Burgoo

I have a coworker, Greg, who is from Kentucky and always regales us with tales of the exotic fare one can sample there. His childhood home is relatively near Owensboro, which is known for its barbecue, particularly its mutton. For my birthday this year Greg called up Moonlite Bar-B-Que and ordered a gallon of burgoo, a soup he had mentioned that I had never heard anything of.

It arrived frozen solid, in a gallon-size plastic jug, and took two days to thaw. It's primarily mutton, but also contains potatoes, tomato paste, cabbage, corn, ketchup, spices, worcestershire sauce, chicken, beef, onions and vinegar. There's a little bit of heat, a little bite from the vinegar, but what you mainly taste is the mutton, a rich, meaty, almost but not quite gamey taste (it was originally made with squirrel, so the literature included in the package goes). The soup's been cooked so long the mutton's in tiny shreds that hold together the thick juice, but the corn must've been added later because it's fresh and plump. We ate it with cornbread, although Greg says they usually have it as a side to Moonlite's barbecue. (I'm amused by the idea of this meaty soup, almost entirely meat, as a side to more meat.)