It won't be long before it's Derby time in Kentucky: May 1, to be exact. One of the traditional foods served at Derby parties is chocolate-pecan pie. It's a rich combination of butter, sugar, eggs, pecans, chocolate chips and, of course, bourbon. A Louisville bakery holds the copyright to the name Derby Pie, but that doesn't mean cooks cannot bake their favorite versions.
One pie lists two eggs and flour among the ingredients. That recipe was found in The Kentucky Derby Museum Cookbook and in a Louisville Courier Journal column by late food editor Cissy Gregg.
Another recipe includes three eggs and corn syrup. Lillian Marshall, also a former Courier-Journal food editor, featured this recipe in a column. The common ingredient is bourbon: Remember to use a good Kentucky one.
If chocolate is one of your favorite food groups, this pie from Gene Groner is for you. The name of the recipe is My, OH!! My Chocolate Pie, and it is aptly named.
Since we began with dessert, we will now turn to a delightful main course salad. Mary Jasiewicz found the recipe for Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad on the Internet. The salad is made with plenty of vegetables and is topped with almonds, chow mein noodles and chicken. The honey, mustard and rice wine vinegar dressing is served on the side.
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For: Betty Terrell of Palm Harbor.
From: Nancy Fontaine of Safety Harbor, Mary Kalata and Shirley Magness of Largo, Barbara Marino of Seminole and Kathleen Schroerlucke of Port Richey.
Recipe: Museum Winner's Pie, with The Kentucky Derby Museum Cookbook and the Louisville Courier-Journal among the sources.
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (not too finely chopped)
1 9-inch pie shell, partially baked
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add beaten eggs, flour, salt and bourbon or vanilla. (Can use both bourbon and vanilla if you wish.) Stir well. Spread chocolate chips and nuts in bottom of partially baked pie shell and pour filling over it. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until center is set.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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From: Nancy Fontaine of Safety Harbor, Joanne Figas of St. Pete Beach, Dorothy Shur of Clearwater, Lisa Kelly-Sakser of New Port Richey and Barbara Million of Hudson.
Recipe: Chocolate Bourbon Pie sometimes called Hoosier Pie, from A Taste of Tampa (Tampa Junior League, 1978), the Indianapolis News, the Louisville Courier-Journal and www.about.com
Chocolate Bourbon Pie
1 cup sugar
1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup white corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Kentucky bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 9-inch deep-dish unbaked pie shell
Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, syrup, salt, bourbon and vanilla. Mix until blended. Spread pecans and chocolate chips in bottom of pie shell. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until set. Serves 6 to 8. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature, garnished with whipped cream.
From: Gene Groner of St. Petersburg.
Recipe: My, OH!! My Chocolate Pie.
My, OH!! My Chocolate Pie
3/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons baking cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 9-inch baked pastry shell
Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
In a saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add milk. Cook and stir over medium high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat, cook and stir two minutes more.
Remove from heat; stir about one cup of the hot filling into the beaten egg yolks. Return to saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour hot filling into crust.
Meringue: Immediately beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy. Spread evenly over the hot filling, sealing meringue to crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Makes 8 servings.
Preheat oil in deep fryer or deep pan over medium heat. You want the temperature of the oil to be around 350 degrees.
Blend together all ingredients for dressing in a small bowl with an electric mixer. Refrigerate dressing while you prepare the salad.
In a small shallow bowl, beat egg; add milk and mix well. In another bowl, combine flour with corn flake crumbs, salt and pepper.
Cut chicken into 4 or 5 long strips. Dip each strip of chicken first into egg mixture, then into flour mixture, coating each piece completely. Fry each chicken finger for 5 minutes or until coating has darkened to brown. Drain.
Prepare salad by tossing the chopped romaine with the chopped red cabbage, napa cabbage and carrots. Sprinkle sliced green onion on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle almonds over the salad, then the chow mein noodles.
Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Place the chicken onto the salad forming a pile in the middle. Serve with salad dressing on the side.
Recipe requests
Suzanne Bass of Beverly Hills has lost her Crisco recipe book from the early 1960s. Two favorite recipes were for turkey croquettes that were log-shaped and for tuna noodle casserole. If you have this book, please send the recipes for Suzanne.
Norma Mustard of Oldsmar remembers fondly the cottage cheese pie that Ken-Johnson Cafeteria had in its recipe book in the 1950s and early 1960s. Norma writes that raisins were an ingredient. The book has been lost in the process of moving and Norma hopes there is still a copy out there.
Donna Juhl of Belleair has been searching for years for Jordan Marsh's pie from the 1960s. It is not quite a chess pie; the filling is more like a stiff creme brulee. The topping resembles a pecan and brown sugar glaze that you tap with a fork to crack. Donna was told that a lady in Miami baked all the pies for Jordan Marsh.
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