I was overjoyed that Chef Ouita Michel, one of the very first guests on the podcast, agreed to have me over to Holly Hill Inn to talk about her new cookbook, Just A Few Miles South, which has just been released from the University Press of Kentucky. It’s a beautiful book, and you’ll want to pick up a copy. You can get a signed copy directly from Chef Ouita at her website. Just check show notes for a link.   Chef Ouita and I also discuss what she’s learned from the lockdowns, the challenges of finding staff for her restaurants, and some changes she thinks will stick even after all the restrictions are over. Plus, Chef Ouita reveals what her next book will be.   Order Just a Few Miles South from ouitamichel.com  Chef Ouita Michel website | Instagram | Twitter    Follow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter Email Alan with questions

Eat Kentucky: A Southern Food Podcast

EK 25 - Chef Ouita Michel & 'Just A Few Miles South'

Vivian and I discuss the response to her “pickle” episode of Somewhere South in which she visited Kentucky. Also, when I spoke with Vivian in the spring the pandemic lockdowns were just beginning. She and I discuss the impact on her own restaurants, and what changes she believes will be here to stay.Plus, we discuss her new cookbook ‘This Will Make It Taste Good,’ out just in time for holiday gift buying…as well as holiday cooking. This new cookbook is a radical departure from her first cookbook ‘Deep Run Roots.’A special thank you to Luciana Salame and Andrea Weigl. This Will Make It Taste GoodHandy & HotVivian Howard Website | Instagram | FacebookA Chef's Life/Somewhere South Instagram | FacebookPBS Somewhere South Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 24 - This Will Make It Taste Good - Vivian Howard Returns!

It’s Kentucky Derby Week, so it must be September! As crazy as that sounds, that’s the reality we have in 2020—a Kentucky Derby on Labor Day weekend with no spectators.But that’s not what we expected at the beginning of the year. We all thought there would be a Kentucky Derby in May like there was supposed to be. With that in mind, I scheduled an interview with Churchill Downs Executive Chef David Danielson early in the year knowing as May approached he would be far too busy.This was an interview you were supposed to hear in April.I met Chef Danielson at the Old Stone Inn & Tavern, a two hundred year old structure in Simpsonville in Shelby County that he began running in 2018. With no consciousness of Covid-19 or the pandemic world that was ahead of us, Chef Danielson and I discussed the Old Stone Inn, his background of training in France and working at the Ritz, and how he eventually came to Churchill Downs. We also discussed his upcoming work at the Tokyo Olympics.This interview is a look back into an alternate universe 2020. The way 2020 was supposed to be. Of course, there was no Derby in May. There were no Tokyo Olympic games this summer. And sadly, the Old Stone Inn & Tavern has now closed. In 2020 it’s impossible to escape everything we’ve lost.Chef David Danielson Twitter | Instagram  Follow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 23 - The Derby That Should Have Been - Chef David Danielson of Churchill Downs

It’s August, so that means it must be time to think about the Kentucky Derby! Only in 2020 could that statement make any kind of sense.But it’s likely you won’t be going to the Derby, because very few can this year. It’s the perfect time to have a Derby party at home. Today’s guest has written the book on Derby parties. Peggy Noe Stevens’ has co-written a new book with Susan Reigler called ‘Which Fork Do I use With My Bourbon?’ and there is an entire chapter on Derby Parties.Peggy Noe Stevens is a bourbon tourism pioneer who helped come up with the very idea for the wildly popular Kentucky Bourbon Trail and implement it. She has also been an advocate for women in bourbon and is founder of the group Bourbon Women. In fact, the virtual 2020 Bourbon Women SIP Summer Series begins this week on August 20. You can register for free at EventBrite.Peggy and I discuss her new book, the impact of the pandemic on the bourbon industry, what she thinks the future holds for Kentucky bourbon tourism, and she gives us a few tips for our own Derby parties. Plus, Peggy shares the story of welcoming the legendary Julia Child to Kentucky and teaching her about Kentucky’s native spirit as well as how she introduced celebrity chef Bobby Flay to bourbon. Also, Peggy discusses the strides women have made in bourbon and the next doors that need to be opened.Which Fork Do I Use With My Bourbon?Peggy Noe Stevens Website | Instagram | Facebook | TwitterBourbon WomenSip Summer Series Registration Follow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app. 

