from "bhamsandwich's photostream" on flickr.

It goes without saying that the Kentucky Derby and horses go together like and honey and bees.

But some might say that the Derby and mint juleps have just as sure a relationship. Although I’m descended from some Kentuckians, I’ve never tried the beverage. But I’m looking forward to sampling one or two on Saturday at the annual gala for the Rhinebeck Science Foundation.

The mint julep is said to have originated in the South in the 1700s and has been the official drink of the Derby since 1938. Although most of what is served at the event itself is Early Times Mint Julep Ready-to-Serve Cocktail (to the tune of 8,000 liters), much better versions are made at Derby parties everywhere, although mixers disagree on how sweet it should be, and just how minty, whether the herb should be abundant and muddled (bruised) or merely a sprig to garnish the drink while teasing the nose with its subtlety.

James Villas, author of My Mother’s Southern Kitchen (Macmillan, 1994) and most recently Pig: King of the Southern Table (Wiley, 2010), describes in the former volume a collection of eight silver monogrammed julep cups given to him by his sister over eight consecutive birthdays. He says each drink must be made separately; the mint julep is decidedly not something you can mix up in a vat. He calls for shaved ice, never chunks, and for Jack Daniels Sour Mash as the bourbon of choice.

Henry Watterson, who founded The Louisville Courier-Journal in 1868, liked his with no mint or sweetness at all. “Pluck the mint gently from its bed, just as the dew of the evening is about to form upon it … Prepare the simple syrup and measure out a half-tumbler of whiskey. Pour the whiskey into a well-frosted silver cup, throw the other ingredients away and drink the whiskey.”

In spite of Watterson, the combination of bourbon, mint and sweetness is a classic one, a flavor combo that works beautifully in a pecan pie as well.

Bourbon Pecan Pie with Julep Whipped Cream

Pecan pie is my favorite decadent southern dessert and adding a bit of bourbon makes it even naughtier. If you like, substitute a different crust of your choosing or even a pre-fab single crust. Makes 1 9” pie.

Bourbon Pecan Pie with Julep Whipped Cream. Photo by Jessica Bard.

For pie crust:

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened to room temperature
1/4 cup shortening, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup ice water

For pie filling:
3 large eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar
¾ cup dark corn syrup
¼ cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons bourbon, divided
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups pecan halves
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon peppermint flavoring

For pie crust: Blend butter and shortening and chill until firm. In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, and sugar. Add the chilled shortening/butter mixture in pieces and work quickly with your fingers until lumps shrink to pea size. Add just enough water to make the mixture hold together; it will still be somewhat crumbly. Pat it together to make a flattish disk, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Roll out dough on a floured flat surface (cutting board, marble slab or dishtowel-topped countertop), and lay it out into a 9-inch pie plate, pinching up the sides and crimping decoratively.

For pie filling: In a medium bowl beat eggs with hand mixer until just blended. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, 2 tablespoons of the bourbon, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt. Mix well with hand mixer or spoon until completely blended. Stir in pecans and pour filling into prepared crust.

Cook for 70-80 minutes or until mostly set in middle when you give it a jiggle. Let cool on rack.

Whip whipping cream with hand mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons bourbon, mint flavoring and mix in. Spread mixture on cooled pie, leaving pecans showing around edges. Decorate with springs of fresh mint if you like.

Alternatively, serve slices with hearty dollops of the julep whipped cream on top, or skip the whipped cream and serve the pie with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

A photo of Ethiopian-style stuffed tripe from Time Life's Foods of the World: African Cooking

Spiced butter (niter kebbeh), the irresistible foundation of Ethiopian cuisine.

Since I first became interested in Ethiopian food I’ve been oddly captivated by the photo on the left, a tripe stuffed with a spicy mix of chopped steak, toasted bread crumbs, and exotic spices, topped with a golden buttery spiced gravy.

But it’s been a long road. The photo in my copy of Time Life’s Foods of the World: African Cooking had no accompanying recipe; for that you had to use the spiral bound index that shipped with the book in 1970. And which I didn’t have, and couldn’t find. Until a couple of years ago when my online hunting finally paid off.

Then it was the whole three-pound cow’s stomach that proved elusive. Most tripe I buy once a year or so for a luscious Trippa alla Fiorentina comes in oddly shaped pieces not suitable for stuffing.

But fate would have it that I found a perfect piece of tripe at Hannafords recently, not 3 lbs. worth, but a one-pound pouch, so I could do a third of the recipe. So I was off and running.

The one-pound tripe pouch before cooking.

I turned the pouch inside out and boiled it for three hours until it was tender at knifepoint, then drained it and tried to dry it off as best I could with paper towels.

The Tripe Pouch Post-Boil.

Meanwhile I prepared the stuffing by sauteing chopped onion, green pepper, and a serrano chili in niter kibbeh, the foundation of much Ethiopian food, a clarified butter spiced with garlic, ginger, onion, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, and other spices. I added some chopped up round steak and a bit of a spice paste made with crushed garlic, pulverized peppercorns, allspice, clove, cardamom seeds, fenugreek, and nutmeg. After the meat browned, in went some salt, a touch of soft fresh breadcrumbs, and some toasted little cubes of Pepperidge Farm white bread.

Then into the beef belly it all went, to be trussed up with skewers and gently placed in a deep pasta bowl with some chunks of carrot, onion, and green pepper. I dolloped the top with some more spiced butter and then with a bit of difficulty I set it up to steam (thanks, Calico, for the birthday silicone steamer!–although I doubt you would approve of my first use of it!).

The tripe, all stuffed and ready to go.

Back view. Or is it the front?

After 1 1/2 hours of steaming and basting, the stuffed tripe was ready.

