Burgoo is a signature dish of United States; we have verified places to eat it in Lexington and Louisville. Kentucky's slow-simmered hunter's stew: several meats, a garden of vegetables and a long afternoon in the pot.
Burgoo · Lexington
Kentucky's slow-simmered hunter's stew: several meats, a garden of vegetables and a long afternoon in the pot. Racetrack kitchens and church fundraisers keep it alive, and Stella's ladles it year-round in Lexington.
Burgoo grew out of 19th-century Kentucky barbecues and political rallies, where whatever meat the county could muster went into communal kettles that simmered for the better part of a day. The stew became racetrack food along the way and remains a Keeneland tradition. In Lexington, Stella's Kentucky Deli keeps burgoo on the menu year-round, built on beef, chicken and pork from neighbouring farms with a chicken-stock base.
Where to eat in Lexington:
- Stella's Kentucky Deli
Where to eat Burgoo in Lexington: the editor picks
Burgoo · Louisville
A thick Kentucky stew of mutton, beef and chicken with corn, lima beans, potatoes and tomatoes, simmered slow at festivals and Derby parties.
Burgoo is a Kentucky and Tennessee community-pot stew, served at political rallies, church suppers and the Kentucky Derby Infield since the early 1800s. The dish traditionally combined whatever proteins were on hand (chicken, beef, pork) with field vegetables in a giant cast-iron kettle stirred with paddles. Modern Louisville versions land on a blend of meats with corn, lima beans and potatoes. Burgoo turns up at Kentucky BBQ joints and Derby Festival events as a side or main alongside the pulled-pork plates.
Where to eat in Louisville:
- Mark's Feed Store Bar-B-Q
Where to eat Burgoo in Louisville: the editor picks