Burgoo
Every area or region in the world has its own soup or stew, because soup and stew are nutritious, easy to fix, and economical. Popular legend holds that Parisian tavern-keeper Monsieur Boulanger opened the first modern “restaurant” in 1765, setting up shop in Paris’s first arrondissement and hanging a sign that read, “Boulanger débite des restaurants divins” (“Boulanger provides divine sustenance”), with an invitation below in Latin: “Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis et ego vos restauro” (“Come to me, those who are famished, and I will give you sustenance”). The word restaurant comes from the “restorative” bouillon that the original restaurant served, a dish made from sheep feet in a white sauce. Even though the facts of this story and of Monsieur Boulanger’s existence have been challenged by Rebecca Spang in her book The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture, the fact remains that the modern restaurant was founded to serve something akin to a soup or stew. Today, most restaurants offer a soup or a stew as a choice at the beginning of the customer’s meal.1
In the United States, soups and stews go by many regional names: ragout, gumbo, bogs, hotpots, chili, kettles, goulash, and chowder, to name a few. Kentucky’s and Illinois’s citizens are proud to put forth burgoo from their pots. Ronni Lundy writes in her book Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken: The Heart and Soul of Southern Country Kitchens, “If Gumbo is the national stew of Cajun country, burgoo is the stew of Kentucky.” The word burgoo has several possible origins. It may have described an oatmeal porridge that was served to English sailors in the mid-1700s, or it may have come from the small town of Bergoo (sic), West Virginia, which is in Webster County. The word might also be a slur of “birdstew” or perhaps “bulger”; it could also be a mis-pronunciation of “barbecue,” “ragout,” or an amalgam of the lot. If the oatmeal story is true, burgoo continued as a military staple as it became a hearty stew for soldiers who could travel light and hunt and gather ingredients “from wild things in the woods” once they stopped moving for the day—so they did not have to move the supplies from one location to another. Later, burgoo became a community event, made from “meat from domestic beasts and barnyard fowls with vegetable from the garden,” which was many times connected to political campaigns—many of the politicians were former military heroes. Local women would have a “peeling party” for all of the vegetables that would go into the burgoo. Later that day, local men would tend to the burgoo pots all night while the mixture finished cooking.2
Burgoo is described in two ways, as a thin stew and/or as a thick soup that is cooked for a long time and is almost like a “chowder” in consistency. Vice president of the United States Alben Barkley of Paducah said, “A ‘burgoo’ is a cross between a soup and a stew, and into the big iron cooking kettles go, as we sometimes say in Kentucky, a ‘numerosity’ of things—meat, chicken, vegetables, and lots of seasoning.” The Mayfield Messenger, the newspaper in Mayfield, Kentucky, said that “no one person probably will ever know how many different things are in a batch of burgoo” but that burgoo is “a six-course dinner all boiled in one … with the proper seasoning burgoo can’t be anything but good and nutritious.” However, no thickening agent is used in burgoo, and “no two burgoo recipes are exactly alike because this is a frontier dish.” While some may look on burgoo as “just a glorified beef stew, just soupier,” traditional burgoo includes squirrel in the recipe as well as a bird and some type of red meat. Burgoo originated as a wild game dish or a hunter’s stew, as many recipes bear out, and is similar to Brunswick stew only more savory and spicy. However, it has been suggested that versions of burgoo containing “varmints” are palatable only with the bourbon chaser. A variety of vegetables are also used to make burgoo, including tomatoes, lima beans, onions, potatoes, okra, and corn. However, sweet vegetables are not used in burgoo. According to General James Tandy Ellis, cabbage should not be used to make burgoo even though many recipes include it. Wes Berry, author of The Kentucky Barbecue Book and professor at Western Kentucky University, writes that year-round availability of burgoo is limited to an area Berry has dubbed “the burgoo belt,” which is in western Kentucky and runs from Daviess County in the north to Christian County in the south.3
There are competing claims on the invention of burgoo. One such claim comes from the Beard family of Kentucky. Another comes from a French chef, Gus Jaubert, who was known as the “burgoo King” and “the father of burgoo” in Lexington, Kentucky, and who became well known for his burgoo before or during the Civil War. According to legend, Chef Jaubert cooked for Confederate general John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders. Morgan’s Raiders were known for marching “light and fast,” which would have made living off the land very important. While Jaubert was in fact a Civil War veteran, the myth is busted by Robert Moss, author of Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, who points out that Jaubert served in the First Kentucky Infantry, not in Morgan’s Second Kentucky Calvary. The Beard family’s claim is strengthened by the fact that a twenty-one-year-old John Hunt Morgan was a member of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry Beard’s company during the Mexican War. If General Morgan’s regiment did make burgoo, could it be that General Morgan learned to make burgoo while serving under Captain Beard during the Mexican War? The Beard family’s claim is furthered by the fact that after his Civil War service, Jaubert, according to Moss, “became involved with a Captain Beard and Jake Hostetter, two veterans who had already established themselves before the war as respected Kentucky barbeque men.” Years later a baseball player named Oliver “Ollie” Perry Beard, the son of Captain Beard, would continue the family tradition of making burgoo. In addition, Daniel “Uncle Dan” Beard, founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone, a group that would eventually merge with the Boy Scouts of America, wrote about burgoo in his book Camp-Lore and Woodcraft. Uncle Dan wrote, “The burgoo and the barbecue belong to that era when food was plenty, feasts were generous and appetites good,” and he continued with a recipe for “the burgoo.” Uncle Dan added, “All Kentuckians will vow they understand the true meaning of the word ‘burgoo.’” Jaubert may have been the first person to marry burgoo and barbecue at the same event, which happened to be a political rally for James B. Beck, a Lexington lawyer running for Congress in 1866.4 Eventually, Jaubert’s crown would pass to J. T. Looney of Lexington. Or it could be that burgoo is an evolved version of Brunswick stew, which is very similar in composition, as is a stew from Wisconsin and Minnesota called booyah (bouyah). In any case, the secrets of burgoo may lie in the Lexington and Frankfort Cemeteries where Captain Beard, General Morgan, and the first burgoo king all rest.
