My glorious and festively-bedecked Citizens – I hope your fascinators are firmly ensconced upon your heads (if you’re female) or you’re dressed in your Sunday’s best finery – because it is the start of DERBY WEEK in Kentucky! Furthermore, as a confirmed, card-carrying Kentucky Colonel, your beloved Shōgun of Showmanship has already given you a clue as to the unique nature of today’s recipe – by adding a Japanese twist to a confirmed Kentucky classic dessert of Derby Week. I speak of nothing less than the sumptuous and sinful dessert known lovingly throughout the State as derby pie!
The Kentucky Derby is always a fashion statement, as amply demonstrated in this fascinating video:
The Kentucky Derby is an American Grade I stakes race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2,012 meters), the first time horses in the field race that distance. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kilograms) and fillies 121 pounds (55 kilograms).
Held annually on the first Saturday in May, the race is the first leg of the Triple Crown. The Derby is known as “The Run for the Roses”, as the winning horse is draped in a blanket of roses. Lasting approximately two minutes, the race has also been called “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” or “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports”. It is preceded by the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival.
The race was first run in 1875. Unlike the other races of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the Kentucky Derby, along with its sibling race, the Kentucky Oaks, has been run annually since its first edition. They were twice rescheduled within the same year, the first time due to World War II in 1945, and the second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Further, the Derby and the Oaks are the oldest continuously held major sporting events in the US, as well as the oldest thoroughbred stakes races held in the same location since their beginning.
The Derby is the most-watched and most-attended horse race in the United States. The 2024 Kentucky Derby marks the 150th running of the race.
In 1872, Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England, visiting Epsom in Surrey where The Derby had been running annually since 1780. From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club in 1863. They had organized the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, which at the time was the greatest race in France.
Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club to raise money for building quality racing facilities just outside the city. The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land for the racetrack. The naming went official in 1937. The Kentucky Derby was first run at 1+1⁄2 miles (12 furlongs; 2.4 km) the same distance as the Epsom Derby, before changing lengths in 1896 to its current 1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2 km).
On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby. Under jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides, who was trained by future Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson, won the inaugural Derby. Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.
Initially a successful venue, the track ran into financial difficulties due to a protracted, gambling-related horseman boycott removing it from the upper echelons of racing that would last until the Winn era. In 1894, the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with the new capitalization and improved facilities. Despite this, the business floundered until 1902 when a syndicate led by Col. Matt Winn of Louisville acquired the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby then became the preeminent stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses in North America.
Thoroughbred owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete in two other races. These two are the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, and the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The three races offered large purses, and in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three races. However, the term Triple Crown did not come into use for another eleven years. In 1930, when Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races, sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase into American usage.
Fueled by the media, public interest in the possibility of a “superhorse” that could win the Triple Crown began in the weeks leading up to the Derby. Two years after the term went in use, the race (until that time ran in mid-May since inception) changed the date to the first Saturday in May. This change allows for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races. Since 1931, the order of Triple Crown races has been the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes.
Before 1931, eleven times the Preakness was run before the Derby. On May 12, 1917, and again on May 13, 1922, the Preakness and the Derby took place on the same day. On eleven occasions the Belmont Stakes was run before the Preakness Stakes, and in 2020, the Belmont was run first, then the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness Stakes last. On May 16, 1925, the first live radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby aired on WHAS as well as on WGN in Chicago.
On May 7, 1949, the first television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, produced by WAVE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Louisville. This coverage was aired live in the Louisville market and sent to NBC as a kinescope newsreel recording for national broadcast. On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, aired from then-CBS affiliate WHAS-TV. In 1954, the purse exceeded US$100,000 for the first time.
The fastest time ever run in the Derby was in 1973 at 1:59.4 minutes, when Secretariat broke the record set by Northern Dancer in 1964. Also during that race, Secretariat did something unique in Triple Crown races: for each successive quarter run, his times were faster. Although the races do not record times for non-winners, in 1973 Sham finished second, two and a half lengths behind Secretariat in the same race. Using the thoroughbred racing convention of one length equaling one-fifth of a second to calculate Sham’s time, he also finished in under two minutes.
