Week #17: Kentucky - Hot Brown Bourbon & Bacon Pizza

State:  Kentucky

Here comes a shocker....I have never been to Kentucky before!  I know, I am sure you know me by now. Either way, I did plenty of research on the state.  I know that Kentucky is known for Bourbon, Moonshine, Baseball bats, NCAA basketball, and great food.  When researching signature dishes, I came across something called a "Hot Brown."  After reading the recipe, I am so eager to try out this pizza.  Remembering how good Idaho was with the cheesy cream sauce, I thought this might be another amazing pizza.  

Ingredients Needed: 

1 Pizza Crust
8 - 10 slices of Pork or Turkey Bacon - depends on size of pizza
1 sliced Roma Tomatoes in halves
1 tsp or splash of canola oil (Avoids food allergies)


Turkey:
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 lb of Turkey Breast
Salt & pepper to taste

Glaze:
1 tbsp of Kentucky Bourbon (Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, or Wild Turkey)
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
2 tbsp of maple syrup

Sauce Mixture:
2 tbsp of All Purpose Flour or Brown Rice Flour for Gluten-Free
2 tbsp of Butter or Butter spread
2 cups of Fat Free milk
1/3 cup of Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese - yellow or white
1 tsp of garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Topping the pizza:
1/3 cup of fresh Italian or Flat Leaf Parsley (they are the same)
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
2 strands of green onion
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:

On medium heat and in a medium sauce pan, make a roux.  Heat the butter until melted and add in the flour.  Stir until the mixture becomes a roux and turns a golden brown.  Slowly add in milk and whisk until mixture thickens.  If mixture does not thicken right away, allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes.  It should thicken at this point.  If not, add a little more flour until you get your level of consistency.  It should be a little thick, but not too much. Think of this as a gravy style consistency.  Add in the Romano and cheddar cheese, as well as the salt & pepper to taste.

Meat: 

First, add a splash of canola oil to a large pan.  Once warm, add bacon and cook until crispy on both sides.  Remove from heat and place on paper towel covered plate.  Save pan and grease for cooking the turkey. 

Combine bourbon, Dijon mustard and maple syrup together.  Whisk together until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.  Set aside.

Next, coat all sides of the turkey with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper.  On medium heat, place turkey in pan and cook in bacon grease.  Sear on both sides of the turkey and cook meat until there is no pink color.  The bacon grease will add more flavoring to the turkey.  While cooking, bring your glaze over to the pan and with a coating brush, add glaze to top of the meat.  Flip over turkey and add glaze to the other side of the meat.  Repeat process 1 more time to thoroughly glaze turkey.  Allow just enough time to ensure turkey is coated.  Remove from heat and check temperature, which needs to be around 165 degrees.  Set aside and allow meat to cool.  Cut turkey into bite size pieces.

Pizza: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat bottom of crust with a thin glaze of olive oil.  Next, add turkey slices and spread meat out along the pizza, ensuring enough space for every slice.  Then, add slices of tomato and space appropriately for each slice.  Add cream sauce mixture over top of turkey, tomatoes and crust.  Then, add a layer of cheese over top of the sauce.  Ensure all sauce is spread out over the pizza and is not near the edge of the pizza.  The sauce will drip over the crust and go into the oven, which will burn and stink up your house...Lol.  Seriously, it happened to me.  :)   Finally, add the bacon strips along the pizza.  I did them in long layers to look like the Hot Brown sandwich, but I would recommend cutting them into bite size pieces.  Cook in oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the crust.  When crust is brown, remove from heat and set aside.  Sprinkle with green onions and parsley.  Allow to cool and then eat.  SEE LEARNING MOMENTS SECTION.

Pairing:  

For this pizza, I paired a Kentucky Bourbon Red Rye IPA from Kentucky Bourbon Brewing company.  It had a really good hoppy flavor and bourbon taste that paired well with a pizza.  For a wine, I would go with a dry red wine like a Cabernet or a Merlot.  

Learning Moments: 

Make sure that the pizza cools before you try to eat it.  The sauce will burn your tongue or mouth very quickly.  Luckily, I took my time before taking the first bite.   This is the first time I ever cooked with Bourbon and made this type of dish.  The Bourbon really brings out a great flavor with the maple syrup, so next time I would use this for the base of the pizza instead of the olive oil.  The taste gets a little lost with all of the cream, bacon, and cheese over powering the pizza.  This was a really good pizza and I realized that simplistic will usually turn out really amazing.  Sometimes it is all about working with simple ingredients.  I would highly recommend this pizza.