January 10, 2024

Inspired by Kentucky

THE MEAL

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I still haven’t been to Kentucky, but it’s at the top of my list of places to visit now that I live right above it in Indiana. I’d go mainly to see pretty horses, but also to try some of these amazing foods where they originated. They were perfect comfort foods for our first snowy weekend of winter, even though we’re nowhere near “Derby Day,” when these foods are made the most!

HOT BROWN SANDWICH

Invented in 1926 by Frank K. Schmidt at the Brown Hotel, this open-faced sandwich was originally slapped together as a hangover meal for people who had spent the night dancing during Prohibition. It’s comprised of thickly sliced, toasted white bread topped with roasted turkey, ripe tomatoes, bechamel sauce, cheese, and finally, bacon. It’s like homemade mac ‘n’ cheese and a BLT rolled into one—one of the most delicious comfort foods I’ve ever had!

This amazing sandwich can still be found at the Brown Hotel today and is a huge tourist draw. It’s within easy driving distance for me, so I’m definitely going to try to check it out. Mine turned out scrumptious, but theirs is much prettier, served in little individual skillets, with one square of bread flanked by two triangles to give it more of a winged shape. I didn’t have a cute mini skillets, so I just made do with regular bread and broiled it on a baking sheet.

It was so easy to put together. The bechamel sauce was the most labor-intensive, but it was still simple. I was worried that the tomato would ruin it for me, because I don’t like the taste of cooked tomato, but just broiling it smothered with cheese and bechamel sauce didn’t cook it enough to ruin the flavor for me, and that little punch of acid really rounded out the whole thing. I would definitely make this again, and would even consider making it for a crowd because it’s so easy to make in batches! Great sandwich. 10/10

CORN PUDDING

Also known as “spoonbread,” this Southern staple originated with Native Americans and was included in some of America’s earliest cookbooks from the 1800s, often called “Indian Pudding,” or “Owendaw Corn Bread.” The original Native American dish probably used to just consist of fresh corn kernels, cornmeal, and water. European settlers later added eggs and dairy to give it more of a custardy consistency and make it a “pudding,” as the British would call it. It’s not specific to Kentucky, but it is popular there as well as in other Southern states, so I went with it as a side for this meal.

I’d never heard of corn pudding before moving to Indiana, but it’s now one of my favorite foods. It has the look of cornbread, but it’s creamy and crumbly enough that you need to eat it with a spoon (hence “spoonbread”). With whole kernels, creamed corn, and cornmeal, it’s like all the ways to eat corn all experienced at once. Mmm! Thankfully, I get fed corn pudding a lot now that I live here, especially since we often get City Barbecue at work. My friends out in the West are really missing out. Mine didn’t turn out quite a good as City Barbecue, but it was still delicious, and I’ll definitely make it again. Probably next time I’m with my family, so I can show them what they’re missing!

MINT JULEP MOCKTAIL

Kentucky’s official state drink is milk, which would admittedly go well with the dessert, but there’s another drink that Kentucky is much better known for.

The mint julep originated long before Kentucky Derby was even a thing. It comes from an Arabic drink called julab made with water and rose petals, which was then made with mint in the Mediterranean and called a mint julep. I’m not sure when bourbon was first added to the mix, but this drink is now one of the most popular in the United States, especially in the South, and has been mentioned in print as early as 1803! You’ll find it mentioned in Gone with the Wind and The Great Gatsby and history books, as many presidents’ favorite beverages. Nowadays, it’s most strongly associated with the Kentucky Derby, and has been the Derby’s official drink since the 1930s. The governor of Kentucky toasts the winner of the Derby with a silver julep cup, and over 10,000 bottles’ worth of bourbon, 2,250 lbs of fresh mint, and 475,000 pounds of ice are used to serve Derby-goers each year.

Since I don’t drink, I just replaced the bourbon with ginger ale, and it was delightfully minty and refreshing, and probably very good for upset stomach! 😉 Muddling the mint at the bottom of the glass first released so much flavor. I’m going to start doing that with lemonade and other minty drinks from now on!

CHOCOLATE WALNUT PIE

Developed by Leaudra and Walter Kern and their son George in 1954, they first sold this dessert at Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky. It didn’t have anything to do with the Kentucky Derby, and the name they gave it was chosen more or less at random. But now the pie is such an iconic feature of Kentucky cuisine that the name “Derby-Pie” is actually a registered trademark, and Kern’s Kitchen is an official partner of the Kentucky Derby Festival. They now sell over 100,000 pies per year! And so many of the comments on the recipes I looked at online mentioned people making it themselves for Derby Day.

This pie is awesome. It’s like a marriage between a pecan pie and a chocolate chip cookie. It’s packed full of chopped walnuts and semisweet chocolate chips, with treacle filling in the gaps, and is SO RICH. I was able to eat the whole hot brown sandwich, but I only got three bites into the pie before calling it a day! A lot of recipes use pecans, but Kentucky mostly has walnut trees and doesn’t traditionally grow pecans. The official Derby Pie uses walnuts, so I did too. Most recipes add a little bourbon, too. I don’t have an objection to adding a little liquor to baked goods, but I didn’t want to spend the money for a couple teaspoons when I wasn’t going to drink the rest, so I just added a little extra vanilla instead. If you like bourbon, I could see that being a really tasty addition! But the original recipe didn’t have that either, so I’d still count this as mostly authentic.