My husband had to get our son to baseball practice and couldn’t wait for the sauce to be made, so he dug right in (BTW, this wasn’t dinner, for that I made arroz con pollo).

The first slice of stuffed tripe, fresh from the steamer.

A fine slice of stuffed tripe.

I got to enjoy my own portion a few minutes later, gilded with the buttery gravy. And it was wonderful, hearty, zippy, and flavorful. If I ever happen upon another tripe pouch I will make it again.

We can't wait to get to Maine and have to stop for steamers at The Old Salt in Hampton, NH, on the way there.

Lobster wranglers wrestle cooked beasts into submission at Rockland, ME's Lobster Festival.

The menu is so overwhelmingly full of possibilities that we just can't choose. And the line is miles long anyway. We go to another booth for fried Maine shrimp and have no regrets.

Lobsters by the thousands are summarily steamed before being offered to the masses.

Wild Maine blueberries and freshly shucked local peas.

Fried scallops and clams at Shaw's in New Harbor, ME.

Outside Shaw's a young lobsterman surveys the day's catch.

Your hostess has eaten so much lobster on this trip, she's turned into one. But she doesn't seem to mind.

Sofia slurps a sweet Pemaquid oyster at The Anchor Inn in Round Pond, ME.

Sofia's opinion on the oyster's deliciousness.

“There are five reasons to drink wine: the arrival of a friend, the thirst of the moment, the thirst of the future, the quality of the wine, and any other reason.”

Or this, from my eight-greats grandfather Sir John Harington’s loose translation of an ancient Roman medical poem called The School of Salerno, in which the number five reappears:

“Choose wine you mean shall serve you all the year,
Well-savored tasting well, and colored clear.
Five qualities there are, wine’s praise advancing,
Strong, Beautiful, and Fragrant, Cool and Dancing.

And:

“White, Muscatel, and Candy wine, and Greek,
Do make men’s wits and bodies gross and fat;
Red wine doth make the voice oft-time to seek,
And hath a binding quality to that;
Canary, and Madeira, both are like
To make one lean indeed: (but wot you what)
Who say they make one lean, would make one laugh,
They mean, they make one lean upon a staff.
Wine, Women, Baths, by Art or Nature warm,
Used or abused do men much good or harm.”

I have on the schedule a wine presentation by David Pazdar of Pazdar Winery in Scotchtown, NY, a cooking demo of a lamb dish by Jessica Applestone of Fleisher’s Grass-Fed and Organic Meats in Kingston, a sheep cheese tasting by Debbie Decker, the cheese dept. manager at Adam’s Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie, and a talk and tasting with Charles Derbyshire of Old Mill Wine & Spirits here in Rhinebeck. It looks like I’ll be doing a couple demos myself, too, to fatten up the schedule, a Greek sheep cheese pie with phyllo and a North African lamb and quince stew.

Go to www.verygoodtaste.co.uk or www.chocolateandzucchini.com to play.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Me, expounding

I had so much fun at my latest class at Warren Kitchen and Cutlery last week. This one was on Vietnamese cooking using readily available ingredients and we made beer-steamed shrimp, poached chicken with three dipping sauces, Vietnamese coleslaw, steamed jasmine rice, stir-fried eggplant with ground pork, coconut flan and Vietnamese iced coffee. Yum. The food was great and the students great company. Here are a couple photos taken by class coordinator (and expert food stylist) Jessica Bard.

Vietnamese Coconut Flan

The coconut flan was so silky and delicious I’m going to demo it again next week at the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY, just so I can have an excuse to eat some more of it! The demos will include crispy Vietnamese spring rolls and are scheduled for Wednesday, August 20, at 11 a.m. and Sunday, August 24, at 1:30 p.m.

Shrimp Steamed in Beer

Vietnamese Beer-Steamed Shrimp
Tom Hap Bia

Westerners brought beer to the Vietnamese, who, besides learning to enjoying a frosty glass of it on a sultry day, discovered that its yeasty flavors were great for cooking seafood. I use Rolling Rock but any light dry lager will do. In Vietnam this dish is made with fresh heads-on prawns but here regular shrimp stands in beautifully. I buy mine mostly frozen these days because they thaw quickly and you can control the freshness. Serves 4 when served with other dishes.

1 lb. large shell-on shrimp
3 scallions/green onions, sliced
1 ounce fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, cut in 1/2” slices and bruised with heavy knife
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 12-ounce bottle beer
Nuoc cham dipping sauce (see recipe below)
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced, for garnish (optional)

If shrimp shells are not already cut through back and deveined, slice into backs and remove veins, leaving shells on. Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Toss into a medium bowl with scallions, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, salt and pepper. Chill 1 hour.

Heat beer in large saucepan until simmering. Add marinated shrimp. Cover saucepan, lower heat, and steam 5 minutes, until shrimp is pink and cooked through. Strain and place on a platter with optional cucumber garnish (which is also good in the dipping sauce). Eat by peeling shrimp and leaving shells and chopped flavorings behind on platter.

Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

2 teaspoons chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1-2 Thai-type bird’s eye pepper, minced, OR pinch red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
3-4 tablespoons fish sauce, to taste
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
3 tablespoons water

Mince together garlic and hot pepper and mix well with sugar (you could also use a mortar and pestle). Add fish sauce, lime juice and water and stir well until sugar dissolves. Adjust to taste and let sit a few minutes before serving.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:45 P

From: “Tom Cox” <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx>

To: jenniferbrizzi@yahoo.com

name = Tom Cox

Comment = Do you sell pickeled lambs tounge if so how are they packed.are they in jars and what price Thanks Tom Cox

And no, I didn’t read them all–I have a life–but I’d love to have time to.