Another sub-two-minute finish, only the third, was set in 2001 by Monarchos at 1:59.97, the first year the race used hundredths of seconds instead of fifths in timing. In 2005, the purse distribution for the Derby changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so. The Kentucky Derby began offering $3 million in purse money in 2019.
Churchill Downs officials have cited the success of historical race wagering terminals at their Derby City Gaming facility in Louisville as a factor behind the purse increase. The Derby first offered a $1 million purse in 1996; it was doubled to $2 million in 2005. In 2020, the Derby was postponed from May 2 to September 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the second time in history the race had been postponed, the other being in 1945.
Churchill Downs used a new singular 20-stall starting gate for the 2020 Kentucky Derby, replacing the previous arrangement that used a standard 14-stall gate and an auxiliary six-stall gate. The old setup contributed to congestion at the start of the race, especially in the gap between the two gates. In January 2024, the purse for the Kentucky Derby was increased to $5 million. The race often draws celebrities. HM Queen Elizabeth II, on a visit to the United States, joined the racegoers at Churchill Downs in 2007.
The 2004 Kentucky Derby marked the first time that jockeys —as a result of a court order— were allowed to wear corporate advertising logos on their clothing. Norman Adams has been the designer of the Kentucky Derby Logo since 2002. On February 1, 2006, the Louisville-based fast-food company Yum! Brands, Inc. announced a corporate sponsorship deal to call the race “The Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands.” In 2018 Woodford Reserve replaced Yum! Brands as the presenting sponsor.
In addition to the race itself, several traditions play a significant role in the Derby atmosphere. The mint julep—an iced drink consisting of bourbon, mint, and sugar syrup—is the traditional beverage of the race. The historic beverage comes served in an ice-frosted silver julep cup. However, most Churchill Downs patrons sip theirs from souvenir glasses (first offered in 1939 and available in revised form each year since) printed with all previous Derby winners. Also, burgoo, a thick stew of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables, is a popular Kentucky dish served at the Derby.
The infield—a spectator area inside the track—offers general admission prices but little chance of seeing much of the race, particularly before the jumbotron installation in 2014. Instead, revelers show up in the infield to party with abandon. By contrast, “Millionaire’s Row” refers to the expensive box seats that attract the rich, the famous and the well-connected. Women appear in elegant outfits lavishly accessorized with large, elaborate hats.
Following the Call to the Post played on bugle by Steve Buttleman, as the horses start to parade before the grandstands, the University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band plays Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home”. This song is a tradition which began in 1921. The event attracts spectators from a large area, flying in hundreds of private aircraft to Louisville International Airport.
The Derby is frequently referred to as “The Run for the Roses”, because a lush blanket of 554 red roses is awarded to the Kentucky Derby winner each year. The tradition originated in 1883 when New York City socialite E. Berry Wall presented roses to ladies at a post-Derby party. The Churchill Downs founder and president, Col. M. Lewis Clark, attended that event. This gesture is believed to have led Clark to the idea of making the rose the race’s official flower.
However, it was not until 1896 that any recorded account referred to draping roses on the Derby winner. The Governor of Kentucky and the Chairman of Churchill Downs Incorporated present the garland and the Kentucky Derby Trophy to the winner. Pop vocalist Dan Fogelberg composed the song “Run for the Roses”, released in time for the 1980 running of the race.
As for derby pie, it is a chocolate and walnut open-faced custard pie baked in a (pre-baked) pie shell. The pie was created in the Melrose Inn of Prospect, Kentucky, United States, by George Kern with the help of his parents, Walter and Leaudra. It is often associated with the Kentucky Derby.
Derby Pie was created in 1954 by the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky as a specialty pastry. The restaurant’s owners and derby pie creators were Walter and Leaudra Kern, who constantly researched the optimal recipe for their creation. They were assisted by their son George Kern. The name “derby pie” was chosen because the various family members each had a different name for the creation, so to resolve the naming quandary they put the various names in a hat, and pulled out the paper which said “derby pie”.
