A Bourbon-Inspired Kentucky Buffet
Our friend Albert Schmid has worked as an executive chef and is currently a professor at Sullivan University and the director of the hotel-restaurant management and hospitality management departments at the university’s National Center for Hospitality Management. He graciously agreed to let us use some recipes from his award-winning The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook (2010). The descriptive notes at the start of each recipe are Albert’s own. He has also written definitive books about the histories of the Old Fashioned and Manhattan cocktails. (See our “Suggested Further Reading” list for details.)
If you are planning a brunch, lunch, or dinner buffet for a crowd, these dishes will fit the occasion. Add a platter of Kentucky-made cheeses, crackers, and some fruit and you are all set.
Accent your meal with bourbon-based drinks made by the pitcher: Bardstown Cocktail (p. 2), Pineapple Punch (pp. 2–3), Ginger Snap (pp. 4–5), and Summer Manhattan (p. 17). All will pair beautifully with the buffet. Pour each into ice-filled glasses so you do not water down the cocktails in the pitchers and ruin your drink.
PORK TENDERLOIN IN SPICED APPLE KENTUCKY BOURBON SAUCE
Pork and apple are a classic combination that every chef learns early in his or her career. Here the apple is in the form of juice, flavored and thickened to form a sauce for the pork. This recipe, which comes from A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, by Jean Anderson (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), could easily be served with sweet potatoes (also traditionally combined with pork and bourbon) or with a rice pilaf.
6 servings
3 pounds boned rolled pork loin
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1 cup apple juice
¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
1¼ cups plus ½ cup chicken broth
½ cup half and half
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1. Rub the pork with the pepper and place in a medium roasting pan. Mix the mustard, apple juice, and bourbon until smooth. Brush the pork with the mixture and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature. While it rests, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Baste the pork with the bourbon mixture again, and place the pork in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees.
2. To make the sauce: Deglaze the roasting pan with the remaining bourbon mixture; then pour the deglazing mixture into a saucepan and boil for 2 minutes. Stir in the 1¼ cups chicken broth and the half and half. Mix the ½ cup broth with the flour and salt, add the flour mixture to the saucepan, and mix. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens.
3. Slice the pork and serve with mashed potatoes and the apple-bourbon sauce.
KENTUCKY BOURBON BEEF TENDERLOIN
Beef tenderloin is very lean and very tender. This recipe combines ingredients to form a sweet and sour sauce for the meat. The addition of a baked sweet potato complements the sweet flavors of the sauce, while a baked white potato helps foil the sweet and sour flavors.
6 servings
1 cup Kentucky bourbon
1¼ cup brown sugar
⅔ cup soy sauce
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
½ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups water
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 pounds beef tenderloin
Combine the bourbon, brown sugar, soy sauce, cilantro, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, water, and thyme to make a marinade. Cut the beef tenderloin into 2-inch slices and pour the marinade over them. Allow the beef to marinate, refrigerated, for at least 2 hours (for best results, marinate for up to 6 hours). Turn it at least every hour to allow equal marinating for each piece. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook the tenderloin in the oven until done (the meat should be pink inside), about 20 minutes. Cut into serving-size pieces.
KENTUCKY COLONEL BOURBON BALLS
Bourbon balls are a classic winter confection. In The Art of Southern Cooking (New York: Gramercy Books, 2003), Mildred Evans Warren creates a bourbon ball that does not utilize old cake as some recipes do. Instead she combines pecans, butter, and confectioners’ sugar with bourbon and covers the sweet treat with chocolate. She names it after the Kentucky Colonels.
8 servings
1 cup pecan halves plus additional for garnish
¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces (4 squares) bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon melted paraffin
1. Soak the 1 cup of pecans in bourbon for several hours. Mix the sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy. Drain the pecans, reserving the bourbon liquid that remains; mix the liquid into the sugar mixture.
2. Roll the sugar mixture into marble-size balls around the pecan halves. Chill the balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Melt the chocolate and add the paraffin. Dip the cooled balls into the melted chocolate; use a fork to retrieve the balls from the melted chocolate mixture. Top each ball with a pecan half and allow to dry.
KENTUCKY BOURBON CHICKEN WINGS
Another appetizer that’s great for Derby is chicken wings—but then they are the perfect appetizer all year long. This is a simple dish, as easy to prepare as it is to eat.
