Heritage Cooking Class at Woodford Reserve

Mark Williams, the leader of Slow Food Bluegrass, invited us to the most delightful event - a Slow Food cooking class at the Woodford Reserve distillery. The theme was local, sustainable and slow foods for the holidays. Mark began by letting us know that as the Executive Chef for Brown-Forman, his goal was to show how, much like wine, bourbon could be added to anything in the kitchen to make it better. He was not joking. It went into everything. The attending group seemed awfully happy with his decision. 

The lesson started off with a Bourbon Red turkey. Having ordered one of these for my Thanksgiving dinner, I was very excited to see how specially prepared this bird. It turns out that butterball turkeys are double breasted because of the way that they have been bred (granted I could also inform you that they have a hard time moving once they get over a certain age because of how overly heavy they have been bred to be, but I digress). These Bourbon reds are a heritage breed that would have been what most people would have eaten before the changing of the agricultural guard in the 1940's. Very tender and flavorful, the onslaught of the  butterball breed nearly caused these birds to go extint. As of 2001, there were only 200 pairs left. Kathy Wheeler at Star Farm made it her goal to bring them back and has she in a big way. Her birds are organically raised and free range. Granted they are most expensive than a grocery store bird but you can eat Thanksgiving with a much clearer conscience. While the average turkey lives 3 months in a cage to get to your table, the Bourbon Reds run free for 9 months. Yes, they both meet their maker in the same way, but their Bourbon's lives are spent being being turkeys roaming around. 

It turns out that because of the lack of hormones and treatment, these birds are equal parts dark to white meat and thus cook a lot faster - A LOT - like, done in 2 hours or less fast. While the bird cooked, Chef Williams continued with an amazing cream of mushroom soup (with bourbon), cranberry sauce (with bourbon) and sweet potato souffle (with, you guessed it - BOURBON!). The group sipped on Apple Pie Cocktails and took a tour around the distillery. I was just proud they could still walk in a straight line at this point (I kid).

We learned that local foods can be the main part or simply an accent of every meal. The connection people have when they all come together to cook a meal is amazing. We have witnessed it time and time again. People that never previously knew one another are drawn together by the universal love of food. As everyone filled their plates with the delectable creations, conversations amongst strangers abounded. While everyone left with new recipes and a full stomach, the most consistent thing with the local food movement also occurred, everyone left with new friends.