Kentucky Derby Day: Cocktails, Sandwiches & Secretariat

Secretariat at Belmont 1973 (true confession, this picture is my screen-saver)

I am a sucker for horses and have been since childhood. Aside from the pure unfettered joy of riding these perfect creatures full out (giving you the addictive sensation of gliding on air while vitally connected to a powerful life-force), watching them run is the next best thing. A great racehorse loves to run.

There are racehorses and then there is Secretariat. “It’s like God said, “You just think you’ve seen horses, I’m gonna show you a horse.” Then he built Secretariat.”, said renowned equine sculptor Jim Reno inThe Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World's Greatest Racehorse

Secretariat had a heart twice the size of a normal horse (nearly 18 pounds) and a stride angle of 110º that is the largest of any known racehorse (a cheetah, the fastest land animal, has a 125º stride angle, most thoroughbreds are in the 80- 90’s).

I will never forget the day I saw Secretariat run ‘The Race’ at the 1973 Belmont Stakes WATCH HERE , the 2nd jewel in the Triple Crown.

I was not alone with the rest of the audience who thought our hearts were going to burst from the overwhelming emotion (tears were running down my cheeks) from watching the greatest performance in the history of the sport that day as Secretariat (who was only running for himself) went 31 lengths ahead of his competitors...I still feel that way every time I watch it.


Mike Hindman said “Secretariat's…World Record at a mile and a half, set in the 1973 Belmont Stakes has never been broken.

"Secretariat would be like a hitter who routinely smashed 600 foot homers; a long jumper who popped a 35 footer; a sprinter who ran 100 meters in 8 seconds; a golfer who shot four rounds of 60.... In all four majors.... In one year."

Secretariat at the Preakness 1973
Secretariat.com told the story this way:

“As Secretariat rounded the sweeping Belmont far turn (the turns at Belmont are the longest of any track in North America) he seemed to be on cruise control, with jockey Ron Turcotte just steering. Not asking. Secretariat's lead widened from seven lengths to 20 lengths on that turn. On to the wire, Turcotte did not ease the horse, but let him run on. On any other day, the rider would have been pulling the horse up through the lane, letting him take a bow under wraps. Saving something for another day. But THIS was the day, and the savvy rider knew the horse was running well within himself. Turcotte knew the time had come to let the horse show the world what he could do.

All that power. All that balance. All that heart. All that speed. Secretariat was ready to roll. And the margin kept widening, and widening, and widening.


By mid-stretch the Big Red Horse was ahead by 28 lengths, with the margin finally to reach 31 lengths by the finish. As he flew down the stretch he stretched out in stride past thousands of wildly cheering fans…

And then it was over.

The moment froze. What we are left with are those fleeting glimpses - a blazing pace, a huge running machine, a visual roar of acceleration, an ever-widening margin, the coat darkening, a white vapor of feet, a jockey sitting chilly, a horse alone - and one long-lasting moment frozen in memory. ”

Secretariat at 1973 Belmont Race

Although my first love had always been Man O’ War, the original ‘Big Red’ (of whom his trainer said “he was hell to break, a headache to handle and a catapult to ride”) that day Secretariat took first place in my pantheon of equine gods.

Man O' War

So to honor the sport of kings and the magnificent animals that run their great hearts out with staggering strength and courage, here’s to the first leg of the Triple Crown, The Kentucky Derby, that I nearly never miss and love to watch, Champagne glass in hand with cucumber Benedictine Sandwiches at my side, my breath coming faster as the horses prance to the post, “My Old Kentucky Home” sounds and… They’rrrre OFFFFFF.

Kentucky Derby

The Benedictine Sandwich was invented by Miss Jennie C. Benedict in the 1890s and can be found in her amazing book of Southern cuisine and hospitality, The Blue Ribbon Cook Book . These little sandwiches have become a Kentucky classic for the Derby.

Benedictine Sandwiches (adapted from Saveur Magazine)

6 oz. cream cheese


1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and grated


1 medium yellow onion, peeled and grated


2 tbsp. mayonnaise
 *

1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce


Salt


Green food coloring (I used 2 T watercress)

1 cucumber sliced paper thin

Watercress for garnish and color

1. Place cream cheese in a bowl and mash with a fork until smooth. Wrap cucumber in cheesecloth, then squeeze out and discard juice. Put in the blender with the with some of the watercress and pulse a few times. Add cucumber mixture to cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

2. Wrap onions in cheesecloth and squeeze juice into cream cheese mixture, then discard onions.

3. Mix mayonnaise and Tabasco sauce and add to cream cheese mixture. Season to taste with salt, then add 1 drop green food coloring if you would like more color than the watercress supplies and mix well. Serve on thinly sliced white sandwich bread. Garnish with cucumber slices and watercress

*Jennie Benedict's Mayonnaise

Yolk of 1 hard-boiled egg
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 small bottle of olive oil (1/2 cup?)
1 t. mustard
yolk of raw egg well beaten
vinegar to taste
white of one egg beaten stiffly

Rub yolk through a sieve. Add mustard, salt and pepper, and raw yolk. Add the oil and the vinegar slowly and lastly the egg white

And now for the libations, did you think I’d forgotten? Champagne is a traditional drink for the Derby as is the Mint Julep. I thought that I would make 2 champagne cocktails for this special occasion.