6 servings
24 chicken wings with skin
¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice (the juice of 1 lemon)
1 cup fine, dry bread crumbs, unseasoned
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
Salt and pepper
1. Cut each wing into three pieces. Discard the wing tips or save them for chicken stock. Combine the wing pieces, bourbon, olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a bowl. Toss to coat the wings, and marinate them for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.
CANDIED KENTUCKY BOURBON-BACON BITES
This simple recipe is adapted from Paula Deen’s The Deen Family Cookbook (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), by the “Dean of Southern Cuisine.” Deen is a native of Georgia but has a connection to Kentucky through her appearance as Aunt Dora in the Cameron Crowe movie Elizabethtown.
20 servings
¾ pound bacon
2 tablespoons Kentucky bourbon
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Select a baking sheet that has a lip, and line it with foil; place a wire rack on the foil. Arrange the bacon strips close together in a single layer on the rack, brush them with the bourbon, and sprinkle the brown sugar over them.
2. Bake the bacon until crisp and dark golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the bacon strips to a wire rack set over another baking sheet with a lip or lay them on a paper towel-lined plate, to cool slightly. Break each strip in half and serve warm or at room temperature.
When bourbon (or any other distilled spirit) comes off the still, it is as clear as water. The color and flavor of bourbon develop as it ages in a burned or toasted oak barrel. During the aging process, some of the bourbon is lost to evaporation, and this evaporated alcohol is called the “Angels’ share” by the distilling and wine-making industry. As the biscuit bakes, the alcohol evaporates to the angels, but the bourbon flavor stays behind in the biscuit. In the United States a biscuit is a roll made with chemical leavening such as baking soda or baking powder. An Angel biscuit, made with yeast and/or the chemical leavening, is half biscuit, half roll. These Angel biscuits made with bourbon can be served with most meals.
Yield: 2 dozen biscuits
½ cup warm water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon yeast
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
½ cup shortening
1½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the warm water and honey together and dissolve the yeast in the water-honey mixture.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and shortening and mix with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal.
3. Mix the buttermilk and bourbon with the yeast mixture; add these ingredients to the flour mixture. Combine lightly until the ingredients are just mixed together.
4. Grease a baking pan and drop mounds of dough onto it. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
KENTUCKY BOURBON BROWNIES
Brownies are one of Americans’ favorite confections. If you especially like the edges of brownies, you might want to buy an Edge Brownie Pan, which allows each slice of the brownies to develop a slightly crusty edge. The pan, invented by 2002 Sullivan University graduate Emily Griffin, has been featured in many magazines, including Fine Cooking and Good Housekeeping. These brownies are made with bourbon-flavored pecans.
9 servings
½ cup chopped pecans
¾ cup Kentucky bourbon
½ cup butter
½ cup margarine
10 ounces (10 squares) semisweet chocolate
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ teaspoon salt
5 eggs
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
1½ cups flour
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans and bourbon in a small bowl, so that the pecans will absorb the bourbon. After about 30 minutes, or when the bourbon is reduced by about half, remove the pecans to a small baking sheet and reserve the remaining bourbon. Toast the pecans in the oven for about 5 minutes.
2. Heat the butter, margarine, and chocolate in a double boiler until melted together. Remove the pan containing the butter-chocolate mixture from the hot water and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Add the sugar, brown sugar, salt, eggs, and reserved bourbon. Whisk until the ingredients are well mixed. Add the cocoa and mix until it is totally incorporated. Stir in the flour and the pecans.
3. Apply nonstick spray to an 8 × 8–inch pan and pour in the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut the brownies when they are cool.
KENTUCKY BIBB SALAD WITH A SWEET KENTUCKY BOURBON VINAIGRETTE, CRUMBLED GOAT CHEESE, AND TOASTED PECANS
This salad is a great summer dish because of the cool, seasonal ingredients. The recipe calls for Bibb lettuce, also known as limestone lettuce, which was first cultivated in Kentucky by Jack Bibb in the late 1800s. Bibb lettuce is highly prized by chefs and gourmands. I based this recipe on one I found in the 2003 edition of Nancy Miller’s Secrets of Louisville Chefs (Louisville: Tobe).
4 servings
Kentucky Bibb Salad
1 cup pecan halves
3 heads Bibb lettuce, washed and patted dry
12 heirloom tomatoes or two large tomatoes
12 red grape tomatoes
½ pound goat cheese
1 red onion, diced
Sweet Kentucky Bourbon Vinaigrette
¼ cup cider vinegar
2½ tablespoons Kentucky bourbon
¼ cup brown mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1½ teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1½ teaspoons garlic chili sauce
1. Toast the pecans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spread the pecans on a baking sheet, and toast them for about 5 minutes.
