“Eat Your Bourbon” Pumpkin Risotto

Yes, you can have your bourbon and eat it too! Bourbon Barrel Foods in Louisville, Kentucky is making small-batch gourmet food products aged in American White Oak bourbon barrels, more specifically, Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels.

Bourbon Barrel Foods’ Microbrewed Aged Soy Sauce

Matt Jamie, founder and owner of Bourbon Barrel Foods, and his team have developed the Bourbon Barrel Foods brand into a cornerstone of the bourbon and gourmet foods industries. A Louisville native, Jamie established Bourbon Barrel Foods in 2006 as the U.S.’s only soy sauce microbrewery. Their signature product, Bluegrass Soy Sauce, is microbrewed in small batches using only whole Kentucky grown Non-GMO soybeans, soft red winter wheat, and the purest limestone filtered Kentucky spring water. The soybean mash is then fermented and aged in re-purposed bourbon barrels for a minimum of 6 months. It’s smoky and brothy with hints of oak and a mild sweetness reminiscent of fine Kentucky bourbon.

Since the creation of Bluegrass Soy Sauce, Bourbon Barrel Foods expanded its products to include smoked spices, artisan sugars, gourmet sauces and marinades, grill wood, sorghum, vanilla extract and a Woodford Reserve^® branded line. All of Bourbon Barrel Foods’ products incorporate innovative uses of bourbon barrels and are crafted with care in small batches.

Bourbon Barrel Foods’ Smoked Spices

I’m currently infatuated with the Bourbon Smoked Togarashi. A fan of Shichi-mi tōgarashi (七味唐辛子, seven-flavor chili pepper), the peppery Japanese spice blend, which varies by maker, generally includes red chili pepper flakes or powder, black pepper, sesame seeds, dried mandarin orange peel, green nori seaweed flakes, prickly ash pods, hemp seeds and poppy seeds. Add a smoky, subtle bourbon flavor to it – what’s not to like!

The Bluegrass Soy Sauce is a delicious condiment on its own, but its delicate, umami flavor is a unique addition to your arsenal of  “secret” ingredients.  Last weekend we had some friends over and I made the Red-Chile Bluegrass Soy Butter from the Southern Heat cookbook by Seviche’s Chef Anthony Lamas and Gwen Pratesi – everyone raved about it and I’ll share it on She’s Cookin’, once I have some photos…

Bourbon Barrel Foods’ Bluegrass Soy Sauce has been featured on Bizarre Foods America, America’s Heartland, and How It’s Made and written up in The New York Times, Southern Living, Garden and Gun, and Food and Dining. You can find Bluegrass Soy Sauce on the menus of such distinguished restaurants as Milkwood (Louisville), 610 Magnolia (Louisville), Seviche (Louisville), Simply Thai (Louisville), MOPHO (New Orleans), Husk (Nashville and Charleston), and more.

Now for that recipe! Togarashi adds a touch of spice to Japanese noodles and soups and also perks up fish, poultry and beef. Besides a touch of heat, Bourbon Smoked Togarashi imparts a subtle smokiness and complexity to almost any dish, including this almost traditional, creamy Italian risotto with fall flavors of pumpkin and sage.

Pumpkin Risotto Recipe Featuring BBF Smoked Togarashi

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"Eat Your Bourbon" Pumpkin Risotto

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

1 hr 20 mins

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

A creamy risotto with fall flavors of pumpkin and sage distinguished by a hint of heat and smokiness from Bourbon Smoked Togarashi.

Course: Main, Side

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Author: Priscilla

Ingredients

• 1 whole fresh pie pumpkin, seeded, pulp removed, cut into half or quarters
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Bourbon Barrel Foods Bourbon Smoked Togarashi spice
• For the Risotto:
• 1 cup arborio rice*
• 1 teaspoon good quality olive or lemon olive oil
• 1 quart low sodium organic Chicken Broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon Bourbon Smoked Togarashi
• 1 cup roasted pumpkin scooped from skin and coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces Laura Chenel pineapple goat cheese*
• Garnish: 1/4 up toasted pepita pumpkin seeds and fresh sage

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drizzle the pumpkin flash with olive oil and sprinkle with bourbon-smoked togarashi. Bake until flesh can be easily pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a 3 quart saucepan. Add the arborio rice and 2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil, simmer covered for about 10 minutes, until broth is absorbed. Uncover, stir, and add more broth - 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until absorbed. Add the wine, continue stirring. When nearly absorbed, add the pumpkin, stir in goat cheese, and add remaining broth, if necessary.