The name “derby pie” is a registered trademark of Kern’s Kitchen, which registered the name in 1968. The company uses the name in the form “DERBY-PIE” in official literature and advertisements. The recipe is kept secret, known only to a small group of Kern family members and a single Kern’s Kitchen employee (who actually mixes the recipe today). Kern’s Kitchen diligently guards the trademark and has filed more than 25 lawsuits to protect it over the years.
The makers of similar pies have had to use a different name such as “Pegasus pie”, a reference to the Pegasus Parade at the Kentucky Derby Festival, and May Day pie, in reference to the First Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby.
After leaving the Melrose Inn in 1960, the Kern family continued to make derby pie for select customers. In 1969 they trademarked the name “derby pie” to both the state government of Kentucky and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Since then, the trademark has constantly been renewed as a federally registered trademark. Alan Rupp, a grandson to Walter and Leaudra Kern, took over the derby pie business in 1973, he religiously defended the trademark.
Part of this defense includes pursuing litigation against various cookbooks that named a similar pie derby pie. A federal judge in April 1982 ruled against a local cookbook, and demanded that the cookbook be recalled so the page with the derby pie recipe could be removed.
The cooking magazine Bon Appetit won a temporary victory in May 1987 when a judge ruled the name “derby pie” generic, but the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals reversed the decision, saying the Bon Appetit magazine “failed to introduce scientific survey evidence to support their assertion that the public views ‘derby pie’ as generic”. Federal district courts have continued to side with Kern’s Kitchen in this regard. Kern’s attorney, Don Cox, estimated in 2008 that the company had sued to protect its trademark 25 times.
In May 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation inducted Kern’s Kitchen into its “Takedown Hall of Shame,” claiming that “the company behind the most litigious confection in America is going after individual websites that post new recipes for derby pies.”
DERBY-PIE owner Alan Rupp sent a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal contending that an article published in 2017 and featuring a “Derby pie” recipe “constituted a knowing infringement on its trademark.” A few weeks later the newspaper published an article on a local baker who makes macaroons with the flavor “Derby Pie,” thus prompting Mr. Rupp to file his suit in a federal court in Kentucky. The lower court dismissed all claims, writing that Mr. Rupp did “not plausibly establish that there is a risk of consumer confusion” between the trademarked DERBY-PIE and the home-made pie.
On January 11, 2021, a federal appeals court agreed, writing that “the Courier-Journal has used the phrase ‘Derby pie’ in a ‘wholly descriptive manner,’” and that “we can assuredly say that the Courier-Journal did not use ‘Derby pie’ in a trademark way.” Mr. Rupp’s lawsuit also lacked a key ingredient: similarity, the court wrote, adding that it was the man’s “own evidence” that revealed that “no reader could possibly think that a so-called ‘Derby pie’ containing bourbon and no vanilla came from the company or companies associated with DERBY-PIE.”
So, whilst it is true that this isn’t an OFFICIAL derby pie, I have given free flight to My own unmatched genius and creativity to add a few JAPANESE touches to this recipe of the Bluegrass State. There are surprising confluences between Kentucky and Japan, as noted on this text from jask.org:
The history of Kentucky bourbon in Japan dates back to the 1970s, as bourbon sales in the United States declined. During this time, American liquor companies, Schenley Industries and Brown-Forman, negotiated distribution partnerships with Suntory Holdings, Japan’s largest producer of distilled beverages. In doing so, they worked together to set up bourbon bars across the country, seeking to make customers out of Japan’s youth. Other whiskey brands followed suit and began to distribute in Japan, and soon the industry thrived once again.
American whiskey exports to Japan (of which bourbon is a significant component) were valued at over$89 million in 2021, highlighting just how large the market has grown.
