Kentucky Burgoo

Burgoo can be a mystery to non-Kentuckians

There is a long history of Burgoo in the commonwealth of Kentucky. Many of us joke and call it road kill stew. Pretty much anything that walks can go in a pot over an open fire.

Some folks are very serious about is it a soup or a stew? To me its somewhere in the middle. In pioneer Kentucky, bourbon and burgoo flowed freely at political rallies and social gatherings... it's the best way to a voter's heart. Burgoo's main ingredients were wild game: venison, squirrel, rabbit, opossum, raccoon, quail, wild turkey and whatever vegetables they had around: corn, lima beans, okra almost anything you could bring to the pot from the garden all slow-cooked outdoors in big iron pots. Burgoo Bliss isn't easy to find. Everyone disagrees about what meats actually go into burgoo. Each area of Kentucky, and even individual burgoo cooks have their own special preparation. I have seen a lot of burgoos, some were slow cooked for 12 hours and some thickened with instant mashed potatoes. Both tasted great. It's complicated.

About the only point on which burgoo experts agree is the consistency of the soup. A good burgoo should be thick, but still soupy. This is the reason for the long, slow cooking time. It gives the burgoo time to thicken naturally.

The bottom line to me is the right place, the right bunch of folks, and a little luck makes a great burgoo. It is a great cooking event just like a pig roast or an oyster bake.