It's Sunday my friends and there you have quite like a nice breakfast. Well, depending on taste, it is sometimes savory and sometimes sweet and one or the other skips it completely and goes straight to lunch. Well, such a nice selection possibilities did not have the Sailor aboard ships. There was then a very simple dish.

And then we talk about the Burgoo a dish from the 17th -18th century which is just a ground oatmeal boiled in water and was later sweetened with molasses or black treacle and seasoned with some salt. The officers probably had some nutmeg on it. This is what Jon Townsend suggested in his video on Burgoo.

He also quotes the following: Memoirs of a Seafaring Life: The Narrative of William Spavens. Spavens writes:

On Wednesdays we get burgoo boiled for breakfast and a pint of peas to make soup for dinner. On Mondays, no peas but burgoo for dinner.

You can literally read - or hear - this enthusiasm for this dish from his lines.

So it was not very popular and unfortunately the men often had to live with it, because it was not only served for breakfast, there was also the possibility that it came in stormy weather with beef fat on the table, because it was quick and easy to prepare even under such difficult conditions. But if you now want to try it for yourself. Then you look either in the Video of Townsend for his recipe or you use this recipe:

Take two cups of water and one cup of porridge oat. Now you put the cold water in a pot and stir in the oat little by little. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly. When the oatmeal has become a smooth mass, serve with molasses or in the modern way with sugar and cream or salt and butter.

Go figure.

This burgoo was incredible, but it was a lot of work. This is how I made it...

I mashed up the two recipes above and made some changes of my own.

My Ingredients:

Cornish Hen (22 oz)

1 lb. Angus beef stew meat

1 lb. beef marrow bones 

1 stalk celery

1 carrot, peeled

1 onion, peeled

6 sprigs of parsley

16 oz. tomato puree

1 red pepper pod

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp ground thyme 

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp ground oregano

1 tsp granulated garlic 

1 cup diced celery

1 cup sliced carrot

1 cup diced onion

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes in juice

1 Tbsp. beef base

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp Tabasco

1 cup sherry

1 cup red wine 

1.5 lbs. diced potatoes 

2 green peppers, diced 

1 cup green beans

1 cup okra

1 cup corn

Holy moly, that’s a lot of ingredients! 

First, I seasoned and browned all of the meat in the Instant Pot on the sauté setting. I made a seasoning mix with the thyme, sage, oregano, and garlic and put it on both the beef marrow bones and the stew meat. In vegetable oil, I browned all of the meat in batches, setting it to the side as it was done. 

Next, the broth! Into the Instant Pot goes: the hen (mine was frozen) that I seasoned like I did the other meat, the browned stew meat, the browned beef marrow bones, the stalk of celery, the peeled carrot, the peeled onion, sprigs of parsley, tomato puree, pepper pod, sugar, and lemon juice. Add water until it is covered, pictured below. Close the lid, switch to sealing, and manual cook for 50 minutes (less time if your hen isn’t frozen-google it). Gradually release pressure by switching to vent before opening. Your house smells insanely good at this moment! 

You will probably feel like you are done now, but you haven’t even started. Put a strainer on top of a large stockpot and pour all of that flavorful broth in, removing all the vegetables and meat. You can get rid of the vegetables at this point. Remove all the bones from your meat. I let this simmer covered while I prepped the rest of the ingredients. 

Don’t wash the Instant Pot, or whatever you used to brown the meat, and cook the broth. I used the same pot to sauté the diced celery, onion, and green pepper in olive oil that I seasoned with salt and pepper. Now you can add those to the stockpot, letting everything simmer covered and fuse the flavors. 

Now add: sliced carrot, diced potatoes, diced tomatoes, beef base, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, sherry, and wine. Still simmering covered. 

Uncover and keep simmering. I like certain vegetables to retain texture in stews and not get mushy. For that reason, I added the green beans, okra, and corn towards the end of cooking. 

I had grilled corn the day before and nothing quite compares to that flavor of corn for me so I cut it off the cob and added it. 

The okra and green beans were frozen. I tossed them in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked them until a little crisp in the air fryer before adding them. 

All the while, I was tasting and letting it simmer down to the consistency I was looking for. It does thicken up a bit as it cooks. 

If it is too soupy, like Keeneland says, thicken with a cornstarch slurry. I mixed some cornstarch with some beef broth in a small mixing bowl, making sure there were no lumps before adding it to the stew. As it simmers, it will continue to thicken. 

This bowl of burgoo will be rich and full of flavor. The meat will be extremely tender and the vegetables will add a really nice texture. It’s a delicious burgoo! Hope you like it. 

Burgoo is a rich, slow-cooked stew with roots deeply tied to the American Midwest and South, particularly Kentucky and Illinois. More than just a dish, burgoo is an event—a communal meal often prepared in large kettles to feed crowds at church gatherings, political rallies, and county fairs. Traditionally made with whatever meats and vegetables were available, it became a symbol of…

🍲 Word of the Week: burgoo 🍲 Ever heard of a stew that’s so hearty it can feed an entire community? That’s burgoo — a savory, seasoned mix of meats & veggies, perfect for gatherings and celebrations.

📚 Expand your vocabulary & join the fun at The Spelling Bee Championship! 🐝 Grades 3 to 10 – Registrations Now Open!