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A Kentucky Derby entertaining tradition is sometimes called Thoroughbred Pie. It includes chocolate, pecans and bourbon and is topped with either whipped cream or ice cream.
matt freed / pittsburgh post-gazette
Hot Brown Sandwich
If your Derby party guests stay late, whip up some of these classic Kentucky favorites to keep them fed. The Hot Brown was created by the chef of the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1926 to sustain the 1,200 guests the hotel typically received each evening for dinner and dancing late into the night. This open-faced, oven-broiled sandwich was served when the band broke around midnight between sets.
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, room temperature and beaten
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup prepared, unsweetened whipped cream
8 slices toasted white bread, crust trimmed off
1 pound cooked turkey breast, thinly sliced
Grated Parmesan for topping
1 (2-ounce) jar diced pimentos, drained
8 bacon slices, fried crisp
In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Gradually add flour, stirring constantly, until smooth and free from lumps. Gradually stir in milk until sauce comes to a gentle boil, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Add Parmesan cheese and stir until melted and well-blended.
In a small bowl, beat egg. Gradually add 1 cup of hot sauce, 1/3 cup at a time, to the egg, stirring constantly. Gradually add egg mixture to remaining sauce, stirring constantly until well-blended; add salt and pepper to taste. Fold in whipped cream.
For each Hot Brown sandwich, place two slices of toasted bread on a metal (or flameproof) dish. Cover toast with liberal amount of turkey. Pour generous amount of sauce over turkey. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Place entire dish under broiler until the sauce is speckled brown and bubbly.
Remove from broiler, sprinkle with diced pimientos, cross two pieces of bacon over the top and serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings of 2 open-faced sandwiches each.
● Fred K. Schmidt, former chef of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Ky.
Thoroughbred Pie
This pie, which goes by many different names, including Thoroughbred Pie, is served throughout Kentucky — including Churchill Downs, of course — on Derby Day.
Its chocolate chips, pecans and bourbon make for a rich treat, served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on the side.
This biscuity crust is a bit tricky to work with. Refrigeration is necessary to make the dough hold together enough to roll out, but the rolling-out process requires some muscle.
If you take the time, the buttery crust is yummy and goes well with the chocolate and pecans in the filling.
Pie crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup butter, cut up
1/4 cup ice water, more or less
Filling
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
Mix all crust ingredients except water in food processor (or cut together with pastry blender) until crumbly. Slowly add ice water until mixture just holds together. Shape into flat circle, wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
The next day, roll out dough and form into pie pan, fluting edges between thumb and forefinger. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For filling, beat eggs with cooled butter. Add flour and sugar. Beat until mixed well. Gently fold in pecans, chocolate and bourbon. Add mixture to pie shell. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until set. Serve with fresh whipped cream.
● Cathy Nichols, pastry chef of the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, Ky.

Food

This Derby menu recalls '50s glamour

By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.03.2006
When I was a little girl growing up among Kentucky-minded family members, Derby Day was a chance to recall past glories.
Not just of the grand, shining racehorses — Seattle Slew and Secretariat, Citation and Whirlaway — that had become legends, and of the tiny, iron-muscled men who rode them, thunderfooted and straining to the finish line at Churchill Downs. But of the 1950s bluegrass culture, fading by then, that surrounded Derby Day in my grandparents' youth, back in Louisville.
They used to have such wonderful Derby parties then, my mom's mom would say as we watched the TV, waiting for the tall, fidgeting racehorses, their jockeys perched high in the stirrups, to be led from the barns. My grandfather and she were just a young couple then, and they'd have friends bring over their own steaks, and they'd grill the steaks and bake potatoes and sip martinis and mix juleps and, of course, place good-natured dollar-bill bets on their favorite horses.
I had this image of her, sparkling white-and-navy spectator pumps on her feet and a martini in one vibrantly nail-polished hand, suntanned and laughing with her friends and especially with her best friends, her sisters.
Each year, my grandparents and my aunt and my mom and I still schedule the first Saturday in May around the Kentucky Derby, watching our own TV sets in our own scattered homes, entranced by all the sunshine and green grass and beautiful horses and by the memories of what was.
It makes me think that, with one era past, it might be about time to begin another. I'm thinking of inviting over some friends, mixing up some juleps and making sure that on May 6, Derby Day isn't a memory, but the kind of party my Gram would be proud of.
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