Burgoo is an “outdoor, get-together” event most of the time, taking many hours to prepare. Many of the early recipes are huge—so large that they could literally feed an army. Burgoo also has political ties because in Kentucky, a political rally or gathering that featured this dish was called a “burgoo.” The two burgoos (the political rally and the soup/stew) may have coincided because burgoo (the soup/stew) is best “when fresh vegetables are at their peak,” mid- to late summer and early fall, and the political season is in full swing. Illinois’s longest food festival is the Winchester Burgoo Festival, which originated in the late 1800s. Burgoo should be served with corn pones, cornbread, biscuits, or soda bread, and mint juleps, beer, or iced tea, with peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream or pie for dessert.5
HISTORIC BURGOO RECIPES
Some of these burgoo recipes are designed for a large group of people such as an army, a community get-together, or a political rally and are, therefore, not suggested to be made at home. However, these recipes are important because they help us understand how they were once used to bring a community together (and how much of that community is brought together) and how our society has changed over the years (requiring smaller recipes). There are recipes toward the end of this chapter that are more appropriate for home use.
The first recipe for burgoo (Kentucky burgout [sic]) is adapted from The Blue Grass Cookbook, a 1904 classic by Minnie C. Fox.6 This recipe includes several items that identify it as a burgoo, such as the squirrels, birds, tomatoes, and corn, and does not contain cabbage. However, this recipe also has a few items found in very few burgoos: the barley and the oysters.
Kentucky Burgout (sic)
12–15 servings
6 squirrels
6 birds
1½ gallons water
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart corn
1 quart oysters
1 pint sweet cream
¼ pound butter
2 tablespoons flour
seasonings
Boil the squirrels and birds in the water until tender, and remove all the bones. Add the barley and vegetables and cook slowly for 1 hour. Ten minutes before serving, add the oysters and cream with butter and flour rubbed together. Season to taste and serve hot.
Please note: “Flour and butter rubbed or kneaded together,” like a beurre manié, is used for sauces and soups to thicken, as one would use a roux. The difference (and this is important) is that a roux is usually used hot with a cold stock, while a beurre manié is used cold with a hot stock or soup. To use a hot roux with a hot stock or a cold with cold would allow the flour to clump, which means the resulting sauce would be lumpy. The beurre manié is used to finish the sauce or soup. The chef can add as needed.
This second recipe for burgoo is, perhaps, the best representation of a basic burgoo that calls for living off the land and using what you have available. However, this recipe is based on a relatively recent source. The inclusion of game meat suggests that this is an old recipe, something that early soldiers might pull together, but it comes from The Monterey Cookbook, which was published in 1986 and refers to the town of Monterey in Owen County; both the town and the county have military ties.7 The town of Monterey is named for the Battle of Monterey, which was fought during the Mexican-American War and would make the American commanding officer Major General Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor a national hero. Taylor eventually became the twelfth president of the United States but would serve less than a year and a half before dying of a stomach ailment. President Taylor is buried in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. The cemetery sits on land that was part of a land grant to Taylor’s father, Colonel Richard Taylor, for his Revolutionary War service, and now has more than fourteen thousand interments. Owen County is named for Colonel Abraham Owen, who served as an aide-decamp to Major General William Henry Harrison, the future ninth president of the United States, at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where Colonel Owen was killed in 1811 while US forces battled Native American warriors led by Shawnee leader Tecumseh.
This is a large recipe yielding fifty gallons, but it is important to show both the game in the burgoo and the large batching, both of which are traditional to burgoo.
Monterey Burgoo
50 gallons
40 pounds beef
25–30 pounds deer meat
10 squirrels
5 wild rabbits
6–8 chickens
2 groundhogs
5 pounds beef suet
25 pounds potatoes
20 pounds onions
10 pounds carrots
100 ears field corn, shucked and corn cut from the ear
1 bushel tomatoes
3 or 4 heads cabbage
10 pounds green beans
18–20 quarts tomato juice
6 ounces black pepper
1½ ounces red pepper
6 jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 cayenne peppers, chopped
1 pound salt
In a very large kettle, cover all the meat and beef suet with water and cook for 4 hours. Remove bones from meat. Bring back to a boil and add the hard vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, and corn). Let them boil for 2 hours. Let the fire die down and add remaining vegetables. Add tomato juice. Add salt and pepper, red pepper, jalapeno peppers, and cayenne peppers. Let simmer very slowly for 1 hour. You can almost let the fire go out because the kettle will retain enough heat to simmer the burgoo. Stir constantly (or as often as possible) the entire time.
