Beyond Innocence Bourbon-Sage Chicken Pot Pies

OMG A BEYOND BOOK WITH FOOD IN IT.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system right up front. I'll explain in a bit.

The Beyond series is a long-running Kit Rocha series and these aren't standalone books so forgive me if you haven't read any of them. You'll just have to go back to the beginning and read at least all the main novels, but that shouldn't be a hardship as I think these books are terrific and the first one is usually free at most ebook retailers. The series premise is a dystopian near future where a central capital city called Eden rules over the outlying Sectors, leaving scraps and desperation to the remainder of the area's population. We join the O'Kane gang, which distills and runs whiskey to Eden and the other Sectors, and their leader, Dallas O'Kane, in exploits both political and, frankly, sexual. These books are smoking hot, kinky, extra dirty and full of angst so, well, you've been warned.

I've had some criticisms of this series in the past. Not major ones, but all the myriad characters having similar kinks had started to feel a little repetitive and unlikely five full-length books and almost as many novellas in. But with the most recent one, Beyond Innocence, two O'Kane outsiders get caught up in the larger political landscape Dallas has been forced by circumstance to take an interest in, bringing Jared, a high class male prostitute, and Lili, the widow of the brutal, late leader of another Sector into each other's orbits. Both are needing a change and healing and trying to figure out their place in the O'Kane hierarchy. It's a romance with a lighter touch than previous books and the kink is strictly limited to a surprisingly romantic fivesome, making Beyond Innocence one of the series stand-outs for me thus far.

While Jared has about as much sexual experience as any human being ever, he has been playing the part of the debonair faux-suitor to Eden's female elite for so long that he doesn't know who he is any more. When his best fried Ace is injured during a fight, he decides the time for sitting on the sidelines has past and starts using his connections to help Dallas. Lili has been a trophy wife her entire life, spending her time drugged on her late husband's product. While she has physically escaped Sector Five, the freedom and pleasure to be found in Sector Four is completely outside her experience, to the point where she can't believe it's not just all an elaborate charade. The way these two find themselves and find each other via food and music and other very normal human pursuits is a departure, but a welcome one.

It's totally possible to read these books as dirty, kinky, violent dystopian romance, focusing in on the O'Kane orgies and brutality. But that's not all they are. Beyond Innocence does a great job of thematically leading us into Book 7, which will be the last one of the series [EDITED TO NOTE: okay, so not the last one, just the last one that's currently up as "coming soon"]. The thing I have appreciated most about this series is the thorough exploration of femininity and masculinity, gently poking at the assumptions we make about the nature and scope of what we consider powerful. For example, Jared is perfectly capable of violence, but that's not where his true power lies--he specializes in information. And Lili has no capacity for violence at all, yet winds up solving a problem that the others can't, using her "trophy wife" knowledge and contacts to save the day. And throughout the book, her value to the O'Kane gang is that of someone who can actually cook, a traditionally under-appreciated "feminine" trait and task.

The role of women in these books has significantly evolved since the first one. And Rocha seems to be leading us full-circle since one of the heroes in the seventh book is a doctor--a healer rather than a killer. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts about this at the series conclusion, but for now, for fans of the series, Beyond Innocence is a fabulous addition.

So Bree Bridges, one half of the "Kit Rocha" duo and I have joked a bit back and forth about the fact that their characters never eat. There are like two instances of actual food being consumed prior to Beyond Innocence and one of them is a burnt grilled cheese sandwich. So when I found out that Lili likes to cook, I was like this:

In the book, Jared gives Lili a piano, prompting her to make him cookies, then invite him to dinner. So one of the first meals she makes in the book is chicken pot pies, which sounded terrific to me. And for some reason, I woke up at four in the morning shortly after reading the book and the first thing that popped into my head on waking was these bourbon-sage chicken pot pies. Probably because of the while whiskey-running thing the O'Kanes have going on.

These basically worked out great the first time. I kept tasting the filling though and thinking, "Well, maybe just a little more bourbon." Because what couldn't use just a little more bourbon? I mean, right?

I've written the recipe below as if you'll be starting with raw chicken. But if you have leftover cooked chicken on hand or want to grab a rotisserie bird to speed up the process, you can totally do that. You could also use refrigerated or frozen pie crusts, but I also have a recipe here (with more bourbon in it, natch) to make them from scratch. So it's your choice really. But if you go the pre-prepared route, you'll need two crusts and you're still going to have to roll the out and cut them to fit your pot pie pans.

Though in case there is any doubt in your mind, these are totally freaking fantastic as written and well worth the (sorry, somewhat considerable) effort. So, so worth it.