EK 22 - Which Fork Do I Use With My Bourbon? - Peggy Noe Stevens

Alex Francke is a former Miss Teen Kentucky and also a graduate of the University of Kentucky who is in the unique position of being the only two term Miss Kentucky.She talks about her unique role as a spokesperson for Kentucky agriculture and Kentucky proud, her travels overseas including the foods she loved, as well as the challenges of her own diet restrictions. Alex also shares her favorite Lexington restaurants. Plus, Alex discusses her plans for when she sets the Miss Kentucky crown aside.I want to extend a special thank you to Caroline Paulus and Justins House of Bourbon for allowing me to use their space in downtown Lexington to record this episode. Miss Kentucky Official Site | Instagram | Facebook Alex Francke Instagram | YouTubeAdopt An Art Official Site | Instagram Follow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app. 

EK 21 - The Royal Treatment - Miss Kentucky Alex Francke

Eat Kentucky welcomes back Adrian Miller, James Beard Award winning author of Soul Food. If you haven’t listened to EK Episode 17 where Adrian and I talk about Chef Dolly Johnson, an African-American White House chef from Lexington, I would encourage you to do so. There we also explore Adrian’s background and discuss his books.I asked Adrian to come back on the podcast to discuss his article about Louisville barbecue pit master and restaurateur David McAtee, who was killed during this summer’s Louisville protests. We discuss his legacy and the McAtee Community Kitchen from the Lee Initiative that he inspired.Also, one of the recent brand reassessments from this summer has led to the retiring of the Aunt Jemima brand. That, too, has a Kentucky connection, as the first person to assume the Aunt Jemima role was Nancy Green from Montgomery County, Kentucky.Adrian offers his insight and expertise in recognizing both of these Kentucky culinary figures.Please take a moment to subscribe to the Eat Kentucky podcast, and to leave a 5 star rating.  Adrian Miller Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter'David McAtee Represented the Best of African-American Barbecue Culture''A Louisville Community Kitchen Aims to Heal a Divide. Its Best Known Chef and a Rising Star Are Behind It.'The Lee Initiative: McAtee Community Kitchen Follow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.  

EK 20 - A Summer of Unrest - Adrian Miller Returns

We are celebrating National Ice Cream month in July. I was able to travel to Versailles to speak with Beth Richardson of Spotz Gelato. Spotz started as a food truck, but blossomed into brick and mortar locations now in three Central Kentucky towns plus a semi-permanent food truck location in Lexington.Beth and I discuss the early beginnings of Spotz, how a group of singers helped her get her flavors just right, why small historic Kentucky towns are the right fit for Spotz, the Central American Spotz location you’ll want to visit, plus just what is the difference between ice cream and gelato, anyway?Spotz Website | Instagram | Facebook Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 19 - Spotz Gelato - An Interview With Beth Richardson

Professor David Shields is the Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina. He is also a lost food discoverer and preservationist—a Southern food archaeologist.Dr. Shields is the author of numerous books, including Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine, and The Culinarians: Lives and Careers From the First Age of Fine Dining. Next year his book Taste the State will be published by the University of South Carolina Press.David is Chairman of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, which has helped restore many of the key ingredients of the cuisine of the Carolina Low Country and the South as a whole. He has been awarded the Keeper of the Flame Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance and was a finalist for a James Beard Award.David and I talk about his childhood in Japan, a surprising connection to the CIA, and his reaction to tasting frosted flakes for the first time.Plus, we take a deep dive on lost and rediscovered ingredients with a Kentucky connection including the legendary Dyehouse cherry, lost for generations but rediscovered on a farm near Somerset with a little bit of help from Eat Kentucky.David Shields FacebookTEDx Talk: Bringing Good Taste Back Into Southern Kitchens, by David ShieldsSearch for the elusive Dyehouse cherry comes 'home' to the Bluegrass State, by Alan Cornett Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 18 - The Indiana Jones of Southern Food - Prof. David Shields