Early 19th Century Champagne Flutes

The first uses a fabulous product from my friends at Craft Distillers who made the delectable Absinthe I got to play with in February (read that post HERE This time it is a smooth, artisanal whiskey (aged in 3 kinds of oak and made of hardwood-toasted barley) to swirl in in blissful congress with my sweet mint syrup and sparkling wine.

Sparkling Mint Julep Cocktail

Mint Syrup

1 c water
1 c sugar ( I use organic because it has just a hint of warm molasses in it... sugar in the raw could work too)
Pinch of allspice and pinch of cinnamon or a few crushed cassia buds (if you have them around-they are the best)
6 sprigs mint, crushed
Make sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water. While it is still warm, add the crushed mint and spices and allow it to cool. Strain the mint from the syrup.
6 sprigs mint for garnish
Bottle champagne or other sparkling wine
6 – 12 T ST. GEORGE Single Malt Whiskey

Add one tablespoon of syrup and 1-2 T of whiskey to a champagne glass. Top with sparkling wine and 
garnish with a mint sprig


.
My Old Kentucky Sparkling Peach Cocktail for 4

1 ripe peach (peeled, stoned and roughly chopped)
1/3 c. BRIOTTET Crème de Pêche liqueur from Craft Distillers
2 T. mint syrup (less if your peach is sweet)
1-2 t lemon juice
1 drop of vanilla extract
1 drop nutmeg absolute from Aftelier or 1/8 t nutmeg
1 small drop black pepper essential oil from Aftelier or ½ t pepper
1 tiny pinch cardamom
1 bottle champagne or sparkling wine
*you can add a T of MAISON SURRENNE Cognac if you want to amp up the alcohol!
4 sprigs of mint for garnish

Blend the peach in the liqueur, lemon juice, vanilla, mint syrup, nutmeg, pepper and cardamom. Spoon a portion in each glass and add sparkling wine to taste. Garnish with mint.

Now, sit back, sip your drink and enjoy the race!

Secretariat Statue at Belmont Park

Craft Distillers

Aftelier Perfumes

A Scottish Grouse meets an 1850 Madeira and a dream is realized

“The Red Grouse is never far from heather and its Gaelic name is Coileach-fraoich (Cock of the Heather). No one really knows where the name Grouse originated from – it could come from two old French words: groucier - to murmur, grumble or greoche – speckled”, reports the delightful Sue Stephen’s at Ladies with Bottle

Ruffled Grouse 1824 Audubon

Grouse are Galliformes like chickens and range in size from 11 oz to 14 lbs! Stephens says they are mostly vegetarians “living on heather shoots, seeds and insects”. This diet gives them their distinctive flavor. Their feathers (especially those of the black grouse) were popular as ornaments for hats during the Victorian age (and are still used on hunting hats) although grouse are most prized today as a game bird. Hunters refer to the opening of Grouse season in the UK as “The Glorious 12^th” (of August) and the date has been the start of grouse season since the Game Act was passed in 1831.

Galliformes go waaaay back, 56 million years and more (don’t you love this fossil?)

Palaeortyx skeleton, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris

I think most of us think of grouse as the prey of the leisure-hunting class in so many British novels and Hollywood films.

Lord Saville by Spy 1908

The hunt begins with dozens of ‘grouse beaters’ crashing about the brush to frighten the poor birds into taking flight so they can be shot by sportsman in tweedy Plus-fours (at least that’s what they wear in 40’s Hollywood B & W hunting parties). Dining on pheasant and quail and grouse served from giant silver domed dishes from sideboards the size of airplane runways has come to represent a certain lifestyle of upper-class British society that is fast disappearing. I just had to try some.

Red Grouse

What started all this grousing??? Madeira!

Mannie Berk by C. M. Glover for The New York Times

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know that Mannie Berk at The Rare Wine Company has been my Madeira Genie, granting my wish to cook with antique wines (as was done in centuries past when they were an indispensable ingredient for legendary chefs like Carême). In an exchange of emails I told him I dreamed to try a pre-Civil War Madeira. He told me he had an 1850 (that had been in cask for 100 years before it was bottled in the 1960’s or 70’s). I fell on the floor when a small sample arrived in the post. When I tasted it, I heard supernal music (think Caruso and Ancona as their voices join and rise heavenward in the Pearl Fisher Duet (LISTEN HERE ) — close your eyes as you listen to the century old recording, the pellucid voices rising through a mist of sound — time stops for a moment— are you with me?? YES, THAT GOOD).

