CHILI BOURBON WHISKEY BALLS
2 pounds fully cooked boneless ham (I use ham steaks)
1/2 pound boneless pork chop
1/2 pound bacon
1 cup Panko crumbs
1 cup whole milk
2 LARGE eggs, beaten

• Cut ham, pork chop and bacon into bite size pieces less than 1 inch.
• Transfer to a jelly roll pan and freeze for 30-60 minutes.**
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Coarsely grind meat from freezer into a medium mixing bowl.
• Whisk together the milk and eggs.
• Add bread crumbs to milk mixture until well blended and absorbed.
• Lightly combine pork and bread crumb mixture until consistent.
• Shape into golf ball sized balls.

**NOTE Freezing before grinding does two things 1) the meat retains its moisture and 2) the machine won’t clog up during the grinding process.

SAUCE
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup Bourbon (I have also been known to use SEAGRAMS which what we usually have on hand)
2 tablespoons chili sauce

• Whisk together all ingredients and bring to a SLOW boil.
• Pour off 1 cup of sauce for reserve and keep warm or reheat just before serving.
• Add ham balls to remaining sauce and gently stir to coat for a couple minutes.
• Remove ham balls from sauce pan to baking rack inside jelly roll pan.
• Bake 30 minutes, brushing occasionally with sauce from sauce pan.
• Serve with reserved sauce.

NOTE: This recipe is ALSO good with beef meatballs.

BOURBON VS. WHISKEY – What is the difference?  This is something I always wondered about and my dad used to use them fairly interchangeable, but I never knew for sure so decided it was time to look it up.  It’s pretty interesting so I thought I’d share what I found with you.

Bourbon’s origin is not well documented with many conflicting claims and legends, not all credible. While bourbon is credited back to the French originally, American Bourbon has many rules that distinguish it from all others. Despite the 95 years of no bourbon production in Bourbon county originally due to first prohibition until a small refinery opened in 2014, it is still the best known area for bourbon production.

Bourbon is a corn base whiskey. By U.S. standards it must contain a minimum of 51% of corn, be produced entirely in the U.S., be aged in NEW charred oak barrels, and be distilled at specific volumes, aged at specific volumes and bottled at specific volumes.

In 1964 the United States Congress adopted a concurrent resolution that declared bourbon be a “distinctive product of the United States”. They asked that the United States agencies to take action to prohibit the importation into the U.S. of any whiskey designated as bourbon whiskey.

Legal Definitions of Bourbon vary from country to country, but many trade agreements require the name bourbon to be reserved for only those products made in the U.S.. The U.S. labeling and advertising regulations only apply for the products made for the U.S. and do not apply to those made for export.

There is no specific duration for the aging of Bourbon with the exception of STRAIGHT bourbon. Straight bourbon has a minimum aging of two years and if aged for less than four years must include a statement of age on the label when called STRAIGHT bourbon. STRAIGHT bourbon can also have NO added coloring, flavoring or other spirits. Using added colorings, flavorings or other spirits is BLENDED. Blended bourbon must contain at least 51% STRAIGHT bourbon.

Since the barrels can only be used once in order to call it bourbon, they are sold off to foreign distilleries to be used to produce other products. Often they are sold to Canada, the Caribbean, Scotland, Ireland and Mexico for manufacturing other barrel-aged products such as barbecue sauce,, wine, beer, hot sauces and other spirits. These barrels are saturated with 2-3 (sometimes up to 10) gallons of bourbon still which can influence the flavorings.

Whiskey, also spelled whisky has a debatable history. Despite all the debate it seems to boil down to regional language issues. The spelling whiskey is common in Ireland and the United states while the spelling whisky is used in most other countries.

Whiskey is generally aged in charred white oak wooden casks and is made of fermented grain mash (generally a combination of barley, corn, rye and wheat) which can also be malted after first being distilled in a copper vat. The copper removes the sulfur based compounds that give it an unpleasant flavor. While there are a variety of different still types today, they still have copper innards to remove the unpleasant sulfur based toxins.

After distillation whiskies are aged in wooden casks of primarily American and French oaks. Whiskies undergo a six point process that contributes to its final flavor. The six processes are extraction, evaporation, oxidation, concentration, filtration and colouration.

In order to use the term scotch whiskey, it must be distilled in Scotland.

Whiskey, like bourbon is strictly regulated throughout the world with typical unifying characteristics regarding the classes and types of fermentation of the grains, distillation and aging in wooden barrels.

Chemical distilling itself dates bake for certain to the Greeks. Much of early distillation was not for alcohol, but for medicines. In the 15th century distillation processes spread to Ireland and Scotland where the practice of medicinal distillation spread into alcohol distillation by monasteries. When King Henry the VIII dissolved the monasteries (1536-1541) Whisky production moved from a monastic setting to residential and farm settings as the monks, newly independent people now needed a way to earn money.

Early whisky was not allowed to age and was a brutal tasting spirit as it was very potent and not diluted. Over time whisky has become a much smoother spirit as it is now aged and diluted.

As with all things, whisky became considerably more taxed when England and Scotland were merged in 1707 by the Acts of Union. By 1725 most of Scotland’s distillation was shut down or forced underground because of the high taxation. They were known to hide scotch whisky in coffins, under altars and any available hidden space to avoid the revenuers. It was at this point that whisky became known as moonshine as distillers took to preparing and operating their stills at night when the smoke could be hidden in the darkness.

During the American Revolutionary war whisky was used as currency. George Washington himself operated a large distillery at Mt. Vernon.

There is still much taxation worldwide on both the distillation and purchase of whiskies.

During the American Prohibition 1920-1933 all alcohol was banned with the exception of whisky that was prescribed by a doctor and sold through a licensed pharmacy. I’m sure Walgreens is VERY thankful for this as their chain grew from 20 stores to over 400 stores.

So as you can see, it is all as clear as mud! So ALL bourbons are whiskeys, but not all whiskeys are bourbon.

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