Bourbon balls not your thing? Try a Derby Pie instead, a fudge-sweet chocolate and nut confection invented at Prospect, Kentucky's Melrose Inn. Traditionally served around Derby time, the treat typically calls for walnuts or pecans and a splash of Kentucky bourbon. The Inn's former owners, the Kerns, have been trying to protect its rights to the name "Derby Pie" by filing various lawsuits over the years - even Bon Appetit was no match for the Kerns, losing the right to print recipes using the name in 1987. So if you're looking for a good recipe you may need to try searching "chocolate chess pie" or "Kentucky bourbon pie" or "Thoroughbred pie" instead.

Epicurious has a nice-looking one, for a "chocolate pecan chess pie." I'm planning on making two a little later, to take to a Derby party this afternoon. Now, all I need is a giant hat...

Lisa, over at My Own Sweet Thyme, has a lovely post with a recipe about her aunt's "brownie pie" - supposedly her aunt once worked for the Kerns and was afraid of being sued!

Is there a less appetizingly named food than the 'Hot Brown?' Louisville, Kentucky's culinary claim to fame doesn't look like much either - an open-faced turkey sandwich topped with bacon and smothered in Sauce Mornay (Béchamel with cheese), it resembles nothing so much as a junkyard covered in a layer of dirty snow, bits of this and that sticking out from the off-colored drifts.

The inelegant Hot Brown was born at downtown Louisville's thoroughly opulent Brown Hotel, supposedly whipped up from kitchen leftovers after a 1920s dinner dance, when hungry flappers fell upon the chef like a pack of wolves. If you're looking for an easy treat for your pre-Derby lunch, check out the original recipe on the Brown Hotel website. Feel free to substitute ham for the bacon, or add tomatoes, onions, etc.

Here's a trivia question: In which state is the Kentucky Derby held?

Unfortunately, if you said California, you're wrong. It's Kentucky!

The Kentucky Derby takes place tomorrow, May 6 at Churchill Downs, and with the run for the roses, many other long-standing traditions will be observed. Lovely ladies will be sipping on mint juleps and if you're lucky, you'll get to eat a slice of Derby Pie. But be warned, just because the pie is made with chocolate and pecans and served on Derby Day doesn't mean you can call it a Derby Pie.

Derby Pie is a registered trademark of Kern's Kitchen. The pie was created as a specialty pastry in 1968 at the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky. Today, Kern's Kitchen is the only company that can bake and sell the pie as "Derby Pie."

On May 6, the Kentucky Derby will be pouring $1,000 mint juleps for the first 50 people to lay down the cash. The money will go toward a charity for retired racehorses.

Mint juleps have been synonymous with the Kentucky Derby for decades. Race-goers traditionally sip the drink from silver or pewter cups. The $1000 mint julep will be served in a gold-plated cup with a silver straw. The mint is from Morocco, ice from the Arctic circle, and bourbon from one of the state's finest producers, Woodford Reserve.

Now all they need to do is serve a $10,000 slice of Derby Pie.

[Photo Woodford Reserve]