Japanese and American distilleries have a history of collaboration with one another. In 2002, the Tokyo-based Kirin Brewing Company, Ltd. purchased Four Roses Bourbon. More recently Suntory Holdings acquired Beam, Inc., creating Beam Suntory in 2014. The latter, American-founded but a subsidiary of a Japanese multinational, now employs 4,800 employees around the world and produces six kinds of bourbon and six kinds of Japanese whisky for American and Japanese markets alike.
Though differing work cultures initially caused strains between Suntory and Beam, the acquisition has strongly benefited both producers. Sales of Jim Beam bourbon increased by nearly 1400% in Japan between 2012 and 2015, and Beam Suntory controlled 19% of the American whisky market by 2016. Beam Suntory has also produced some of the most innovative whiskies in recent years. For example, in 2019 Beam Suntory released Legent Bourbon, a bourbon produced using Jim Beam’s standard mash bill (the mix of grains used to produce bourbon) while using different cask finishes to create a blended beverage.
Traditionally, bourbon is not blended in the United States, while Japanese whisky lacks a mash bill. As such, both the Japanese and American sides of the company learned from one another and created a new beverage that pushes of the boundaries of both regions’ production traditions.
Though they are separated by great distance, American and Japanese distilleries have learned much from each other’s whisky production processes. Strong American bourbon sales in Japan and a growing interest in Japanese whisky in the United States are testaments to the strength of this relationship. Only time will tell how this relationship develops in the future, but one thing is certain: a passion for fine distilled spirits has become a cornerstone of Kentucky-Japan relations.
As such, I feel the bond between My adopted State and My adopted country are balanced into a perfected Yin/Yang balance, and trust Me – the changes I made are subtle, yet profound (to quote the favored compliment in Iron Chef Japan!) and raise this deserved classic recipe to new heights of gustatory revelation! Since the original pie is a trade secret (much like oysters Rockefeller), NO ONE can claim an exact derby pie recipe – so mine is as canonical as any other copycat recipe. Remember this before you cast aspersions on My changes and casting the first stone, please!
For starters, I call for My own special malted pie crust – the recipe for which you can find here. Instead of classic American brown sugar, I instead call for a blend of kuruzato brown sugar from Okinawa (the best in the World, IMHO) – you can buy it here – along with a kuruzato syrup blend to refine the texture of the pie. I do like bourbon in My derby pie, and only one brand will do – the OFFICIAL brand of the Kentucky Derby, Woodford Reserve! I strongly prefer the “double oaked” variant with its richer flavor profile, which you can buy from here.
Vanilla is a key flavor in My version, and I un-ironically call for Bourbon vanilla bean paste – no, it’s not soaked in bourbon! Bourbon Vanilla draws its name from the former Ile Bourbon, now La Réunion. It designates the Vanilla planifolia grown on the islands of the Indian Ocean, where it was acclimatized in the mid-19th century. The vanilla orchid vine thrives in hot, humid climate from sea level to an elevation of 1,500 meters.
This version has the perfect flavor profile for My adaptations of the recipe, and using it in paste form really amps up the flavor even more – buy it from here. The best raw walnuts are a MUST in this recipe, as they’re the backbone flavor of the pie – these are the best, I assure you.
These last two changes are what REALLY make this a Japanese-influenced take on the recipe – hear me out before passing judgment on My orthodoxy (or heterodoxy, as it were). The original recipe calls for some Kosher salt – I have instead replaced that with some Kentucky soy sauce – yes, that’s a thing and it’s frankly better than 85% of the Japanese soy sauces I’ve ever tasted! Soy sauce adds an indefinable umami quality to the pie and no, you can’t taste it’s in there. Buy the soy sauce from here.
I also (again in place of the salt) use a TOUCH of Japanese white miso, the mildest miso you can buy – once more, it adds umami and you won’t taste ANY miso in the pie, I promise you. Again, it’s just a superior way of salting the pie filling. I also add a small amount of cream to the filling to smooth it out and balance all the flavors to My complete satisfaction. Given that this is a baking recipe, all My measurements are precise and thus in Metric as opposed to Imperial units (you can use the conversion button in the recipe to switch back and forth as needed).
