A Kentucky Derby tradition not at Churchill Downs: Burgoo, a Bluegrass staple

New York Times

02-05-2025

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If you're hosting a Kentucky Derby party this weekend, you might be planning to serve food and drinks traditionally associated with the 'Run for the Roses.' Derby pie, hot browns, Benedictine sandwiches, bourbon balls and, of course, mint juleps are the morning-line favorites.
But if you wanted to dive deep into Bluegrass culture — especially if you're expecting an infield-sized crowd — consider four words on your invitation.
We're having a burgoo.
What's a burgoo? Technically, it's a meat-and-vegetable stew enjoyed in several areas of the South, widely believed to have originated in rural Kentucky. But no two burgoos are the same, and no standard recipe exists. Think vibes more than vittles.
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It began as a meal made by and for common folk, using whatever meats and vegetables they could scrounge up around the farm. That often meant mixing wild game such as venison, squirrel, rabbit, wild turkey and even pigeon or possum into a pot with carrots, onions, corn and okra. Throw in some Worcestershire sauce, maybe a dash of cornmeal and other spices, mop it up with cornbread or crackers and … baby, you got a 'goo going.
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'When I think of burgoo, I think of it as the one recipe that is truly a reflection of Kentucky,' said Vickie Yates Brown Glisson, a prominent attorney, former state cabinet secretary and board member of Louisville's Frazier History Museum who has researched and written about some of the state's signature foods. 'It organically grew out of our state and its history. It didn't just start because of a party or something. And, it's got longevity.'
However, burgoo claims only a tangential connection to the Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs will not sell it on the grounds this week or most weeks. Outside of a few barbecue joints, you won't find burgoo on many Louisville restaurant menus.
But a horse called Burgoo King won the 1932 Kentucky Derby. He was named in honor of Lexington, Ky., grocer J.T. Looney, whose burgoo was so famous that his obituary ran in The New York Times when he died in 1954.
Burgoo and thoroughbred racing have long been stablemates. The stew's true debut is unknown, but it gained popularity alongside the spring livestock and horse sales in central Kentucky after the Civil War. The sales attracted large crowds of people from all walks of life who came to gamble on races, sip corn whiskey and fill their rumbling tummies.
Gus Jaubert, a Frenchman who cooked for Gen. John Hunt Morgan's Confederate raiders, supposedly fed hundreds at these events and became known as the father of Kentucky burgoo (his kettle pots are still on display at Buffalo Trace Distillery). Freed former slaves also traveled to horse farms across the region, selling the dish.
Burgoo culture in Kentucky is strongest in western Kentucky as part of the barbecue scene and in horse country, including Anderson County's long-running annual burgoo festival. Burgoo remains a staple at Lexington's Keeneland Race Course, and the recipe remains mostly unchanged since the track opened in 1936. Keeneland makes 160 gallons of burgoo per day during the racing meets in April and October, with kitchen workers beginning to cook at 4 a.m. to get the batches ready by noon.
Keeneland burgoo.
Perhaps the best sporting event food item in existence. pic.twitter.com/aVjNCP1Sa8
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When Keeneland executive chef Marc Therrien first arrived at the track in 2016 from California, he saw the burgoo recipe and decided to add his flair: veal stock and some different succulent meats. He watched as that initial cup of his new concoction was served.
'That didn't go over well. A lady was really upset,' Therrien said. 'I was like, 'Holy s—!' We had the (original) stuff, so I said, let's just put that out.
'When families came here or someone came here with their father, they probably celebrated with a cup of burgoo together. When you try something like that and it's still the same, it brings back memories. We want to make sure we keep that sacred.'
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Keeneland's famed stew sometimes sells out of all 160 gallons, especially on chillier race days. Mass consumption comes as a built-in feature of burgoo.
'It's the crowd dish,' said Sarah Fritschner, the former food editor at The (Louisville) Courier-Journal who has written two Derby cookbooks. 'You can make it in a vat the size of a Volkswagen and feed a Catholic church picnic or the Kentucky Colonels' reunion.
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'It's always a great choice because it's very Kentucky-ish, and it feeds a lot of people. And, it's very filling, so it can soak up whatever beverages you happen to be enjoying.'
Though you can make burgoo on the stove, traditional preparation involves tending a massive cast iron kettle over an open fire, stirring for hours with a wooden paddle until the meat falls apart and becomes indistinguishable from the veggie broth.
You can't rush the process. That's part of the appeal.
'As a hostess, it's a wonderful dish to serve because it sits for hours and you don't have to worry about taking it off at a certain time to serve your guests,' Glisson said. 'The longer it sits, the better it is. It's ideal at an event, particularly a Derby party, where everybody is having fun. It's usually not a sit-down thing; it's more of a 'stand and eat it at a party' dish.'
Modern versions ditch the road-kill aspect for more mainstream proteins such as beef, chicken, pork and, on occasion, mutton.
'Over time, it became more refined because people don't hunt squirrels much — or as much,' Fritschner said.
Ouita Michel, a central Kentucky author, restaurateur and guest judge on Season 16 of 'Top Chef,' is viewed by many as the keeper of Kentucky's burgoo flame. She has hosted large-scale boils the past couple of years, using a recipe inspired by her friend, Rick Caudle, who'd studied at the cauldron feet of Jim Conway, who was known as the burgoo king of Frankfort, Ky.
Caudle's recipe, which he made for friends at a fishing camp on the Kentucky River, accounted for 25 gallons and included squirrel, rabbit and dove breast. When he'd leave out the wild game for folks in town, he called it a 'city 'goo.'
'They'd been making that particular recipe for 75 years, and it probably goes back more than a century,' said Michel, whose seven restaurants include the flagship Holly Hill Inn in Midway, Ky. 'It's sort of like a hand-to-hand, generation-to-generation exchange.
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'It's also just the culture, the history. Sometimes we evaluate recipes versus recipes instead of thinking, 'Hey, what makes a recipe?' All the provenance, all the people and the culture and the region and the geography that's in the recipe's history — that's what makes it burgoo.'
Michel plans to hold another giant burgoo cook this fall and has hunters who have volunteered to supply some small wild game to give it more of a traditional feel. Whether that suits everyone's tastes misses the point. The act of production — the hours spent around a fire with friends, most likely with a choice Kentucky bourbon at the ready — powers the heritage. It escapes no one that burgoo can only be produced in an actual melting pot.
'When you say, 'We're having a burgoo,' it means we're getting together. We're having some fun together,' Michel said. 'It's not just that we're having a burgoo to eat. We're having a gathering. We're having a throwdown kind of thing. It's like the name for the party is a burgoo. It brings people together.'
1. Cover the chicken quarters in chicken broth and simmer until tender. Reserve the broth; pull the meat from the bones.
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed kettle, add the pork and beef. Cover with water or stock. Simmer over low heat for an hour or until the meat is fairly tender.
3. Add soaked beans and continue simmering for another hour. Add the chicken meat and the reserved chicken broth.
4. Add all the vegetables — potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, turnip, beans, peas, corn and tomatoes — then add the V8, the A.1. and the Red Hot. Simmer another hour. Keep the heat low and stir periodically to keep from sticking. The vegetables and meat should cook into each other. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
(Top photo of chef Ouita Michel, center, and actor Steve Zahn, far right, making burgoo courtesy of Ouita Michel)