Kentucky Derby Burgoo Recipes

KENTUCKY BURGOO

Steps:

• Brown the meats: Heat vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large soup pot (at least 8 quart size). Salt the meats well on all sides. When the oil is shimmering hot, working in batches brown all the meats. Do not crowd the pan or the meat will steam and not brown well. Do not move the meat while browning a side. Let the meat pieces get well seared. Remove the browned meats to a bowl.
• Sauté onions, carrots, celery, and green pepper: Add the onions, carrots, celery and green pepper to the pot and brown them. If necessary, add a little more oil to the pot. After a few minutes of cooking, sprinkle salt over the vegetables.
• When the vegetables are well browned, add the garlic: Cook for 30 seconds more, until fragrant.
• Add back the meats as well as the chicken, beef broths, and the tomatoes: Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2 hours.
• Remove the meat pieces, strip from bones, cut into smaller pieces, and return to pot: Uncover and remove the meat pieces. Strip the chicken off the bone and discard skin if you want. Break the larger pieces of meat into smaller, more manageable pieces. The reason you did not do this at first is because the meats stay juicier when they cook in larger pieces. Return all the meat pieces to the pot and bring it up to a strong simmer.
• Add potatoes: Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks about the same size as the meat pieces (if using new potatoes, you can skip the peeling, but russets you'll want to peel). Add them to the stew and cook them until they are done, about 45 minutes.
• When the potatoes are done, add the Worcestershire sauce: Mix well and taste for salt. Add more Worcestershire sauce to taste if needed.

BURGOO

Steps:

• Combine meat, chicken, and water in a very large kettle. Season with salt and bay leaf. Simmer until the meat is tender and falls from the bones. Lift it out, cool, and cut all meat from bones. Cut meat into bite size pieces. Skim off the fat or chill the stock and remove all hardened fat. Return meat and chicken pieces to the stock.
• Peel potatoes and onions, scrape the carrots, and dice the vegetables. Add to stew along with sliced celery, green pepper slivers, tomato puree, tomatoes, hot peppers, corn, okra, lima beans, and cabbage.
• Simmer slowly until stew is thick and vegetables are done, 2 to 3 hours. Burgoo should be thick but still soupy. Season with Worcestershire, A.1. Sauce, cayenne, and additional salt, if needed. Just before serving, sprinkle stew with parsley. Serve in soup plates or bowls. Makes about 25 servings.
• Soups and Stews The World Over.

KENTUCKY BURGOO

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven, combine the chicken, beef, lamb, water, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming any foam that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until the chicken, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Remove the chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil. Continue to simmer the other meats, partially covered, until they are tender, about 1 1/2 hours longer. Add the meats to the plate of chicken and keep covered.
• Add the cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, okra, corn, onions, bell pepper, garlic, sage, thyme, bay leaf, hot pepper sauce, and cayenne to the stock. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
• Cut the chicken, beef, and lamb into bite size pieces and add them and the ham to the Dutch oven. Continue simmering until the meat is heated through, about 10 minutes.
• Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley and serve hot.

KENTUCKY BURGOO FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Mix the ingredients, a little at a time in water to cover in huge iron kettles .
• Cook slowly outdoors over wood fires for 15 to 20 hours (stew will thicken as it cooks).
• Use squirrels in season (a dozen squirrels to each 100 gallons).