The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook
By Albert W.A. Schmid
University Press of Kentucky, 139 pages, $24.95
 
 
Let's not get carried away. First and foremost, bourbon is a drink. Indeed, if apple pie is the quintessential American dessert, bourbon has to be the ultimate American booze, invented here—in 18th-century Bourbon County, Ky.- And still subject to strict purity laws.
 
The liquor's only permitted ingredients are pure water and a base of at least 51% corn mash {the remainder is malt and rye}. No caramel coloring or other additive is allowed; bourbon's hue, flavor and bouquet all come from its simple, natural ingredients and its aging in wooden casks. And if it isn't distilled in the U.S., it isn't legally bourbon.
 
While many scotch lovers shun bourbon on account of its sweeter flavor, this very sweetness makes it a useful flavoring agent in a far wider range of foods than its drier, smokier Celtic cousins. Southern cuisine has long drawn on bourbon, especially for simple glazes, barbecue sauces and desserts.
 
But as Louisiana-bred chef Albert Schmid proves in this brief but versatile collection of recipes; The old Southern stand-bys are only the beginning. After warming up his readers with recipes for 20 different bourbon-based cocktails and punches; Mr. Schmid brings out an array of appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes, main courses {among them Kentucky Bourbon Glazed Pork Tenderloin} and desserts; All containing at least trace amounts of bourbon.
 
There is no culinary showboating here; All the recipes are straightforward, are easy to prepare, and involve readily available ingredients. As with most good home cooking; The emphasis is not on the painstaking or the exotic.. but on easy prep and easy eating. The recipes lean heavily on bourbon-friendly foodstuffs {e.g., pork, apples, brown sugar and cream}.
 
Sometimes, as with his banana flambé, Mr. Schmid expands his repertoire by taking a traditional recipe that involves alcohol—in this case, brandy—and substituting bourbon, to good effect. There are even times when the application of bourbon to an old standard like blueberry-pancake sauce, may help brighten your morning.
 
The clumsiest kitchen hands should have no trouble following Mr. Schmid's instructions for "Kentucky Breakfast." The recipe calls for "1 steak, 1 quart of bourbon, 1 man and 1 dog." The man then "throws the steak to the dog and drinks the bourbon."