"If gumbo is the national stew of Cajun country, burgoo is the stew of Kentucky," Ronni Lundy asserts in her book Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken. Because the stew is made in many different ways with a variety of ingredients, the "Burgoo Song" by Robert Myles claims, "You can toss in almost anything that ever walked or flew." Many early recipes for burgoo include squirrel in addition to chicken, beef, and pork. In Kentucky, Anderson County, which hosts its Burgoo Festival every September, is known as the burgoo capital of the world. Arenzville, Illinois, makes a similar claim. But the French lay claim to the basic concept of burgoo, and it's conceivable that the word burgoo arose somehow from the French ragout (pronounced ra-goo), also a term describing a stew.
Burgoo makers agree
• Burgoo should be made in stages: cook the meat first, and then add the vegetables.
• No less than 4—6 hours should be devoted to making burgoo. Some recipes call for a 24-hour cooking period.
• Burgoo should contain more than one meat.
• Burgoo should be prepared outdoors over an open fire.
Ingredients
12 to 14 servings
Preparation
Step 1
1. Put the pork, veal, beef, lamb, and chicken into a large pot. Add the water and bring it to a boil slowly. Simmer until meat is tender enough to fall off the bones, about 4—6 hours.
Step 2
2. Lift the meat out of the stock. Cool the meat, remove it from the bones, and chop it. Return the chopped meat to the stock.
Step 3
3. Pare the potatoes and onions and dice them. Add them, plus the carrots, green peppers, cabbage, tomato puree, corn, red pepper, okra, parsley, lima beans, celery, and bourbon, to the meat and stock. Allow the stew to simmer until very thick about 6 hours.
Step 4
4. Season to taste with the salt, pepper, Tabasco, steak sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
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Reviews (10)
Back to TopWhen I was younger, we belonged to a Revolutionary War Re-enactment group. We made Burgoo every time we had a weekend event. This is the recipe I remember and everyone contributed. We had 2 huge cast iron pots set over the wood fires on tripods. Once the fires were going & the pots were set, the meat went into the pots, then the veggies & it was covered with water. I don't remember the exact recipe, but each pot fed around 250 people and there usually weren't any leftovers! They started cooking around 5pm on a friday & it was ready to serve by 5pm on saturday. You'd get a bowl of stew, a hunk of corn on the cob & a good sized hunk of fresh from the kettle cornbread with home-made honey butter.
Therese58
Rochester, NY
6/24/2018
I didn't sear the meat and it turned out ok. Made an enormous amount. I used the meat left in my fridge plus some veal. Very tender and tasty. Freezes well.
Annesberg
Ottawa, ON
1/19/2015
The person that wrote this recipe down probably never actually made it and certainly is only passingly familiar with burgoo. Follow it step by step and then see what ingredients you have left - sheesh. Burgoo has it's origins in potluck gatherings, where everyone was responsible for contributing some meat to the pot - whatever meat they could gather - and adding a bunch of vegetables. The portions are hearty because it was the big meal and people burned a lot of calories. If you make it right, it's popular enough that people will eat a lot of it. If you want to get authentic, try substituting meats: use rabbit, squirrel, buffalo (bison), goose, duck and the ever-popular 'possum. The secret to a good burgoo is to use whatever YOU like and not worry so much about what some fancy-pants website tells you to. It's peasant food, so think and eat like one. The 2 pods of red pepper are not authentic but tasty, nonetheless. They're talking about small red chilis, such as chili de arbol or cayenne, if you want real kick use a bird chili. Searing the meat is not necessary with this recipe due to the time it is in the pot. Maillard reactions and carmelization are a function of time and temperature - with enough time (and the pH bump from the tomato) the lower temperature won't matter and you aren't going to dehydrate a stew enough to matter. Saving a step here won't alter the end results. This is a recipe that cries out for a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking time from a full day to an afternoon. The pressure will also help accelerate the Maillard reactions.
Tor
Illinois by way of Kentucky
11/15/2013
2 pods red pepper Pods are long 1and half to 2 inches long and 1 inch wide The recipe call for two so I will use2 cayenne or chili , just a flavor Biological Name: Capsicum annuum, capsicum frutescens Other Names: Cayenne, Africa pepper, capsicum, American pepper, Zanzibar pepper, bird pepper, Spanish pepper, capsicum, American red pepper, chili pepper, African red pepper, cockspur pepper, garden pepper, goats pepper, chili pepper, pod pepper, chillies, red pepper
Andreland
Texas
4/10/2013
Ok raging I didn't check in first. Now the meat is in the pot and I didn't sear it but the receipe did not call for that. Think I'm going to skip the green peppers. funny the receipe didn't call for any herbs salt and pepper to the meat while it's in the pot. Ok can someone tell me what is 2 Pods Red Pepper. The manager at supermarket never heard of it and I check in the herb section no Pods. Are these the inside of a red pepper does anyone know?
imelda52
New Hampshire Via Dublin Ireland
5/3/2012
arcs, here is a web site devoted to burgoo: www. burgoo. info. Burgoo is defined as "a soup or stew made from meats and vegetables". Different regions and different cooks have their own recipes. There is no one burgoo.
marshagirl
Florida
4/30/2012
Vegetable soup has carrots, green pepper, okra, lima beans, and celery. Burgoo does not.
arcs
4/30/2012
Would you not want to seer the meats first? I agree with the omitting of the green peppers. Season & seer the meat, deglaze the pan with the bourbon omitt the green peppers an continue with the recipe.
Nitro929
Maine
4/30/2012
reading this, it sounds great with the exception of the green pepper which seems to have been dragged in out of left field - just does not 'fit' with the rest of the ingredients ...
Anonymous
Montréal
4/30/2012
I would think anything with 12 pounds of meat and potentially 6 pounds of veggies in it would, even if you eventually take the meat off the bone, would serve way more than 14 people.
Anonymous
4/28/2012
