Kentucky Cuisine - BBQ, Hot Browns, and Burgoo

     One of the things I like best about traveling is the opportunity to taste new foods - not the bizarre Andrew Zimmern things like moose nose and rooster balls - just the local twist on ingredients with which I am already familiar.
     My favorite meal was at Shack in the Back in Fairdale, Kentucky.  It's not that they made the best barbeque I ever had (though it was tasty), it was the whole experience of dining there.  The restaurant is housed in an 1896 log cabin - real back woodsy.  The clientele included black and white, gay (if my gaydar still works) and straight, seniors and toddlers, and professional types along with a few good old boys dressed in Oshkosh B'goshes.  To top it all off, we were entertained by an Elvis impersonator who billed himself as Lil Elvis.  Yes, he was of short stature. He was also dressed from head to toe in black pleather.  We didn't think to take the camera with us.  Darn it.  Here's a link and a picture of Lil Elvis from a previous performance at the Shack: http://shackinthebackbbq.com/

Lil Elvis
This picture comes from the Shack in the Back's Facebook page.

     
     The Hot Brown Sandwich was created at the Brown Hotel in Lousiville in 1926.  It's a turkey and bacon sandwich covered in Mornay sauce.  The whole thing is broiled until the cheese sauce gets toasty brown.  My Hot Brown also had tomato slices.

Yummy!

         
     I had to search for the Burgoo, or as I call it, hillbilly chili.  A helpful waiter at a restaurant in Lexington told us that western Kentucky, around Paducah, is real burgoo territory.  We weren't going that far west, so I settled for having my burgoo somewhere between Louisville, KY and
Nashville, TN.  In the old days, burgoo contained whatever meat was available - squirrels, birds, mutton, or pork along with whatever vegetables were on hand.  These days the meat is usually a mix of pork, chicken, and a cheap cut of beef.  The veggies are onion, celery, carrots, potaotes, tomatoes, and corn.  Seasonings are salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, Tobasco, or chili powder.

Burgoo is cooked for hours.  They say it isn't ready until a spoon stands up in it.  My burgoo was ready.