Adrian Miller, the Soul Food Scholar, is a Denver, Colorado based James Beard Award winning author and food historian as well as a certified barbecue judge and former White House advisor to President Bill Clinton.In this episode Adrian and I talk about Lexington, Kentucky chef Dolly Johnson, an African-American White House chef for two presidents and who was discovered by a young Theodore Roosevelt. Much about Dolly remains cloaked in mystery, but she was in high demand in the highest halls of power. But she left all of that to return to her home in Kentucky.Adrian writes about her in his book The President’s Kitchen Cabinet. He and I discuss White House chefs as well as the idea of Soul Food, the subject of his James Beard award winning book.Plus, Adrian and I discuss barbecue and his time in Bill Clinton’s White House. Adrian Miller Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter'African American Cooks In the White House: Hiding In Plain Sight', by Adrian MillerAdrian Miller on Somewhere South with Vivian Howard video clipSupport Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 17 - Hello, Chef Dolly! - Adrian Miller, The Soul Food Scholar

Marianne Eaves made bourbon history when she left Brown Forman and was named master distiller of Castle & Key Distillery in 2015, making her the first female master distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition. A year ago Eaves shocked the bourbon industry when she resigned from the Woodford Country distillery to pursue other opportunities.In this episode I catch up with Marianne Eaves and find out what has happened over the past year. The answer includes a circus, Broadway, and a new baby. Plus, Marianne and I discuss her visits to distilleries around the country, a deep dive on small barrels, and what bottle Marianne would pick from the store shelves.Marianne Eaves Website | Instagram | FacebookBroadway TED Talk  Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 16 - Life's a Circus - Marianne Eaves, Kentucky's First Female Master Distiller

This episode’s guest is not only a restaurateur, but also the founder and host of Kentucky Sports Radio, Matt Jones. He is the co-author, along with Chris Tomlin, of the New York Times Bestselling book Mitch, Please, which is not only a tour of all 120 Kentucky counties, but a critique of Kentucky’s longtime United States Senator Mitch McConnell, as well as an autobiographical recounting of Jones’s decision of whether or not to challenge the Senate Majority Leader.Matt and I take a deep dive into his book, discuss frustrations with the political process, and also three recurring characters in the narrative: New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate candidate Amy McGrath, and a mysterious figure we only know as The Tracker.Plus, we discuss how restaurants such as his sports bar KSBar are doing during the current shutdown, prospects for reopening restaurants, the great East-West restaurant divide that he discovered during his tour of Kentucky, and, of course, whether or not sports will come back soon.Matt Jones Twitter | InstagramMitch, Please, published by Simon & SchusterKentucky Sports Radio Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app. 

EK 15 - Matt On Mitch - Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio

The Southern Foodways Alliance was founded two decades ago by John T. Edge in Oxford, Mississippi as part of the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Their mission is to document, study, and explore the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. The SFA hosts and sponsors events and seminars, produces documentaries, publishes a regular journal called Gravy, as well as producing a Gravy podcast.Co-hosting that podcast is Melissa Booth Hall who serves as managing director of the SFA and who originally hails from Middlesboro, Kentucky. Melissa is a graduate of Centre College and the Chase School of Law, but decided Southern food was a lot more fulfilling.In this episode, Melissa and I discuss the state of restaurants in the South during the pandemic shutdown and how people are coming together to help restaurant workers, including through the Lee Initiative from right here in Kentucky.Melissa discusses her work with the SFA, how she went from Middlesboro High School to Oxford, Mississippi, and how she honed her kitchen skills by cooking through Southern Living magazine. Plus, Melissa and I commiserate about the loss of March Madness for Kentuckians, and we have a  flashback to 1980s 13th Region high school basketball.Southern Foodways Alliance Website | Instagram | Facebook | TwitterGravy PodcastThe Lee InitiativeSave Local Restaurants Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 14 - Southern Foodways - Melissa Booth Hall

