Cohousing-L Mailing List: Quantity Cooking: Kentucky Burgoo for crowds

[ann zabaldo (zabaldo]

Greetings!

As you all may have heard, Debbie Behrens is coordinating an effort
to develop a "cohousing cookbook" that would emphasize quantity
cooking recipes.  AND the cookbook will also contain features such as
dinner rituals, dining w/ kids, menu planning, etc., etc.,  This book
is to be published by the time of our next North American Cohousing
conference (Amherst, MA '99.)

To wit, this is my contribution to the cookbook recipe section.  It
comes from my mother's first cookbook as a newly-wed.  I'm suggesting
we have a "Loaves and Fishes" section of the cookbook (featuring
recipes for feeding crowds) and I'm entering this recipe in hopes of
winning 1st prize in this category.    I'm not making this up.  This
is a real recipe.  The cookbook that contains the recipe was
published well before WWII.  I've included the quaint spelling and
grammatical twists & turns.

--Start--

KENTUCKY BURGOO
(This recipe makes 1200 gallons)

600    pounds lean soup meat (no fat, no bones)
200    pounds of lean hens
2000  pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
200    pounds onions
     5   bushels of cabbage, chopped
   60    ten-pound cans of tomatoes
   24    ten-pound cans puree of tomatoes
   24    ten-pound cans of carrots
   18    ten-pound cans of corn
           Red pepper and salt to taste
           Season with Worcestershire, Tabasco or A#1 Sauce
Mix the ingredients, a little at a time, and cook outdoors in huge
iron kettles over wood fires from 15 to 20 hours.  Use squirrels in
season...one dozen squirrels to each 100 gallons.

"Burgoo is literally a soup composed of many vegetables and meats
delectably fused together in an enormous caldron, over which, at the
exact moment, a rabbit's foot at the end of a yarn string is properly
waved by a preacher, whose salary has been paid to date.  These are
the good omens by which the burgoo is fortified."    from  Carey's
*Dictionary of Double Derivations."

"Kentucky Burgoo" is the celebrated stew which is served in Kentucky
on Derby Day, at Political Rallies, Horse Sales and at other outdoor
events.  This recipe is from a handwritten copy by Mr. J.T. Looney,
of Lexington.  Mr. Looney is Kentucky's most famous Burgoo-maker and
it was for him that Mr. E. R. Bradley named his Kentucky Derby winner
"Burgoo King."  Mr. Looney uses a suace of his own in the preparation
of this truly-amazing concoction.

Mr. Looney is invited to all parts of the country to prepare Burgoo
for large gatherings.  This is not a dish to be attempted by an
amateur though it can be prepared in smaller quantities.  It is a
very picturesque sight to see Mr. Looney, aided by many assistants,
preparing this dish over open fires and huge kettles which are kept
simmering all night.

--End--

Think we should try it at the next conference???  I'll bring a
cabbage..

--
_______________________
Best -- Ann Zabaldo
ZABALDO [at] EARTHLINK.NET

A great East Coast Conference over too soon!
Tom Braford has already announced a Mid-west
conference for 2000!  But come to Amherst next
for the North American conference in 1999!

Takoma Village Cohousing is the Washington D.C.
 area's first URBAN cohousing
community.  Email me for more details.