Illinois is also known for burgoo. Franklin, Illinois, is known as the “Burgoo Capital of the World,” but then so are Lawrenceburg and Owensboro, Kentucky. The village of Franklin is located in Morgan County, which is named for Major General Daniel Morgan, a cousin of Daniel Boone, who served in the Revolutionary War—he was the victorious commander at the Battle of Cowpens—and during the Whiskey Rebellion. General Morgan’s Riflemen were known for their guerrilla tactics; many times they targeted British officers first. Ironically, John Hunt Morgan claimed to be a descendant of General Morgan.
This recipe is recast from Brighton, Illinois, Centennial Cookbook—“to provide nutritious, satisfying, and delectable meals for the next one hundred years.” Please note the addition of navy beans, which are not usually found in Kentucky burgoo, although Dan Beard lists beans in his recipe.8 Lima beans are usually found in Kentucky burgoo. Beard claims Kentucky as the origin of burgoo.
Brighton Burgoo Soup
400 gallons
200 pounds potatoes
200 pounds navy beans
8 bushels tomatoes (24 #10 cans)
16 bushels sweet corn (24 #10 cans)
200 pounds onions
60 fat hens
120 pounds beef brisket
60 pounds smoked pork jowl
400 pounds beef bones
water as needed
Combine all ingredients and cook (simmer) for about 24 hours. Season to taste.
Note: other vegetables may be added, if desired.
In 1931 the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. Politicians were gearing up for the election of 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt was about to become president, and Prohibition was about to be repealed. This early recipe is designed to serve thousands of people—which would have helped draw voters to a political event because so many people were out of work; by some estimates one out of every three people in Kentucky was unemployed just because of the bourbon industry—so the number was much higher. In a time before mass media, this was how political candidates were able to gather crowds to hear their messages; today, with radio and television and the Internet, rallies such as the one described here are of much lesser importance. For this event Dr. Bow Reynolds was the “master of affairs and chief cook,” and the Mayfield Messenger newspaper reported his recipe to eager readers. Later, True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon & Burgoo revived the recipe, from which the following is adapted.9
Dr. Bow Reynolds Burgoo
10,000 servings (?)
1½ tons beef
½ ton pork
40 bushels potatoes
40 bushels onions
480 (16-ounce) cans tomatoes
40 bushels carrots
1,200 roasting ears corn
40 gallons peas
1 bushel red peppers
1 gallon garlic
Divide all ingredients among as many large kettles as necessary. Fill the kettles with water, and cook until meat is done.
The Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes, compiled and edited by Lillie S. Lustig, S. Claire Sondheim, and Sarah Rensel, first appeared in 1935. In it, the authors present a huge recipe that yields 1,200 gallons. They claim that the recipe originated from a handwritten copy of J. T. Looney’s Burgoo. Looney was recognized as the “Burgoo King,” and E. R. Bradley named Kentucky Derby winner Burgoo King in honor of Looney.10
Burgoo for a Huge Crowd
1,200 gallons
600 pounds lean soup meat (no fat, no bones)
200 pounds fat hens
2,000 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
200 pounds onions
5 bushels cabbage, chopped
60 (10-pound) cans tomatoes
24 (10-pound) cans puréed tomatoes
24 (10-pound) cans carrots
18 (10-pound) cans corn
red pepper and salt to taste
Worcestershire, Tabasco, or A-1 Sauce
Mix the ingredients, a little at a time, and cook outdoors in huge iron kettles over wood fires for 15–20 hours. Use squirrels in season: 1 dozen squirrels to each 100 gallons of burgoo. Season to taste.
General James Tandy Ellis (1869–1942) was many things in his life—a journalist, author, musician, and humorist—and during World War I he was the adjutant general of Kentucky for the National Guard. He was born in Ghent, Kentucky, in Carroll County (named for Charles Carroll, the oldest and the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence) to Dr. Peter Clarkson and Drusilla Tandy Ellis. He was married to Harriet Bainbridge Richardson. Ellis became a disciple of Gus Jaubert, learning how to make burgoo directly from the King himself. Marion Flexner, author of the Kentucky classic Out of Kentucky Kitchens, wrote that she published a recipe that Ellis objected to because it contained cabbage.11 Ellis died on December 9, 1942, two days after his wife’s birthday, at the age of seventy-four. Heartbroken, his wife, Harriette, died less than two months later, on January 24, 1943. The following is inspired by the recipe that Ellis sent to Flexner. The large variation in serving size suggests that the average serving was larger in the past, supporting Uncle Dan’s observation.
Tandy Ellis’s Burgoo
8–20 servings
2 pounds beef, cut from the shank (soup bone included)
½ pound lamb (baby lamb, not mutton)
1 medium chicken
2 cups diced potatoes
red pepper to taste (1 small pod, or more to taste)
3 cups corn cut from the cob (young field corn is best)
salt and black pepper to taste
1 “toe” (clove) garlic
2 cups onions, diced
2 cups fresh butter beans, or 1 package frozen butter beans
3 carrots, diced
1 cup parsley, minced
2 green peppers, diced, seeds removed
2 cups okra, diced or cut into rings
4 quarts water, or more if soup cooks too thick
12 tomatoes, or 1 quart can
Put the beef, lamb, and dismembered chicken in a soup kettle with water, salt, and black and red pepper. Ellis specified an old-fashioned iron kettle, but any heavy aluminum or metal kettle with a tight-fitting lid will do. Let the meat come to a hard boil, reduce the heat, and simmer about 2 hours with the lid on. Add potatoes and onions, and at intervals of 10 minutes, the butter beans, carrots, and green peppers. Then add corn and simmer for 2 hours or until the mixture seems very thick. Watch carefully so that it does not stick. Add more water from time to time if necessary, but use as little as possible. Add okra, tomatoes, and garlic and let simmer another 1½ hours, or until these vegetables too are done and blended with the others. The soup should cook for 4–7 hours. This soup improves by standing and can be kept for a long time in the refrigerator. Serve with corn pones; follow with a piece of pie.
