What is Burgoo?

[Northern Light]

Mention of this dish came up on another thread and I wondered just what it is, where its name came from and if anyone had a recipe?

 

[donna]

I have several posts on Burgoo. One is Basil Duke's recipe. I will bring up threads with Burgoo.

 

[Northern Light]

I have several posts on Burgoo. One is Basil Duke's recipe. I will bring up threads with Burgoo.

Thanks, Donna!

 

[Patrick H]

All I can tell you is that I first experienced Burgoo at the very first Kentucky Derby party I ever attended. I believe the dish was imported to Boonville, MO (my home town) by a native Kentuckian at that party. He had transplanted himself into our fair little city. The dish has caught on here. Yes, it is a stew and it is the very thing to eat late in the afternoon after sipping several mint juleps. I look forward to it each year on Derby day. The particular recipe that is served here is always a brothy beef stew. I have never made it myself, but I enjoy eating it. This just goes to show you that I should travel a bit more. .....Hey, what else am I missing? There must be lots of wonderful regional dishes out there!

 

[Barrycdog]

The Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes
edited by Lillie Lustig, S. Sondheim, Sarah Rensel

 

[ole]

First time I heard of burgoo, it was defined as a stew of whatever all could pick up on the road that was edible. With 20 or 30 families gathering over miles and miles, that could mean anything. Rabbits, wild onions, ramps, ground squirrels, tree squirrels ...

When you got to the appointed spot, all was tossed into a pot and it was called burgoo. Nowdays it is more formally based on lamb, but it is still a festive occasion.

It is not exclusively southern.

Up here, we have burgoo festivals. It is still a festival of country folk getting together around a communal pot called burgoo. The ingredients have nothing to do with the tradition.

 

[TinCan]

Burgoo is simply, Very Good!

 

[donna]

A good article on Burgoo is at:

www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/kentucky/burgoo

In article they discuss Gustave Jaubert, who cooked for John Hunt Morgan as the first to create Burgoo in Kentucky. He is called the Father of Burgoo.

 

[Northern Light]

All I can tell you is that I first experienced Burgoo at the very first Kentucky Derby party I ever attended. I believe the dish was imported to Boonville, MO (my home town) by a native Kentuckian at that party. He had transplanted himself into our fair little city. The dish has caught on here. Yes, it is a stew and it is the very thing to eat late in the afternoon after sipping several mint juleps. I look forward to it each year on Derby day. The particular recipe that is served here is always a brothy beef stew. I have never made it myself, but I enjoy eating it. This just goes to show you that I should travel a bit more. .....Hey, what else am I missing? There must be lots of wonderful regional dishes out there!

Saturday night supper up here has traditionally been baked beans and brown bread, the kind with oatmeal, not whole wheat flour, and buckwheat pancakes with maple "honey". for breakfast. Oh and Hodge Podge in the summer, which is new potatoes, string beans, peas, and baby carrots cooked in cream. Very popular, but not on my list of good things to eat! You haven't missed anything there.

 

[Northern Light]

View attachment 45315

The Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes
edited by Lillie Lustig, S. Sondheim, Sarah Rensel

Oh. My. Goodness. I can just picture all those cauldrons out on the lawn. And when pray tell is "squirrel season". Up here they are around all year, the dratted little tree rats!

 

[Northern Light]

A good article on Burgoo is at:

www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/kentucky/burgoo

In article they discuss Gustave Jaubert, who cooked for John Hunt Morgan as the first to create Burgoo in Kentucky. He is called the Father of Burgoo.

Very interesting, thanks!

 

[28thNewYork]

I grew up in an area where there were (and still are) volunteer fire companies. To help pay their expenses, each had at least one "Field Day" a year to raise money through selling various foods, conducting games (bingo was huge) and giving pony rides, etc. to kids.

One of the standard food items was chowder, which was usually begun several days before the actual Field Day was conducted; prepared in one or more iron cauldrons. The ingredients and method described in the recipe are very representative of the preparation of the chowder to this day. When finished, the individual ingredients were still barely recognizable, with the meats (usually a mix of chicken, pork and beef) reduced practically to individual strands of flavor, all in a liquid that just barely needed a spoon because it still seeped between the tines of a fork. Available to eat on the spot or take home in a waxed covered container with a metal bail or in the container you brought.

 

[Tumbleweed]

The closest thing we have to burgoo up here is what my mother in law used to call a boiled dinner. It's mainly beef and cabbage, then add whatever vegetables you like to give it extra flavor. It's very good and I still make it on occasion adding usually carrots, onion, celery and garlic because I always have those on hand.

 

[Drew]

This goes into the "you learn something new everyday around here" file. Burgoo...hmm....

 

[donna]

I wanted to bring this thread back up, since the Food Forum had Trivia question on Burgoo. In post in this thread, Gustave Jaubert, considered the father of burgoo is mentioned. I wanted to point this out sine James White mentioned him in the Trivia Question thread.

 

[MRB1863]

I imagine this recipe is not tailored to a person who lives alone unless they have a HUGE freezer to store the leftovers. A batch of stew like this is more designed to feed a sizable village. Bet it smells good while cooking! Wonder what kind of wine to serve...red or white...

 

[Northern Light]

I imagine this recipe is not tailored to a person who lives alone unless they have a HUGE freezer to store the leftovers. A batch of stew like this is more designed to feed a sizable village. Bet it smells good while cooking! Wonder what kind of wine to serve...red or white...

Both, with all that stew!

 

[donna]

I have never made burgoo. Have had at certain restaurants and at large events in Kentucky. It has always been delicious.

 

[Billy Yank]

Utica, IL in La Salle County has a big Burgoo Festival every year in the early Fall. Utica is near Starved Rock State Park and draws huge crowds.

 

[ole]

Utica, IL in La Salle County has a big Burgoo Festival every year in the early Fall. Utica is near Starved Rock State Park and draws huge crowds.

That's the one I was thinking of.