Traditional Kentucky 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.

TRADITIONAL KENTUCKY BURGOO

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in an 8-quart pot over medium heat; brown pork and beef cubes in the hot oil, working in batches if necessary.
• Stir in chicken broth, chicken pieces, potatoes, and carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer stew for 1 hour.
• Stir in stewed tomatoes, barbeque sauce, green beans, okra, corn, onion, green bell pepper, celery, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, salt, black pepper, and hot pepper sauce.
• Bring stew back to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 more hour.
• Discard bay leaves before serving stew in bowls.

KENTUCKY BURGOO

Steps:

• In a large heavy pot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Season the beef, lamb and chicken with Essence, salt and pepper and add in batches to the pot, searing on all sides. Add the quartered onions, whole garlic, red pepper, and bay leaves, and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered, skimming to remove any scum that forms on the surface, until the meat is tender and the chicken is falling from the bones, about 2 hours.
• Strain, reserving the broth. When the meats and chicken are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones and discard. Chop the meat.
• Return the clean pot to the heat and cook the bacon over medium-high heat until the fat is rendered and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon. To the fat in the pan, add the chopped onions, carrots and bell peppers, and cook stirring, until soft, 4 minutes. Add the chopped garlic, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, lima beans, Worcestershire and sugar, and enough reserved broth to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring often, until thick and the potatoes are tender, 30 minutes to 1 hour. Add the corn and cooked meat and chicken and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the bacon and parsley and stir.
• Remove from the heat and serve hot with Cheesy Garlic Grits Casserole and hot biscuits.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from New New Orleans Cooking by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, Published by William and Morrow, 1993
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease a 2-quart souffle dish with 2 tablespoons of the butter and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, bring the water and salt to a boil. Stirring, add the grits and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring, occasionally, until the grits are thick, smooth and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the cream and cook until well incorporated, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into the prepared casserole and bake for 40 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and serve hot.

KENTUCKY BOURBON BURGOO

Steps:

• 1. Put the pork, veal, beef, lamb, and chicken into a large pot. Add the water and bring it to a boil slowly. Simmer until meat is tender enough to fall off the bones, about 4-6 hours.
• 2. Lift the meat out of the stock. Cool the meat, remove it from the bones, and chop it. Return the chopped meat to the stock.
• 3. Pare the potatoes and onions and dice them. Add them, plus the carrots, green peppers, cabbage, tomato puree, corn, red pepper, okra, parsley, lima beans, celery, and bourbon, to the meat and stock. Allow the stew to simmer until very thick about 6 hours.
• 4. Season to taste with the salt, pepper, Tabasco, steak sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.

KENTUCKY BURGOO

Steps:

• Day one: In a large heavy stockpot, add meat and cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt, Italian seasoning, and enough water to completely cover meat. Simmer over medium heat for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Remove meat from stock; refrigerate stock for later use. Debone meat, discard bones, and place meat in a roasting pan. Roast meat for 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven or until tender when pierced with a fork. Cover pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate.
• Day two: Remove stock from refrigerator; skim off and discard top layer of hardened white fat. Pour 4 cups of stock into a heavy stockpot; add potatoes, carrots, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook vegetable mixture over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly and refrigerate.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion. Cook and stir until onion is transparent, 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside. Remove meat from refrigerator and add remaining stock to pan. Cover the roasting pan with a lid or aluminum foil.
• Cook meat for 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven. Remove the meat from the oven and pour in the salsa, onion, tomato sauce, brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and 1 can crushed tomatoes. Continue roasting for another 1 1/2 hours. Cool slightly and refrigerate overnight.
• Day three: In a large Dutch oven portable roaster or large stock pot, combine meat with the vegetable mixture from the day before, corn, green beans, lima beans, okra, and tomato juice. Cook for 3 hours at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) if using a roaster, or if using a stock pot, simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

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:

• 1. Place the chicken breast, thigh, and liver, the pork, and the cold water in a heavy, nonreactive 4-gallon kettle; set over moderately high heat and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the water bubbles gently, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and refrigerate all pieces of chicken. Cover the kettle again and simmer the pork about 1 1/2 hours longer or until very tender.
• 2. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken, cut the meat into 1-inch chunks, then pulse quickly in a food processor until the texture of coarsely ground meat (in the old days, the chicken was fed through a meat grinder). When the pork is tender, cut into 1-inch chunks, then pulse just as you did the chicken. Also pulse the chicken liver.
• 3. Return the chicken, liver, and pork to the kettle, add the beans and their soaking water, the onions, tomatoes and their liquid, the corn, and peas. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
• 4. Add the salt, pepper, and butter, reduce the heat to its lowest point, and simmer the burgoo uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally, or until as thick as chili. Note: If at any time the burgoo threatens to stick to the bottom of the kettle, slide a heat diffuser underneath.
• 5. Taste the burgoo for salt and pepper, adjust as needed, then ladle into heated soup bowls.