent cornbread...gotta use lard
And, of course... add alittle Bourbon to everything.
Bj

[Gillman]

Interesting recipe. I have read that mutton was substituted for game to lend a savoury "wild" taste. However, mutton is also used in Kentucky bar-be-cue. In 30 years of reading about regional foods in the West, there is one other country where I've read mutton is, or was, a tradition: Britain and specifically England. In my view, Englishmen brought the taste to Kentucky and it held on there through sheer tradition, tenacity. I mean, Kentucky is not more suited to raising sheep than many other areas. And even if it was taste would have turned to lamb, as it did finally in U.K. That mutton held on in old Kentucky is a testament to ancestral practices, even if (I would think) people can't recall any more where the mutton thing came from. Look at any regional collection of recipes in England (that has any pretention to authenticity) and mutton pops up, and if I looked hard enough I think I could find an analogue to how it is used in burgoo (itself courtesy Royal Navy circa 1700's). Are Americans aware of this enormous contribution the British made to American mores and foodways? German-speakers in whiskey, yes (and in food to a degree, that's another story); but give Britain its due too...

Gary

[tlsmothers]

Lard is the best way to go, I agree. A coupla weeks ago my sweet pea was sent to the store for some shortenin' to make corn bread. He came back with, "Bad news is they didn't have shortening. Good news is they had lard." I almost ate the whole pan of cornbread all by myself! Nothing that a little bourbon in the blood won't thin out, right?

I wonder what neighbors would think if I got a gun out and shot a few squirrels for some burgoo.