2. To make the salad: Break the lettuce apart, cut all the tomatoes in half or in slices, and break or slice the goat cheese.
3. To make the vinaigrette: Mix the vinegar, bourbon, mustard, honey, barbecue sauce, pepper, and chili sauce together.
4. Arrange lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pecans, and cheese on four plates, and pour the vinaigrette over the salad.
DRUNKEN VIDALIAS
Vidalia onions, when available in the spring and summer, are easy to add to the grill to make a hearty, tasty side dish to accompany anything from fish to chicken to beef. Here, the famous southern sweetie gets a little tipsy on the grill with a hearty dose of bourbon.
4 servings
4 large Vidalia onions
Garlic salt
Pepper
1 cup butter, melted
¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Note: If you are using coals, be sure to start the grill at least 1 hour before you want to grill the onions.
1. Cut a thin slice off the bottom, or root end, of each Vidalia onion, so that the onions can stand upright. Remove the outer skins and core the onions almost to the base, creating cavities about 2 inches wide. Spray the outside surfaces of the onions with nonstick spray, then (using the garlic salt) salt and pepper the sprayed surfaces. Place each onion on a large piece of aluminum foil, and salt and pepper the cavities as well.
2. Mix the melted butter, bourbon, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar in a bowl and fill the cavities with the butter mixture. Reserve the remaining butter mixture. Gather the foil around each onion at the top and twist to seal the onion. Cook the wrapped onions over indirect heat on the grill for 1 hour and 30 minutes. To achieve indirect heat, allow the coals to stop burning and just glow. Also, place the onions off to one side of the grill. Remove the onions from the foil, warm up the reserved butter mix, and drizzle it over the Vidalias just before serving.
This recipe is a summer offering shared by chef David Dodd, who from 1968 to 1975 served as the special commitment chef in the kitchens of the British royal family.
4 servings
4 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
4 pounds Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
4 carrots, chopped
1 quart chicken stock
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
Salt and pepper
½ cup Kentucky bourbon
½ cup heavy cream
4 sprigs thyme for garnish
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the tomatoes, carrots, chicken stock, parsley, and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook for 20 minutes. Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Return the pureed soup to the pan, season it with salt and pepper, and add the bourbon. Stir in the cream and reheat slowly (do not boil), and garnish with thyme.
What is a good barbecue without baked beans?
4 servings
6 strips bacon
1 (28-ounce) can pork and beans
⅓ cup Kentucky bourbon
1 large onion, chopped
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fry the bacon until cooked but not crisp and set it aside. Combine the beans, bourbon, onion, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, and lemon juice in a large ovenproof pot. Bake for 45 minutes or until warmed through. Top the beans with the bacon.
This recipe combines America’s native spirit with the all-American dessert.
6 servings
½ cup Kentucky bourbon
½ cup raisins
10 Granny Smith apples
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup pecan halves, toasted
1 double piecrust
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
1. Combine the bourbon and raisins; let soak for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Peel the apples and slice them thinly. Sauté the apple slices in a pan with a little butter until tender. Meanwhile, toast the pecans in the oven for about 5 minutes.
4. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl and mix. Add the apples, raisin mixture, and pecans. Spoon the pie filling into the bottom of a 10-inch piecrust.
5. Cut the top piecrust into strips and arrange the strips over the pie filling in a lattice formation. Sprinkle the pie with the superfine sugar and bake it at 350 degrees until the filling in the center of the pie bubbles, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow the pie to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
SWEET POTATOES WITH KENTUCKY BOURBON
This is a great side dish to serve at the Thanksgiving table with the traditional turkey. I found the recipe in Splendor in the Bluegrass (2000), a book compiled by the Junior League of Louisville. Kentucky bourbon adds a new dimension to the sweet potatoes and results in a classic pairing.
6 servings
5 pounds sweet potatoes, unpeeled
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Salt and pepper
⅓ cup Kentucky bourbon
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork and place them in a large roasting pan. Roast them for 1 hour or until tender. Remove them from the oven and allow them to stand for at least 15 to 30 minutes before proceeding.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Combine the sweet potatoes with the cream, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Using an electric mixer, mash the sweet potato mixture.
3. Combine the bourbon and brown sugar in a large saucepan and heat to a boil. Stir the sweet potato mixture into the bourbon mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat until heated through.