The Kentucky Derby may be nicknamed “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” but hopefully your Derby party will last significantly longer than 120 seconds.
This year will be the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby, which takes place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The race takes place May 2, a perfect time to have a springtime soiree.
Fans around the country will dress in their best clothes and biggest hats, cue up “My Old Kentucky Home” and place wagers — whether at sports books or with family and friends — on the oddly named horse they believe will cross the finish line first.
There are also plenty of traditional Derby foods. The official Kentucky Derby at-home menu includes foods such as hot brown sandwich sliders, deviled eggs and — of course — the classic bourbon cocktail, the mint julep.
But any foods with Southern flair can find their way to your rose-studded table, especially fresh, seasonal spring ingredients. From cocktails to appetizers to entrees to desserts, here are some ideas for your big Kentucky Derby Saturday.
For starters, any bourbon cocktail can make for a Kentucky-tinged good time. From a Bourbon derby punch brightened with orange juice, honey and sparkling water to something as simple as your favorite whiskey paired with fresh-squeezed lemonade, the whole range of these libations can be showstoppers. But nothing pairs with this iconic horse race quite like the mint julep.
Pittsburgh craft distillery Wigle Whiskey makes a killer julep out of its own spirits and were kind enough to share heir recipe. To make your own, just stock up on Wigle Whiskey Reserve Pennsylvania Straight Bourbon, simple syrup (made of equal parts granulated sugar and water heated on the stovetop until the sugar dissolves), mint leaves and crushed ice. Each cocktail requires two ounces of bourbon; one half ounce of simple syrup; and eight mint leaves.
To make the drink, muddle the mint leaves and simple syrup at the bottom of a cocktail class for 15 seconds. Then, add the bourbon and crushed ice until it fills half of the glass. Stir everything together for 15-20 seconds, then garnish with more ice up to the rim of the glass and a large sprig of mint. This drink can be made individually, but you can also multiply the ingredients as much as desired to batch-make juleps for the whole party.
Appetizers and finger foods are a great way to pair those first cocktails, and there are lots of options for Derby Day. One of the staples of this Southern event is pimento cheese. Jill Boldin of Happenstance Cafe in Lawrenceville is proud of the spreads that they’ve concocted.
“We’re using shredded white cheddar, and then there’s cream cheese, mayo and diced pimentos in it, as well as a bit of seasoning,” Boldin said.
Pimento cheese is a spread common on crackers or vegetables and in sandwiches in Southern cooking. Happenstance Cafe uses this one in their pimento cheese BLT, which also features fried green tomatoes, bacon and micro greens. They also have a pimento cheese “shcmear” that they use on their breakfast burger, which is served on a bagel with an egg, caramelized onions and micro greens.
Boldin said that the great thing about the simple spread is that it can be dialed up or down depending on your preferences.
“You can dial it up by adding a little bit of Cajun seasoning and some cayenne, or you can keep it more mild,” she said.
“If you want it to be a thicker pimento cheese, you can lean more on the cream cheese. I think when I was in Nashville area, ours was more mayo-based.”
They add diced jalapeno peppers to their schmear, which also heightens the heat level.
Other Southern-tyle options, if you’re feeling ambitious, are fried foods such as Nashville hot chicken and hush puppies. The Pittsburgh Brewing Co. in Creighton will host its own Derby Day party, with a number of food trucks and vendors including PK’s Cluckin’ Truck, Kimi’s Confections and Leapin’ Leos.
Leapin’ Leo’s will have a special Nashville hot chicken fries — crispy fries layered with chicken, homemade beer cheese, a signature hot sauce and pickles. But they’ll also have hush puppies, deep-fried balls of cornmeal that they’ve turned into a sweet-and-savory treat that would be perfect for snacking at a home get-together.
“It’s a sweet corn, so we put chunks of corn in the hush puppies. Then we deep fry them and we squirt honey all over them,” said Sarah Brank, owner of Leapin’ Leo’s Food Truck.
Mylee Gruss, owner of Thirty’s Craft Pizza and Beer in Latrobe, will be catering the Latrobe Art Center’s Kentucky Derby party. She has carefully crafted the menu for the event.
“It’s basically what they would traditionally have in the South for the Kentucky Derby,” she said.
Included in her starters menu are items such as Hot Brown turkey sliders, which traditionally include roasted turkey, bacon, tomatoes and a Mornay cheese sauce. Other typical dishes, she pointed out, are Benedictine spread, along with chicken and waffles. “Those are a definite if you want to do a Derby party,” she added.
Chicken and waffles make an ideal appetizer — when made bite-sized — or a great main course. Gordon Sheffer, owner of Waffles, INCaffeinated, which has several locations in Pittsburgh and Westmoreland County, is pretty proud of his recipe.
“We add pecans to the batter, and … then you fry the chicken and immerse it in a maple butter glaze,” he said. Pecans are very thematic to the Kentucky Derby, so adding some to this sweet-and-savory classic would tie your menu together.
“Pecans are great with chicken, so it’s a very tasty dish,” he added.
As for the chicken? Sheffer said you have plenty of options.
“We actually use a chicken tenderloin, but you can just take KFC if you want and put it on top,” he said.
WAffles, INCaffeinated makes its own sourdough waffle batter, which you can actually purchase if you want a shortcut for your feast.
Speaking of pecans, the Oakmont Bakery has you covered when it comes to Derby desserts. Along with crowd-pleasing Derby-themed chocolate chip cookie cakes and rose horseshoe-decorated cupcakes, the bakery has created a take on the “Derby Pie.”
“It’s a pecan pie, and it has a chocolate ganache drizzle on top of it,” said Oakmont Bakery owner Marc Serrao. “It’s made just like you would make it at home.”
The homemade crust is filled with chocolate chips melted into pecan pie filling, with an added layer of chocolate on top.
But if you don’t want to go to the trouble of pie crust, go with Gruss’s method and make toasted pecans, which can be glazed with a number of flavors while they’re cooking on the stovetop — she’s using maple and bourbon for hers.
Whether you’re keeping a small crowd fed or having a backyard bash to watch the race, there are nothing but winning options for what to serve on Derby Day.