Chef Vivian Howard’s new show Somewhere South recently debuted on PBS stations across the country. The show is her follow up to the wildly popular series A Chef’s Life. Chef Howard was the first woman to win a Peabody award for a cooking show since Julia Child, and she was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award’s Best Chef Southeast five consecutive times.Somewhere South takes Chef Vivian to different Southern locations where she investigates dishes that are universal to all cultures. In the fourth episode of the series, Vivian’s exploration of pickles brings her to Kentucky, where she visits Lexington, Woodford County, and Whitesburg. Along the way Vivian is guided by Chef Sam Fore, who you can hear discuss the visit in episode 9. Sam takes her to visit Woodford Reserve Distillery as well as to see Smithtown Seafood’s Chef Agnes Marrero. Then Lora Smith of the Appalachian Impact Fund takes Vivian to Letcher County where Regina Niece and Carolyn Sturgill show how they make chow-chow at the CANE Kitchen in Whitesburg.In this episode, Vivian Howard and I discuss her new show and her visit to Kentucky. She tells about her first visit to a holler, her unexpected run-in with an Osage orange, as well as her first visit to a Kentucky distillery. We also chat about the group Brown in the South, and Louisville Chef Edward Lee’s appearance on the Dumpling episode of Somewhere South. Also, Vivian and I talk about the situation facing restaurants during the current shutdown, which was just beginning when she and I spoke.A special thank you to Andrea Weigl.Vivian Howard Website | Instagram | FacebookA Chef's Life/Somewhere South Instagram | FacebookCane KitchenTuk Tuk Sri Lankan BitesBrown In the South Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app. 

EK 13 - Somewhere South - Chef Vivian Howard

This episode’s guest is someone many of you are familiar with from Bravo’s Top Chef Season 16, which featured Kentucky locations and ingredients.Chef Sara Bradley operates the Freight House in Paducah, Kentucky, a farm to table restaurant that also features one of the top rated bourbon bars in the country. Sara discusses her busy travel schedule, the fun of being a new mom, and her decision to pursue the culinary arts after finishing UK. Plus, Sara pulls back the curtain on being on Top Chef, the pressure she felt as the hometown chef in season 16, and why she turned down a spot on the new Top Chef season. Sara also shares her favorite bourbon picks and how pregnancy has expanded her palate to include a new spirit that’s not from Kentucky.All that, and why she never wanted to move back to Paducah, but now says it’s “Paducah forever!”Chef Sara Bradley Instagram | FacebookThe Freight House Website | Instagram | FacebookTop Chef Season 16Garden & Gun: An Angel's Share In Kentucky Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app. 

EK 12 - Paducah Forever! - Chef Sara Bradley of The Freight House

For this episode I traveled to the town square in Bardstown, Kentucky and visited Chef Newman Miller at the Harrison-Smith house, a 240 year old structure that now serves as a private event space. You may have seen Chef Miller on season 16 of Top Chef when the popular show visited Maker’s Mark distillery, where Newman serves as chef at Maker’s Star Hill Provisions. Newman was also recently on the SEC Network’s TrueSouth when John T. Edge visited Hodgenville, Kentucky. Newman and I discuss his time growing up in Washington County, his first job at Louisville’s Brown Hotel, his time in Scotland, and what eventually brought him back to Kentucky. Also, Newman explains the opportunities that exist in Kentucky’s growing food and hospitality scene. Plus we talk about Laha's burgers in Hodgenville, Jake’s 150 Sausage, and how he tries to carry on the legacy of Hooker & Sparky’s fried chicken. I also get Newman—who goes by "bourbon and ham" on social media—to give me his every day recommendations for the bourbon shopper. You may even get some hot brown tips for your own kitchenAnd there’s plenty more—you’ll have fun listening to Chef Newman Miller of Star Hill Provisions at Maker’s Mark Distillery.Chef Newman MillerInstagram | TwitterHarrison-Smith House | FacebookStar Hill Provisions at Maker's MarkInstagram | Facebook True South Top Chef Kentucky, Episode 2Courier-Journal: Top Chef wanted an iconic Kentucky meal. This is the chef who made it. Support Eat Kentucky on Patreon for bonuses and previewsFollow Eat Kentucky: Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEmail Alan with questionsIf you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Lexington area, download Alan Cornett's free real estate app.

EK 11 - Bourbon & Ham - Chef Newman Miller of Maker's Mark

An exploration and celebration of Kentucky food and culture with host Alan Cornett.

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Eat Kentucky: A Southern Food Podcast

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