In 1976 Nancy and Arthur Hawkins authored The American Regional Cookbook: Recipes from Yesterday and Today for the Modern Cook. They divide the cuisine of the United States into nine regions; Kentucky cuisine was classified as part of “Southern cooking.” Burgoo is classified as a “meat,” not as a “soup.” The Hawkinses point out that “the burgoo is an outdoor get-together happening,” and in their book they feature three recipes: a very old recipe, an old recipe, and a “more reasonable recipe” for burgoo.12 It is interesting to note that the “very old recipe” contains oats, which would have been part of the original recipe for burgoo. The following are adapted from their book:
100 pounds beef
12 chickens
1½ bushels potatoes
1 peck turnips
1 peck carrots
1 gallon onions
30 tomatoes
12 ears corn, cut from the cob
3 boxes oatmeal
4 pounds salt
¾ pound pepper
12 heads cabbage
Combine all ingredients in a large kettle or kettles, covering the contents with water. Cook/simmer for 24 hours.
Old Recipe for Burgoo
24–30 servings
6 squirrels
6 chickens
6 pounds beef
lots of tomatoes
lots of corn
lots of onion
lots of peppers
(The amounts and ratios of the vegetables are at the cook’s discretion.)
Combine all ingredients in a large kettle, covering the contents with water. Cook/simmer for 24 hours.
8–10 servings
1 young squirrel, dressed and jointed
1 young chicken, dressed and jointed
1½ pounds beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1½ pounds pork, cut into 2-inch cubes
several tomatoes, skinned and quartered
kernels cut from 6 ears corn
1 red pepper, cut up
5 green peppers, cut up
5 onions, peeled and quartered
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Cover the meat with water, using a heavy pot or kettle, and simmer slowly 4–5 hours or until meat is well done and most of the water is cooked away.
Add the vegetables and seasonings and whatever more water may be necessary.
Serve with hunks of soda bread and mint juleps or beer.
Note: “Jointed” means to cut at the joint. This does several things. It allows exposure of the cartilage (which is good for stock and soup) but also allows the meat to be removed easily.
Margaret M. Bridwell’s book Kentucky Fare: A Recipe Book of Some of Kentucky’s Mouth Watering Specialties is small but hits all of the classic Kentucky dishes. Written in 1953, it begins, “Kentuckians are proud of being famous for an inherent hospitality….” Bridwell suggests that burgoo be served with “corn pones, a green salad and fruit pie” for a “completely satisfying meal.”13 This recipe is based on her burgoo.
Burgoo
15–20 servings
2 pounds lean beef, with bone
1 medium hen
1 pound veal
4 quarts water
6 ears young corn, cut from cob
2 cups rock potatoes, diced
2 cups onion, diced
1 pint fresh or frozen butter beans
3 carrots, diced
2 cups okra, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1 button garlic
1 small pod red pepper
1 cup parsley, minced
1 quart tomatoes
1 stalk celery, diced
bacon fat
In a heavy aluminum or iron kettle with a tight lid, boil the beef, veal, and chicken in the water until they are very tender. Remove meat and separate from bones. Replace meat in pot. Fry onions in bacon fat until yellow. Add to meat and stock. Add potatoes, carrots, and celery. Cook about 15 minutes. Add butter beans and cook about 2 hours, simmering slowly. The mixture should be very thick. If too thick, add a small amount of water from time to time to prevent sticking. Add okra, tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper pod. Let simmer another hour. Add corn and cook 30 minutes. Stir in parsley when ready to take from stove. Salt to taste.
This recipe is adapted from Kentucky’s Best: Fifty Years of Great Recipes by Linda Allison-Lewis.14 This burgoo is the most complex recipe featured and comes from the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels when they held an annual Derby barbecue. The Order discontinued the Derby Barbecue in 2008.
Kentucky Colonels’ Burgoo
150 servings
8 pounds pork
1 pound veal
6 pounds breast of lamb
30 pounds beef
20 pounds chicken
20 pounds turtle meat
1½ gallons tomato purée
1 pound barley
1 gallon white corn, cut
1 gallon whole cranberries
1 gallon small mushrooms, chopped
1 gallon turnips, diced
3 pounds Irish potatoes, quartered
10 pounds onions, chopped
20 green peppers, quartered
1 gallon carrots, sliced
5 pounds cabbage, sliced
1 gallon celery, diced
3 tablespoons pepper
2 cups salt
6 ounces horseradish roots, finely grated
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons Italian-style seasoning
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1½ tablespoons bay leaves
10 pods red pepper, well pulverized
1½ tablespoons oregano
3 tablespoons chili seasoning
The day before the burgoo is to be served—start at noon—cook meat in huge kettles over an open fire, simmering overnight. The next day, divide meat and mix it together in 6 or 7 huge kettles. Add vegetables and seasonings and cook them with meat, simmering about 4 hours.
