Several awesome things are happening this weekend: babysitting, the promise of assaulting my friends’ eyeballs with my latest hopeless attempt at “fashion” [a jumpsuit that fits perfectly enough now in month eight to only a give off a slight snake-that’s-swallowed-a-goat vibe — Google it. I’ll wait here, cracking up], a party that celebrates both some fight that I guess must be a big deal or something and, if that were not enough, the Kentucky Derby. Needless to say, all excuses to fete bourbon, mint, big hats and horsies are taken seriously around here, especially because it’s finally given me a chance to talk about the deliciousness that is Not Derby Pie.
Have you ever had Actual Derby Pie? Created in 1950 at the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky, the gooey pie is studded with chocolate and walnuts and a splash of bourbon,* a bit like a pecan pie minus the heaps of corn syrup. I was briefly in Louisville a couple years ago, and predictably made a point of trying all of the bourbon (oops) and at least one wedge of this pie. However — please forgive me, Kentucky — I was underwhelmed. It was so sweet and so gooey, I wondered if I could make it at home, thinner, with a little crunchy salt and with more depth of flavor (deeply toasted nuts, brown sugar, brown butter and vanilla, perhaps?). Aren’t Yankees the worst?
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