Recipe Notes

* I used Lundberg Family Farms Arborio Rice and purchased the Laura Chenel Pineapple Goat Cheese at Costco. Plain goat cheese can be substituted, but the pineapple added a subtle sweetness that worked beautifully here.

With all this talk of bourbon, let me briefly tell you about what led to this fascination. My first visit to Louisville and Bourbon Barrel Foods was in November of 2012 for a culinary bourbon experience with On The Road culinary adventures that included a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon tasting dinner with Julian P. Van Winkle III at Chef Anthony Lamas’ restaurant, Seviche; a tour of Buffalo Trace distillery which makes Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace, Evan Williams and other labels; and a chefs demonstration and lunch with Chefs Anthony Lamas and Bobby Benjamin. At that time, Matt Jamie had just moved his operation to its current location in the historic Butchertown Market and was pressing the mash manually. Now they have a hulking mechanical press built by his father and named Fred 2.0 in tribute, bottling machinery, and a Southern Pride smoker.

What’s the Difference Between Whiskey and Bourbon?

Contrary to popular belief, not all bourbons are from Kentucky – although the best ones are… One prerequisite for carrying the bourbon name is that the whiskey must be aged in (American White) oak barrels which are used once – and once only – creating a huge secondary market for bourbon barrels which breweries and other artisans have jumped on.

For a product to be labeled “bourbon whiskey” it has to meet tighter requirements than those for “whiskey”. The mash must be at least 51% corn, it can’t be distilled higher than 80% alcohol (by volume) or go into the barrel for aging higher than 62.5% alcohol, and has to be aged in new charred oak barrels and, aged for a minimum of two years, to carry the “straight bourbon” label. {Source: Whiskey Advocate}

Brown-Forman Cooperage – Makers of Wine and Whiskey Barrels

And what about those barrels? I didn’t know what to expect from our visit to Brown-Forman Cooperage but it was interesting, informative, and an experience that I’ll reflect on when savoring my favorite Kentucky bourbons. Founded in 1870, Brown-Forman is one of the largest American-owned companies in the wine and spirits business. The cooperage sources white oak from 13 states and produces 600,000 white oak barrels a year for maturing some of Brown-Forman’s finest brands, including Jack Daniel’s, Early Times, Old Forester, and Woodford Reserve. Brown-Forman is the only major distiller in the world that owns and manufactures its own barrels.

Brown Forman Cooperage Tour

Goggles in place, we entered into an inferno of clamorous conveyor belts, hammering of wood, beating of metal, flames leaping up to char barrels, with the hissing and aroma of wet smoke as water douses the burning barrels emerging from the fire. While some processes have become automated over the past century, the barrels are still made largely made by hand – the way they’ve been crafted for 2,000 years. There are 33 staves in each barrel and no nails or glue are used to hold them together, only the pressure of each stave tightly against the next and bound firmly by metal rings. An experienced barrel maker like the man above, can put together 300 barrels a day.

Barrel Aging Is a Vital Flavor Component

Much more than a receptacle for aging, barrels are an important flavor component and, without them, drinks we enjoy like brandy, cognac, sherry, madeira, rum, bourbon, or whiskey would not possess their distinctive notes of smoke, caramel, wood, tobacco, etc. The barrels are a vital ingredient in bourbon-making and each different distiller has very definite demands to distinguish their spirits; Woodford Reserve wants barrels that are at least 9 months old, but Jack Daniel’s likes barrels that range from 6-9 months old (85% of the Cooperage’s barrels go to Jack Daniels).

Visiting places like Brown-Forman and Bourbon Barrel Foods leaves me with a deep feeling of appreciation for the heritage and fine craftsmanship that still goes into certain “Made in America” products and for the passion and tenacity of entrepreneurs like Matt Jamie and George Garvin Brown who started Brown-Forman in 1870. There’s also an undeniable pride that fills my heart, knowing that my husband and I survived the emotional and financial roller-coaster of our own entrepreneurial endeavor and lived to tell about it!

If you can dream it, you can do it.

— Walt Disney

P.S. – perfect Christmas gift for your foodie friends and family!

Bourbon Barrel Foods 

1201 Story Ave., Ste. 175

Louisville, KY 40206

502-333-6103