What do you think of when you think of Kentucky? Photograph: Katherine Rose
Think of Kentucky and what springs to mind? Bourbon? Horse racing? Grits? Fried chicken? It's fried chicken, isn't it. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Sanders' finger lickin' good franchise. Visit Kentucky, however, and you may meet another colonel: Colonel Michael Masters, a Southern gentleman making waves with slow food in a state long associated with its faster counterpart.
The Colonel, as he is inevitably known, and his wife Margaret Sue host the Kentucky Bourbon Cooking School and tonight he's talking me through the original American spirit - bourbon. I've rehearsed the drill at the nearby Heaven Hill distillery: nose, look for colour, oggle the legs. "Your nose is about 100 times smarter than your mouth so stick your nose right in," says the Colonel. "Pick up the notes ... then, like we do in Kentucky, take a good long drink!"
Around 95% of all bourbon is made in Kentucky, a legacy of the Irish and Scottish settlers who crossed the Alleghenies after the American revolution. they found a new frontier rich in sun and limestone water, perfect for barley, wheat and corn, and whiskey. most unaged spirit went through Bourbon county, hence the name. There are stricter rules nowadays: bourbon must be distilled from a grain mixture at least 51% corn at no more than 160 proof (80% alcohol by volume) and contain no added colouring or flavouring. It's then aged for at least two years in virgin oak barrels, charred on the inside to varying degrees.
The Colonel offers me a Knob Creek, then a Basil Hayden, a smooth introduction to bourbon, and a sip of Elijah Craig, an 18-year single barrel. Then there's a mint julep - sugar, water, mint and bourbon - a Kentucky institution. "Cocktails should always be strong - who wants a wussy cocktail," he says. "This is 'simple syrup': sugar and water. Put some mint in - I like a minty simple syrup. you want the mint to marry the bourbon, so add a sprig. Don't bruise it, be romantic. It's a romantic drink."
So what is Kentucky cuisine? "It's pork chops on the grill, with bourbon; oh my. during the season, wild game, beef tenderloin; we do it medium rare. We do a lot with old country ham; ham put on salt and aged for up to two years." and fried chicken? "The essence of Southern cooking is grilling, not frying. Especially barbecuing, it's huge here." There's fried catfish, too, and green beans, country ham, cheese grits (not nice, but when is polenta nice?), fried green tomatoes (very tasty), and hickory smoked barbecues, using mutton.
At nearby Kurtz, a family-run restaurant since the 1930s, baking dominates, but I'm here to sample fried chicken. "Kentucky fried chicken?" I ask. "No, skillet fried chicken, homemade, slow," stamps the owner. it was good, with mash potato, the ubiquitous Southern gravy (milk, butter, flour, salt and pepper), beetroot, 'slaw (with vinegar, not mayo) and skillet-fried cornbread (sweet and heavy).
I still felt I couldn't leave Kentucky without visiting the place where KFC started. in Corbin in the state's eastern mountains Harland Sanders ran a travel lodge, gas station and kitchen where he experimented with ways to fast-cook chicken in a pressure fryer for hurried travellers. There's a small museum there now at Sanders' Cafe, now a normal KFC; the old kitchen, utensils, back office, Wurlitzer and cash register used in the 1930s. All very interesting and with reassuringly familiar, tasty fried chicken, but I know which colonel's hospitality I prefer.
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