MORE RECENT BURGOO RECIPES
The burgoo recipes in this section are smaller and more manageable for the home cook who needs to feed fewer than twenty people. They also feature the creativity of the cooks who created these recipes and put their own stamp on a classic Kentucky dish.15
The Louisville Courier-Journal & Times Cookbook by Lillian Marshall, which included ninety-one favorite Cissy Gregg recipes, is a Kentucky cuisine classic. The book features two recipes for burgoo, one from Hart County and the other from Wayne County. Both counties are named for soldiers. Hart County is named for Captain Nathaniel Gary Smith Hart, son of Colonel Thomas Hart and his wife, Susanna Grey Hart. Captain Hart was a graduate of Princeton, a Lexington lawyer and businessman who volunteered during the War of 1812 with the Lexington Light Infantry. His company was captured at the Battle of Frenchtown (also known as the Battle of the River Raisin). Captain Hart died the next day, with many of his men, in the Massacre of River Raisin at the hands of the Native Americans who were allied with the British; he had been betrayed by a former Princeton classmate, William Elliott, who was a captain for the British Army. Hart County is one of nine counties in Kentucky named for officers who fought in the Battle of Frenchtown. The others include Allen County, Ballard County, Edmonson County, Graves County, Hickman County, McCracken County, Meade County, and Simpson County. Hart County burgoo is also featured in Cabbage Patch: Famous Kentucky Recipes; in Favorite Fare II, a cookbook by the Woman’s Club of Louisville, as “Cissy Gregg’s Kentucky Burgoo”; in Kentucky Kitchens, Volume II as burgoo; in The Courier-Journal Kentucky Cookbook, edited by John Finley, as “Kentucky Burgoo”; and in Tom Hoge’s The Bourbon Cookbook with the addition of 6 ounces of bourbon. For many people this recipe, amalgamated from the sources just cited, could be viewed as the gold standard for burgoo. This burgoo also freezes well.16
Hart County Burgoo
12 quarts
2 pounds pork shank
2 pounds veal shank
2 pounds beef shank
2 pounds breast of lamb
4-pound hen
8 quarts water
1½ pounds potatoes, pared and diced
1½ pounds onions, peeled and diced
1 bunch carrots, diced
2 green peppers, diced
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1 quart tomato purée
2 cups whole corn, fresh or canned
2 pods red pepper
2 cups okra, diced
2 cups lima beans
1 cup celery, diced
salt and cayenne to taste
parsley, chopped
Tabasco to taste
A-1 sauce to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Put all the meat and cold water in a 4-gallon kettle and bring slowly to a boil. Simmer until the meat is tender enough to fall from the bones. Lift the meat out of the stock; let cool, then chop the meat, removing the bones.
Return meat to stock and add potatoes and onions. Stir frequently with a long-handled spoon or paddle. Add remaining vegetables. Allow to simmer until thick, stirring almost constantly when stew thickens. Burgoo should be very thick but still “soupy.” Season as it cooks, but not too much until almost done. Add parsley just before the stew is ready to serve.
Total cooking time is approximately 10 hours.
Wayne County is named for Major General Anthony “Mad Anthony” Wayne, who served with distinction during the Revolutionary War and after as the commander in chief of the Army of the United States. Wayne was also a member of the US House of Representatives, representing Georgia’s First Congressional District during the Second Congress.17 This recipe, named after Wayne County, also freezes well.
Wayne County Burgoo
12–15 servings (7 quarts)
2½ pounds meaty shank of beef
3 pounds chicken
bacon fat
salt to taste
½ quart canned or fresh tomatoes
1 cup celery, diced
2 cups potatoes, diced
2 cups carrots, diced
2 cups fresh corn, cut from the cob
1 cup green beans, cut
1 cup peas
1 package frozen lima beans
1 small can white soup beans
½ cup okra, sliced
1 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more, to taste)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 can unseasoned chicken broth or water for thinning
½ cup flour, mixed with a cup of cream for thickening
The day before serving: Brown beef in bacon fat. Add cold water to cover and add chicken and salt. Simmer, loosely covered, until meats are tender. Chicken will get done first; remove it and refrigerate, covered. Continue cooking the beef until very tender; remove and refrigerate, covered. Strain broth and refrigerate.
The day of serving: Skim fat from broth; remove chicken and beef from bones. Set aside. Measure the broth into a large kettle, at least 8-quarts size, and add water to total 3 quarts. Add vegetables and seasonings and simmer, loosely covered, for at least 2 hours, the slower and longer, the better. Stir often from the bottom. If the stew seems to be getting too thick, add water or chicken broth.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Cut the meat in bite-size pieces and place in an oven-going container. Toss well to mix the meats and place in oven, covered, to heat for at least 1 hour. By this time the soup should be very thick but still “soupy.” If it seems thin, add flour mixed with cream and cook, stirring until well thickened. Season to taste.
To serve, place squares of egg cornbread in bottoms of large soup bowls and ladle the soup onto the bread. Spoon the hot meat on top of each serving.