To make a dish with this celestial elixir I had to find something that could complement the wine’s great age and ethereal beauty.

I once had a pheasant in England that had been hung until it dropped from its hook. The flavor was dark and mysterious as if legend and ancient moors and forests had come together to cast a spell over its succulent flesh.

Heather Fields by Gordon McBryde

I thought that grouse, redolent of heather, might have some of that quality and would be a perfect foil to the Madeira. A foie gras sauce with that Madeira would be the alpha and omega.

My Grouse comes from Scotland via the lovely people at D’Artagnan. I have come to rely on them for game birds and they are my Jersey neighbors.

Ariane Daugin

D'Artagnan was founded by Ariane Daugin, the daughter of Andre Daugin who ran Gascony’s famous Hotel de France in Auch. They provided the grouse and the ducks for the stock as well as the foie gras for the sauce. We could say this meal is a D’Artagnan production!

Since it was game, I wrote to the Game Guru Hank at Honest Food (2010 James Beard Best Blog Finalist btw, KUDOS!!!!!) He recommended brining. He also reminded me these are lean mean little flying machines that need help in the fat department so they don’t dry out in the cooking process. The wonderful cookbook author and teacher Madeline Kamman had a genius idea about frozen nut oil under the skin that her great-Grandmother had used with guinea hens that I decided to use on my grouse. I went to soooo many UK game sites to check with the masters of the moors for their suggestions about preparing my little treasures. In the end the great chefs Pierre Koffman and Eric Chavot had great ideas for the cooking grouse. What I ended up with was my distillation of many wonderful recipes with some ideas of my own that I hope you will enjoy. Although it sounds daunting, it is really quite simple and could be used on cornish hen if you can’t manage a grouse (although you should!) with an increase in cooking time.

Early 19th C. English Plate

Grouse with a Foie Gras and Madeira Sauce & Blackberry Compote for 2

Blackberry compote* based on Hotel Cipriani recipe

1 cup blackberries

3-4 T heather honey

6 juniper berries, crushed

1 “ piece cinnamon

2 cloves

Zest of ½ a lime

Combine and cook until berries are soft. Serve warm or at room temperature

*You may remember this Sherwood Forest combination… I just had to use it again!

Brine for the grouse from Honest food

1/4 cup salt

4 cups water

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon crushed juniper berries

1 rosemary sprig

Boil and cool and brine the birds for 12 hours. Enough for 2 small birds

Grouse ( I can see this recipe with Cornish hen or pheasant too!)

2 Scottish grouse from D'Artagnan ( Buy them HERE )

1 T hazelnut oil

1 anchovy, mashed

1 t grated shallot

½ t fresh thyme

1 T foie gras

¼ t pepper

3 t. heather honey

1 T vegetable oil

Sauce (this can be enough for 2 but it is so good you may want to double it)

2 T Butter

sprig of thyme

2 shallots, minced

1/3 c demi glace (duck or chicken)

1 T foie gras (D'Artagnan brilliantly sells frozen pieces that can be broken off and used for sooo many things!!!)

2 t. Boston Bual Madeira (I used that 1850 Verdelho)

Take 1 T hazelnut oil and grated shallot, anchovy, thyme, pepper and 1 T foie gras and 1 t heather honey and blend. Put in the Freezer for 30 minutes or until firm.

Remove the grouse from the brine and pat dry. Let stand 15 minutes while heating the oven to 400º as you insert the semi-solid oil under the breast and leg (this is tough to do—they are little birds) of the grouse. Put the remainder in the cavity with 2 t of heather honey. Add salt and pepper over all.

Heat the oil in a large ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the grouse and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning regularly, until the birds are browned on all sides. If you lose any of the oil from the bird as you do this… spoon it back in before you put it into the oven.

Arrange each grouse so that it is resting on one breast.

Transfer to the oven for 3-4 minutes, then turn the birds onto their other breast and roast for a further 3 minutes. Turn the grouse onto their backs and roast for 4 more minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. Remove the grouse from the pan, place on a warm plate and cover loosely with foil. Set aside to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Add 2 T butter to the skillet in which the grouse cooked and add the shallots and thyme. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add duck Demi Glace. Add the Foie Gras one teaspoon at a time, whisking each addition thoroughly into the demi glace to achieve a silky smooth consistency, strain. Add 2 T Madeira just before serving.

Plate the grouse, nap with pan sauce and blackeberries.

