Robert E. Lee Cake, Corn Pudding
Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg
“My grandfather said, ‘You don’t shoot the horse that brung you.’ The Beard award was for doing just that,” said Dixon Dedman, the fifth generation of his family that has owned and operated the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg.
Dedman was referring to the prestigious James Beard Foundation America’s Classic award bestowed on the Beaumont Inn in 2015. The award recognizes regional establishments that are treasured for their quality food, local character and lasting appeal.
Dedman’s great-great grandmother opened the Beaumont Inn in 1919 in a historic 1845 white-columned brick structure that had been a women’s college for years. The inn’s restaurant was soon serving delicacies that are still delighting diners years later.
“The oldest menus we can find still have fried chicken, country ham, corn pudding and Robert E. Lee cake,” said Dedman.
The Beaumont’s yellow-legged chicken refers to what Dedman says is an “old wives’ tale” that corn-fed chicken with yellow rings on their legs are more tender. “It’s really a marketing tool; we don’t know the color of our chickens’ legs. But we do buy them fresh, and we still fry them the same way, in lard and drenched in flour.”
A few years ago, USA Today featured a dish from one restaurant in each of the 50 states. “For Kentucky, they selected the Beaumont Inn’s corn pudding,” said Dedman.
“It’s a very time-consuming recipe; it takes a long time to get it right. It’s stirred four times, once prior to and three times during the hour it cooks. It’s constantly disturbed, which gives it that light, custard-type flavor.”
The inn’s signature three-layer orange-lemon Robert E. Lee cake with citrus icing was named in honor of the Confederate general, who Dedman’s great-great-great grandfather admired.
“Everything is made from scratch. It is an old, old recipe,” said Dedman.
Western Kentucky Barbecue
Hopkinsville
Although several states brag about their superiority, Kentucky can hold its own when the discussion — and the taste buds — deal with barbecue. There are more than 200 barbecue places around Kentucky, but the western part of the state is considered the hotbed of barbecue, with the favorite being pulled pork smoked for hours over hickory coals and covered with a variety of sauces.
Hopkinsville, near the Tennessee border, has a trio of restaurants that offer a delicious sampling of western Kentucky barbecue while dining with the locals.
“The local people eat there and are glad to talk to you,” said Cheryl Cook, executive director of the Hopkinsville-Christian County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Knockum Hill Bar-B-Q is one of those places that make a wonderful travel discovery. Located in rural Christian County near Herndon and the Fort Campbell Army base, Knockum Hill is famous for its huge smoked pork chop, which its 80-year-old owner, Oscar Hill, cooks over hickory coals for up to 22 hours to give it a deep, smoky flavor.
Although it is open only on Friday and Saturday, it’s worth the trip if you are in the area on the weekend to enjoy the pork chops, along with sides of baked beans, potato salad and coleslaw on picnic tables under the large covered outdoor sitting area.
“It’s quaint and out of the way, but people will drive there for barbecue,” said Cook.
Also outside Hopkinsville headed toward the town of Pembroke is the Bar B Q Shack, which is famous for its chopped mutton or pork on hoecakes with hot sauce and hot slaw, served on red-and-white checkered tablecloths.
The Bar B Q Shack is also famous for a distinctive Kentucky favorite — burgoo — a slow-cooked thick stew made with a variety of meat and vegetables such as lima beans, corn and okra.
“They put everything in it but the kitchen sink,” said Cook.
In town, Cook said the Wood Shed BBQ Restaurant is a “meat-and-three kind of place that has hickory-smoked barbecue. You add your own sauce. It is where George W. Bush ate when he was campaigning for president in 2000.”
Spoon Bread
Boone Tavern, Berea
“It’s not corn bread,” Donna Robertson, director of sales and marketing for Boone Tavern, is quick to point out about the tavern’s signature spoon bread. “It’s a corn bread souffle. It’s a lot moister and is served with a spoon.”
Although spoon bread is not unique to the historic inn and restaurant, it has become synonymous with Boone Tavern.
“It has been a staple here for at least 60 years,” said Robertson. “It has been made in the same mixer for all that time and is baked in little pans. It always is fresh coming out of the kitchen.”
“Its flavor is universal. It’s warm and gives a comfort-food feeling,” said Belle Jackson, the recently retired director of the Berea Tourism Commission.
Spoon bread is served before lunch and dinner. “Everybody gets it,” said Robertson.
The Southern staple is celebrated each September at Berea’s Spoonbread Festival.
Boone Tavern, owned by Berea College, has been in operation since 1909, when it opened as a guesthouse for the historic liberal arts college. Most of the servers bringing diners spoon bread are college students.
Boone Tavern has other distinctive dishes, including pork chops “the tricky way” and chicken flakes in a bird’s nest made one at a time from shaved potatoes, which “you cannot get anywhere else.”
“They both are traditional dishes way back,” said Robertson.
Boone Tavern is also a leader in farm-to-table food. “They are very much into slow food and local,” said Jackson. “You know exactly who tended that lettuce before you put it into your mouth.”
Hot Brown
The Brown Hotel, Louisville
In the 1920s, guests taking a break after dancing late into the night were looking for something more exciting than the traditional fare. In an attempt to serve up something new, The Brown Hotel’s chef created the first hot brown.
The open-faced turkey sandwich is now a Kentucky favorite. Guests can taste the dish at its original home in the hotel’s J. Graham’s Café. The bistro-style venue features causal dining and fresh local produce.
For groups looking for a more opulent dining experience, The English Grill at the hotel serves Kentucky-influenced cuisine with an extensive wine list.
Groups can also stay in one of the English Renaissance-style hotel’s 293 rooms for a prime location in downtown Louisville.