In 1988 Kentucky native Charles Patteson wrote a book on Kentucky cuisine called Charles Patteson’s Kentucky Cooking. Having eaten burgoo all of his life, Patteson discusses the use of filé powder, which can be used to flavor and thicken the burgoo. He warns not to use filé if you plan to reheat your burgoo because the filé will become stringy and the burgoo will become gummy. Another recipe for burgoo from the book Historic Homes—Kentucky Heritage Recipes includes filé in the recipe. The addition of filé is not common to recipes of burgoo but is very common in gumbo. Patteson also uses curry powder, which was one of Burgoo King T. J. Looney’s many secret ingredients, in addition to Angostura bitters, Worcestershire sauce, tomato catsup, and sherry wine.18 Taylor County is named for President Zachary Taylor, who is mentioned earlier in this chapter. The following is inspired by Patteson’s burgoo.
Charles Patteson’s Taylor County Burgoo
16–18 servings, as a first course
1 whole stewing chicken (4½–5 pounds)
4 cups beef stock or broth
6 large ripe tomatoes
2 medium onions, unpeeled
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 tablespoon coarse (kosher) salt
1½ cups bourbon
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into two pieces
1 cup country ham trimmings, diced (optional)
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed if frozen
1 cup raw potatoes, diced
2 cups fresh lima beans, shelled
2½ cups okra, trimmed of stems and halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon filé powder (optional)
Place the chicken in a large stockpot with beef stock and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and skim off the foam as it rises to the surface. When the broth is clear, add the tomatoes, onions, curry powder, salt, and pepper. Cover partially and simmer gently for 2 hours.
Add 1 cup of the bourbon; partially cover and simmer for another 2 hours.
Turn off the heat. Remove the chicken. Trim off and discard the skin and bones. Reserve the meat in large pieces. Strain the soup into another container; press the onion in the tomato pulp through the sieve into the broth. Discard the solids. Chill until the fat can be readily skimmed from the surface.
Rinse the stockpot and return the soup to it. Add the remaining ½ cup bourbon, the reserved chicken meat, and the raw chicken breast meat. Add the ham, corn, potatoes, lima beans, and okra. Cover partially and simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste.
Jeff Maxwell’s book Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess: The Lost Recipes of Private Igor highlights Maxwell’s tenure as a recurring character on the hit TV series.19 The show was based on the award-winning film MASH, which is based on the novel by Richard Hooker, MASH: A Novel about Three Army Doctors. A MASH unit was a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and these hospitals were operational from 1945 to 2006. They have since been replaced with Combat Support Hospitals (CSH—pronounced cash). Maxwell’s book is filled with remembrances, photos, and recipes, which were highlighted in the TV series that ran for eleven seasons from 1972 to 1983 and won forty-four awards. The cast featured Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr, Gary Burghoff, Wayne Rogers, William Christopher, McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Harry Morgan, David Ogden Stiers, and Maxwell as Private Igor, the bumbling cook of M*A*S*H 4077. Including burgoo in his cookbook, Maxwell ironically confirms the military roots of this stew and the fact that his was a mobile unit that might need to forage for ingredients—although there is no proof that Maxwell considered that when he included the recipe in his cookbook about the fictional army unit. Also, the idea that this stew was perhaps served at a military unit that was charged with restoring the health of soldiers goes to the restorative quality of soup and stew. The following recipe is adapted from Maxwell’s:
The Battle of Burgoo
12 servings
4 pounds beef shanks
4 pounds chicken, cut into quarters
3 quarts chicken broth (or beef broth)
3 cups canned plum tomatoes (or 6 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped)
3 cups tomato purée
6 medium russet potatoes, quartered
6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 cups corn kernels
1½ cups cabbage, shredded
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup okra, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups frozen peas
1 cup parsley, chopped
In a large heavy kettle combine the beef, chicken, and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook slowly until the meats are very tender and fall from the bones, about 2½ hours.
Remove the beef and chicken from the broth and chop into chucks. Discard the bones and return the meats to the broth.
Add all of the remaining ingredients except the peas and parsley. Simmer slowly, stirring occasionally, over low heat for about 2 hours or until the vegetables are soft and the stew is very thick.
Add the peas and parsley and cook for 10 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread and additional Tabasco sauce on the side.
This next recipe is inspired by Mountain Laurel Encore: A Collection of Recipes, a cookbook published by the Bell County Extension Homemakers of Bell County, Kentucky, in 1984. The name of the recipe suggests that other burgoo is less delicious or, worse, the opposite of delicious. There are several ingredients not found in other burgoos—bacon fat and brown sugar—and this burgoo is thickened with butter and flour.
Bell County is named for statesman Joshua Fry Bell, the son of David and Martha Fry Bell. Bell was a graduate of Centre College and Transylvania Law School. He was elected to Congress in 1844 but served only one term (March 4, 1845—March 3, 1847). He later served as the secretary of state for Kentucky (July 2, 1849—March 16, 1850) and as a representative in the Kentucky House of Representatives (1862—1867). He was highly regarded, being nominated by the Union Democrats for governor of Kentucky, but he declined the nomination. Bell represented Kentucky at the Peace Conference of 1861 in Washington, DC, with the hopes of preventing the US Civil War. He died in Danville, Kentucky, in 1870.