This can be served with:

Tom Kitchin Celeriac Puree From Great British Menu

1 celeriac, peeled, finely chopped

milk, double cream to cover celeriac


2 t fresh horseradish


Place the celeriac into a small pan, cover with equal amounts of milk and cream and cook until soft. Once soft, drain, discarding the milk and cream. Purée using a hand-blender until smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Add horseradish.

Also great with this is steamed sugar snaps and baked beets tossed with 1 T verjus or sherry vinegar and 1 T hazelnut oil

Say hello to Petunia!

Thanks to Gollum for Foodie Friday

This recipe is on D'Artagnan's Facebook page

Verjus

Picking green grapes for making vertjus; Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1474

I have a secret ingredient. It’s called Verjus (from Middle French vertjus "green juice"). Prized for a thousand years, you can buy it today fairly easily but I have a recipe that is the BEST EVER and I’d like to share it with you. It comes from Madeleine Kamman’s In Madeleine's Kitchen (you need to buy her books!!). It is a little expensive to make and takes a few months to be brilliant but verily I say unto you… your patience will be rewarded! After two months it is delicious, in a year it is insanely good… if you can leave some for a few years it will take your breath away.

Unripe Grapes

Verjus has its roots in the wonderful idea that nothing should go to waste. Unripe grapes (left after the harvest) or sour crab apples (common in England) would be used to make this vinegar-like liquid.

crab apples

The 14^th century cookbook, Le Menagier de Paris’ recipe made Verjus with sour grapes and sorrel. Later recipes ask for sour grapes with salt to act as a preservative. In the Middle Ages oil was precious and this would often be the only thing that would go on salads and greens for flavoring. Called husroum or ab-ghooreh in the Middle East, it is still used in Arab/Persian and Syrian cooking. It is somewhere between a vinegar and a wine (my version still has a bit of alcohol in it!).

I had a small portion that I had stored for 7 years quite by accident (a gift that never got given!). I used it last summer with hazelnut oil on a salad and the result was transporting. Gossamer light, complex yet subtle, it is Aristocratic vinegar, if you will.

Carolyn at 18th Century Cuisine shared a slightly different version of Kamman’s recipe on her wonderful blog. Kamman recommends a version with yeast in it in her latest cookbook. My particular recipe uses Armagnac and honey with the strong savor of the flowers the bees dined upon (thyme, heather, acacia)* to anchor the sherry vinegar and tart grapes. The use of Armagnac was a happy accident the first time I made it many years ago… an accident that I now repeat every time I make it.

Perigord Verjus from Amazon

If you don’t have the time or the inclination, the store bought variety can be amended with the addition of some of these elements. Good honey* and sherry vinegar with a small shot of a good brandy will give a purchased verjus some of that quality I love in Kamman’s recipe. I really recommend taking the trouble. Use it with a nut oil on butter lettuce or baby greens and you will see salad in a new light. It is also wonderful on mangoes and tomatoes or even avocado. It gives a delicately nuanced brightness to the fruit. I can’t lie… I have taken small glasses of it!

I usually halve this recipe (Armagnac is pricey!).

VERJUS

30 large green grapes (unwashed organic)

1 quart grape juice (crushed and strained) from sour grapes (or the hardest green grapes you can find---I have always used market grapes myself)

2/3 c Honey (thyme, acacia, heather, evergreen etc.)*

2 Quarts 90 proof alcohol (I used 750 ml bottles) of Armagnac (or brandy, vodka)

2 c sherry vinegar

Prick the grapes with a needle, and place in the bottom of a ½ gallon jar. Filter the grape juice through a coffee filter (this was tough… in the end I used a fine sieve) and pour over the grapes. Add the honey and stir until dissolved then add the alcohol and vinegar. Seal the jar with several layers of cheesecloth (I used a snap lid jar and put the lid down but not snapped over the cheesecloth). Do not disturb for at least 2 months… it is ready to use when the berries have fallen to the bottom and the liquid has clarified, although there will be a fine layer of sediment at the bottom. I poured off the liquid into a bottle and left the grapes in the sediment. They are delicious. (9 months old, this batch is unbelievably good!!)

*** I imagine you could try this with crab apples if you have a tree!

I’ve used this bottle for nearly 20 years. I keep adding new Verjus as they do with the solera system for Sherry in Spain (it’s called in perpetuum in Sicily and used to make marsala) leaving a little from the old batch to enrich the new batch!

Thanks to everyone who has been clicking on my Google Ads (anything that sells something) on the side and bottom of the page… I have had the best month ever thanks to your generosity and have now broken $100 after 4 months of blogging (ok, you don’t get rich from Google ads!). The Oxford Food Symposium is now really going to have some serious money donated by Lostpastremembered. I’m hoping for $200 by July!!! WHoo hooo!!! Of course I don’t know when they pay up… but it’s the thought that counts. Again, thanks. Thanks thanks thanks. Love you all!

Thanks to Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday!