Derby Cuisine Kentucky's Best

Kentucky is known worldwide for it's derby which is being held today.However it's dishes also stand out as any thorough bred.They are rich in both flavor and tradition.The ingredients run from the tradition Kentucky brewed bourbon to seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. Kentucky cuisine is mix of German and Southern cooking.One section of it is across the Ohio River from the heavily Teutonic Cincinnati .There is goetta a kind of haggis that German immigrants brought to the frontier; it is a mix of oats and ground meat.Thyme along with bay leaf and Rosemary flavor it. Goetta is made in loaves and the slices are fried ,similar to the Pennsylvania scrapple.Syrups and jams are served with it however now most Kentuckians enjoy goetta burgers and dogs throughout the day.Sausage and beer are also family favorites.Southern cooking dominates the southern part of the state so dishes tendvto reflect mostly ham and biscuits.Cities such as Louisville and Lexington contributed some dishes like the famed Hot Brown and Benedictine sandwiches?The Hot Brown was invented at Louisville's famed Brown Hotel.This is a hot turkey sandwich with the addition of bacon and Mornay sauce.Benedictine is a cream cheese mixed with cucumber and served at another great Louisville hotel, the Benedict.It was probably used in tea sandwiches at the hotel teas at first but then became a state standard.Rolled oysters are another treat from this landlocked state.Developed by the Mazzoni family in their Louisville restaurant, it's three plump Gulf oysters dipped in batter and deepfied to golden perfection. A Kentucky is also known it's barbecue and other down home recipes. Most people like the open pit kind where. Chicken beef, and even mutton are roasted.Their barbecue sauces have a bite thanks to a heavy splash of vinegar.Barbecue is served with typical picnic fare such as onions, pickles cole slaw and potato salad. The state also was a frontier two hundred years ago and it's not uncommon to have a venison, possum or turtle dish.Burgoo, a variation of Brunswick stew is also made.This is a kind of thick potage made with any kind of meat ,from mutton to squirrel ,along with a melange of veggies such as corn,okra ,beans and potatoes.It is usually thickened with cornmeal or potato starch but sometimes wheat or oats arcaded.Any Kentucky meal should end in derby pie ,a walnut and chocolate confection laced with the state's signature liquer ,bourbon.This also figures in bourbon balls a scrumptious marriage of crushed cookies, Pecans and a good dose of their liquid gold.(or fire, depending upon your view). Celebrate Kentucky Derby Day with true Kentuck cuisine. Make a Hot Brown sandwich and follow up with a rich Derby pie. Enjoy a tangy mutton barbecue with a good swig of bourbon. this is the way Ketuckians party and party well.

Macaron Madness

Have we OD'ed on the simple yet elegant macaron? The answer could be yes. Yet despite their now commonplace stature they still maintain  an air of luxury. Buy the true French ones and you can still taste the complex yet surprisingly basic taste of almonds and sugar/

They were the subject of Elaine Sciolino's Letters From Paris column in yesterday's New York Times Dining section.Macarons are  as common to the French as croissants, in fact too common that they're not the big deal anymore. Ms. Sciolino has discovered that Parisians like the creamier and more heartier eclair better/Also profiteroles are also hot right now according to the trendy Madame Figaro magazine. e this has something to do with the French McDonald's serving them up with their cafes or possibly we have Sofia Coppola  popularizing them  as uber hip in her movie :"Marie Antoinette" a few years ago.

Still a good macaron is just that. The original recipes was made by two Benedictine nuns in  postrevolutionary France. Thanks to the new government banning religious orders, they took refuge with a local doctor and made a living baking macarons. The company House of the Macaron Sisters or Maison des Soeurs Macarons  guards the original recipe, ensuring the most purest of macarons. This is a simple almond instead of it being infused with today's trendy flavors of saffron, anise, strawberry and anything else .Smaller french bakeries also keep to the original recipe  as well. Ms Sciolino also give the recipe. You do need good cool weather (never make them on a hot humid day) as well as precision to create perfect little rounds, Baking time is only fifteen to twenty minutes.

Is macaron madness over? for those trendy pastel colored ones yes. However the true, pale creamy colored ones are here to stay - as they have been for over two hundred years