Delicious Burgoo
10 servings
1 pound beef stew meat
1 chicken, quartered
2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
1½ cups onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup potatoes, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 can (1 pound, 3 ounces) tomatoes
3 carrots, diced
1 cup green pepper, chopped
8–10 ounces frozen lima beans
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup okra, sliced
8 ounces frozen corn
¼ cup butter
½ cup flour
¼ cup parsley, chopped
In a large Dutch oven combine 2 tablespoons bacon fat and beef. Brown meat on all sides. Add chicken, water, and salt. Cover and cook slowly over medium heat until meat is tender. Remove beef and chicken. Remove chicken from bones and discard bones. Cut beef and chicken into large pieces. Return chicken and beef to broth. In a frying pan cook onions in remaining bacon fat until tender; add onions to broth. Add garlic, potatoes, celery, tomatoes, carrots, green pepper, beans, red pepper, bay leaf, brown sugar, and pepper. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally for 2 hours. Add okra and corn and cook for 15 minutes. In a bowl, combine butter and flour; blend into burgoo. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.
MODERN BURGOOS
James Villas is a James Beard Award–winning author who wrote the book Stews, Bogs & Burgoos: Recipes from the Great American Stewpot, which includes recipes for three different burgoos, a traditional Kentucky burgoo, a Tennessee quail burgoo, and Veal, Corn, and Mushroom Burgoo. Villas writes that he discovered this last recipe while attending a dinner sponsored by Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel’s, at the Kentucky Derby. He indicates that veal breast might be difficult to work with but that it is “flavorful” and “there is really nothing like it.”20 The following recipe is based on his creation:
James Villas’s Veal, Corn, and Mushroom Burgoo
4–6 servings
1 5-pound breast of veal, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped and juices retained
½ teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
12 medium-sized mushrooms, quartered
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
Dredge the veal pieces in the flour, tapping off any excess. In a large, heavy pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter plus the oil over moderately high heat, then add the veal and brown on all sides. Tipping the pot, pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat; then add the onions and garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add the stock, water, and tomato paste and stir till well blended. Add the tomatoes and their juices, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the veal is tender, about 2¼ hours.
In a medium-size skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over moderate heat, then add the mushrooms and stir until slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the veal along with the corn, increase the heat to moderately high, and stir for 2–3 minutes before serving.
Sharon Thompson is a food writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader and author of the cookbook Flavors of Kentucky. Thompson writes, “Keeneland’s burgoo recipe is virtually the same as it was in 1936, except for the type of meat used.” The following dish is adapted from a recipe from Turf Catering, which ran the Keeneland concessions in 2006. 21
Kentucky Burgoo
18–20 servings
oil
3 pounds stew meat
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup onion, diced
12-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2 16-ounce cans mixed vegetables
7-ounce can tomato purée
2 pounds fresh okra, sliced
1 tablespoon beef base
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup sherry
3 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
cornstarch
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven. Brown the stew meat with the herbs and garlic. Add the remaining ingredients, except the cornstarch, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for at least 3 hours. Adjust seasonings to taste and thicken with cornstarch.
Chef Jonathan Lundy, formerly of Jonathan at Gratz Park, a restaurant in the Gratz Park Inn (open from 1998 to 2014), wrote Jonathan’s Bluegrass Table: Redefining Kentucky Cuisine. Lundy included a new version of burgoo, from which the following is developed, that is very much in the spirit of the original dish but is modernized for today’s lifestyle and takes into account modern tastes.22 One of the benefits of this recipe is that one can complete it in a short amount of time utilizing leftovers.
8–12 servings
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups onions, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, peeled and diced
½ cup green peppers, diced
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced
½ teaspoon garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon dried sage
½ teaspoon dried thyme
12-ounce bottle Kentucky ale or dark ale of your choice
½ gallon brown beef stock
2 cups braised bison brisket, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups roasted pork loin, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups roasted beef tenderloin, cut into bite-size pieces
½ cup fresh roasted corn, cut off the cob
½ cup frozen soybeans—edamame—or lima beans
¼ cup canned tomatoes, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a large soup pot, preheat the oil on high heat and sauté the onions, celery, carrots, and peppers for 3–4 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, garlic, and dried herbs. Sauté for 3–4 minutes more.
Add the Kentucky ale. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes to allow alcohol to cook off.
Add remainder of ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes before serving.
This dish can be made 2–3 days ahead of time and reheated.
Deirdre A. Scaggs and Andrew W. McGraw in their book The Historic Kentucky Kitchen: Traditional Recipes for Today’s Cook introduce a recipe for Nannie Clay McDowell’s burgoo from 1882, stating, “There are few dishes as synonymous with Kentucky as burgoo”; they further acknowledge, “Many recipes call for the inclusion of meats such as squirrel, opossum, and game birds,” and they explain that the original recipe in question did in fact call for “chicken, a piece of beef, or any meat that you like.” However, to modernize the burgoo recipe, they present one that calls only for chicken—which could be taken as a statement that chicken is most likely what modern consumers have in their refrigerator or freezer at home or are most likely willing to consume. Scaggs and McGraw suggest that more seasoning such as “garlic, Worcestershire sauce, or apple cider vinegar would add greater depth of flavor to the final dish,” pointing out that the original recipe did not include any seasoning at all.23 They also state that they use frozen vegetables—which most people today would use—although in 1882 cooks would not have had access to a home refrigerator, as they were invented in 1913. This recipe for chicken burgoo is based on McDowell’s version.
Chicken Burgoo
6–8 servings
1 (3–4 pound) chicken
16 cups cold water
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
7–10 new potatoes
1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, diced
2 cups corn
2 cups peas
2 cups butter beans or lima beans
4 cups cabbage, chopped
Place the chicken in a large pot, cover with cold water, add the salt and pepper, and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow the chicken to simmer until cooked through, roughly 1½ hours. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool. Add the potatoes and tomatoes to the pot and let them simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15–20 minutes. Add the corn, okra, peas, beans, and cabbage and allow them to simmer an additional 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, remove the meat from the chicken. Check the vegetables to make sure they are cooked through, and return the chicken to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste.