Citizens, this will assuredly be the finest version of “Derby Pie” you will ever have the good fortune of sampling (outside of the original, of course!) – I wish you “bon chance” if you’re gambling on the Derby itself and I will see you there, as I observe the event from Millionaire’s Row with My peers and those of My inner cadre of Citizens Prime!
Battle on- the Generalissimo
PrintThe Hirshon Kentucky Colonel “Derby” Pie – via Japan
Ingredients
- 1 Hirshon Vavavoom pie crust (for a single crust pie) or a disc of pre-made pie dough, if you must
- 42 g all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
- 2 1/2 cups coarsely-chopped raw walnuts
- ***
- Okinawan brown sugar syrup (kuruzato)
- 200 g Okinawan brown sugar
- 200 ml bottled water
- ***
- Egg mixture, combine all ingredients thoroughly:
- 4 large chicken eggs or duck eggs (duck eggs strongly preferred as they are richer)
- 1 cup Okinawan brown sugar syrup (kuruzato) (TFD change, replace with dark brown sugar for original)
- 1/4 cup Okinawan brown sugar (previously broken into small grains in a food processor) (can be replaced with dark brown sugar)
- 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted – TFD prefers KerryGold brand
- 1 Tbsp. organic heavy cream, preferably from a Jersey cow (TFD change, original was 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted)
- 3 Tbsp. Woodford Reserve double oaked bourbon
- 1 Tbsp. Bourbon vanilla paste – bourbon is the type, not IN bourbon the booze! (TFD change, original was vanilla extract)
- 1/2 Tbsp. Kentucky bourbon-barrel aged soy sauce (TFD heretical change, original was Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
- 1/2 Tbsp. white miso (TFD heretical change, original was Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
- ***
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided – TFD strongly prefers chopped-up Dove Promises dark chocolate
- flaky sea salt
- fresh whipped cream
- a leaf of spearmint, preferably the Kentucky Colonel varietal
Instructions
- Make the Kurozato or Okinawan sugar syrup: In a pan, put Kurozato and water, and soak for a while to break the sugar up easily. Mix with water with a spatula and turn the heat on medium. Bring to the boil then turn the heat to low, and remove the impurities off with a ladle. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge.
- Make and roll out pie crust, on a lightly floured surface. Wrap dough around rolling pin and transfer to a standard 9″-diameter pie pan. Unfurl into dish, then lift edges and allow dough to slump down into dish. Trim overhang to about 1½”. Fold overhang under so crust is flush with edges of pan and crimp as desired with lightly floured fingers.
- Set pan on a rimmed baking sheet and prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork in several places. Freeze, uncovered, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
- Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 400°. Line crust with a sheet of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake crust, tenting edges with foil if browning too quickly, until edges are set and look dry, 20–25 minutes.
- Carefully lift out parchment paper and weights and continue baking crust, gently pressing bottom and sides occasionally with a flat-bottomed measuring cup if puffing up, until bottom looks dry and is golden, 20–25 minutes more.
- Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
- Toast coarsely chopped raw walnuts on same baking sheet, tossing halfway through, until darkened in color and fragrant, 12–16 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet.
- Scatter ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips or pieces over cooled crust. Pour egg mixture into crust, filling only 80% full. (Depending on the size of your pan you might have excess filling. If so, you can bake it in a ramekin on the side.)
- Scatter remaining ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips or pieces over filling and place pie on a clean baking sheet.
- Bake pie, rotating halfway through and tenting edges with foil if they start to get too dark, until filling does not jiggle when tapped and feels firm to the touch, 25–35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let pie cool. Transfer pan to fridge and chill pie 1 hour.
- Sprinkle pie with flaky sea salt if desired. Serve slices topped with whipped cream if desired.Do Ahead: Pie can be baked 2 days ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature after chilling. If using, sprinkle with salt and top with whipped cream just before serving.
Leave a Reply