One might think that because burgoo is associated with Kentucky and Illinois, it’s regionally confined. However, Justin Joyce, Stephan MacIntyre, Ken Carty, and Michael Carty have a chain of restaurants in Vancouver, Canada, that they have named Burgoo. In 2013 they released a cookbook titled Burgoo: Food for Comfort. In the book they relate a story in which they ordered a few cans of burgoo from Kentucky, to serve as inspiration for their signature stew. They wrote, “When the package arrived, we easily cooked up one can and tasted it … and we promptly put our spoons back down. Let’s just say that after researching (and tasting) many versions of burgoo that may have contained mutton … or possum … or squirrel …, we needed to make our own.”24 They suggest planning 7–8 hours of cooking time and serving the burgoo with homemade mashed potatoes or warm biscuits. This Kentucky burgoo is inspired by their recipe.
6–8 servings, with leftovers
2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 pound lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 small smoked pork hock, wrapped and tied in cheesecloth, or ham cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium white onions, diced
3 or 4 stalks celery, diced
5 or 6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (each 19 ounce) diced tomatoes and juice
¼ cup tomato paste
2 cups good quality beef stock
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
large pinch of chili powder
1 tablespoon or more canned chipotle peppers, puréed or chopped fine
pinch of thyme
½ small head green cabbage, diced
2 or 3 medium yellow fleshed potatoes, diced
½ cup frozen corn
4 or 5 fresh okra, thinly sliced in rounds
½ cup lima beans
2 or 3 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves only, chopped
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place all ingredients except the fresh herbs in a large ovenproof pot or a slow cooker and stir well. Set the heat to the lowest setting (or the oven to 200 degrees F.) and cook, covered, for seven hours until the meat is tender and falling apart. (You can also cook the stew at a high temperature, say 350 degrees F., for 3 hours.)
Remove the lid and stir to break the meat apart. If you are using the pork hock, remove it, discard the cheesecloth, and separate the meat from the bones. Discard the bones, then chop the meat and add it to the stew. If the vegetables are not yet cooked or the stew is not yet thick, continue cooking the stew uncovered for a little longer. Remove from the heat, stir in oregano, thyme, and half of the parsley, and season to taste with the sea salt and the freshly ground black pepper. Serve family style or in individual bowls and garnish with the remaining parsley.
Some people are particular about the food that they eat and will not consider eating anything that they don’t deem to be “normal.” For them, the following recipe is perfect! This dish is adapted from The Derby Party Cooking Clinic by Barbara Harper-Bach. Harper-Bach admits, “I don’t like chicken, squirrel or opossum in my burgoo” and refers to burgoo as “just a glorified beef stew, just soupier.”25
Beef Burgoo
16 servings
4 pounds stew meat, cubed
¼ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons ground thyme
2 teaspoons ground oregano
2 teaspoons ground basil
1½ cups carrots, chopped
2 cups sweet onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed and diced
1 large 28-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes, squeezed into pieces
2 cups frozen corn, off the cob
2 cups frozen peas
14-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon Kitchen Bokay [bouquet]
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup sherry
4 pounds potatoes, diced
1 small package frozen okra
1 quart beef broth
enough water to cover
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ cup flour
2 cups more water
Brown stew meat in the oil on both sides with the onion and garlic. Add remaining ingredients and cover with water and beef broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 3 hours. Thicken with a mixture of the flour and water by putting the water in a quart jar, adding the flour, and shaking well until no lumps remain. Add to burgoo and bring to a boil until thickened. Season to taste.
Ann Simpson was a caterer and cake decorator of great renown in Trigg County. When Ann passed away in October 2010, her daughter, Teresa Ann Simpson, started to compile a cookbook of her mother’s recipes called In the Kitchen with Ann, which was published in 2013. In the many recipes, one can see why Simpson had a great reputation as a caterer. Her recipe for burgoo cuts the time needed to make the stew by using many prepared ingredients yet still seems to keep the spirit of burgoo from western Kentucky. Ronni Lundy writes that in western Kentucky, “burgoo … (has) a deep, thick barbecue sauce like broth.” This recipe for pork barbecue burgoo is based on Ann’s. 26
Pork Barbecue Burgoo
6–9 servings
1 quart barbecue pork, shredded
1 (15-ounce) can lima beans, drained
1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15-ounce) can green peas, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Stir all ingredients together in a large pot. Add enough water to make mixture soupy. Simmer on low until potatoes are done. Stir burgoo often to ensure that the mixture is not sticking. Add water while cooking if needed. Stir in sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.
Burgoo has changed over the years, from a thick soup to a thickened stew, from one that always contained squirrel to one that contains beef and chicken (even though USDA-approved squirrel is available), from one that contained fresh vegetables to one that contains frozen or canned vegetables, from one that was usually a large batch that could feed an army to one that feeds a small family. The importance of burgoo is highlighted by the fact that there is a “burgoo belt,” which means that burgoo is not really available in most areas. There is no reigning “king” of burgoo, suggesting that burgoo has lost importance in Kentucky or at the very least that no one cares to claim the vacant throne, and the Kentucky public seems not to know or care that we have lost that monarch.