Bourbon-Sage Chicken Pot Pies
Makes: Four 5" pot pies
Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Intermediate

Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup bourbon, cold
1/4 cup ice cold water

Filling
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons bourbon
salt & pepper to taste (I used 2 teaspoons salt & 1/2 teaspoon pepper, but I use unsalted homemade chicken stock so you may need more salt)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small russet potato, peeled and chopped
3 sprigs sage, minced fine

1. For the crust, process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until crumbs start to collect into clumps, about 15 seconds (there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle bourbon and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.

3. Divide dough into two balls, one slightly bigger than the other and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.


4. For filling, poach the chicken breasts. Put the chicken breasts in a medium saucepan and cover almost to the top with water. Heat to a boil, then partially cover and turn down the heat until simmering. Cook for 12 minutes or until chicken juices run clear when pricked with a fork. Darin and and set chicken aside until cool enough to handle.


5. In the same pan (no need to clean), melt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup flour a bit at a time, whisking constantly. Allow to cook, still whisking, for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Whisk in chicken stock, making sure no lumps form. Whisk in milk. Return to heat and allow to cook until bubbles start to form and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in bourbon. Chop up chicken and return to pan with sauce.



5. In a medium frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add carrots, parsnip, potato and onion. Cook over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes, until onion is softened. Add sage and cook an additional 30 seconds. Add vegetables to chicken mixture.

6. Preheat the over to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.


7. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and, starting with the slightly larger ball, roll out on a floured surface, about 20" by 20". Turn one of your pot pie pans face down on the dough. Cutting about 3/4" of an inch away from the edge of your pot pie pans (I just eyeballed this). Repeat three more times and set aside with wax paper in between each circle.


8. On a refloured surface, roll out the remaining dough and cut exactly around the edge of a pot pie pan, about 16" by 16". Repeat three more times.

9. Press larger dough circles into pans, letting excess overhang the edge. Fill each pan with 10-12 ounces of the filling (this will somewhat depend on how large your chicken breasts and vegetables were and how much your sauce reduced while cooking--just try to make it pretty even). Top with smaller dough circles and crimp the edges together, rolling the excess in toward the center of the pan to create a good seal. Prick the top of each pie with a fork to let steam escape and place on a cookie sheet.

10. Bake pot pies for 40-45 minutes until crusts are golden brown. (FYI, I took these out of their pans for photos, but I don't recommend that. They kinda...collapsed. Just leave them in the pan for serving.)

Beyond Possession Whiskey-Pecan Cake

Beyond Possession is the latest novella in Kit Rocha's apocalyptic, dystopian erotic romance series about the bootlegging O'Kane gang. If you haven't read any of the series, I can't recommend that you start with this one, although I'd argue that it's the easiest book thus far in a series that pushes boundaries in nearly every direction. I wrote about that a bit last week. While each book features a complete romantic arc for a couple (or triad in the case of one of the earlier novels), the overarching political scene in the Sectors surrounding complacent, hypocritical Eden has become my favorite aspect of the series.

In Beyond Possession, novella #5.5, we get a more complete picture of the marketplace in Sector 4, home of the O'Kanes and the district where illegal spirits are distilled and bottled for the rest of the region. Throughout the series, Dallas O'Kane and his queen, Lex, have been slowly consolidating power and growing their influence. But now some problems have come home to roost: a challenger to Dallas' authority in the form of a political rival for the control of Sector 4; and the daughters of the former leader of the Sector, one of whom is heroine Tatiana Stone, who makes high-end soap and other homemade personal care products in the marketplace.

Hero Zan is the usual bouncer for the Broken Circle, the bar and club run by the O'Kanes. We get to know Zan better when he is injured attempting to stop the kidnapping of Trix, the heroine of a previous novel. Unlike some of the other O'Kane heroes, Zan is not a complex guy. He likes his job, he likes his position, he's loyal and strong. He considers himself "a good solider". He's never asked for anything for himself before, but after a couple of years of running Dallas' errands around the marketplace, the one thing he wants when he gets back to full health is Tatiana Stone.

But Dallas, Dallas' political rival and Tatiana's sister would all love to use Tatiana as a pawn in their political games. Tatiana just wants to be left alone to make her soap, grow her business and hopefully get her sister out of the clutches of a guy she thinks is bad news. If she can also have Zan to fool around with, that might be nice, but having ready access to a guy is nowhere near priority one for Tatiana.

Beyond Possession is unique in the Beyond series for several reasons. First, Zan isn't really a gang insider. He lacks the Machiavellian instinct to play at Dallas' level. He's also a pretty private guy, preferring to do his job and relax with a couple cold ones and a single woman than take part in the O'Kane's orgiastic parties. Then there's Tatiana. She has trust issues like most of the Beyond heroines, but as they say, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. And she's fought tooth and nail her whole life not get pulled into power struggles. The way this one ends is interesting too, with the women taking the lead role in a violent mission and Zan and Tatiana finding a way to be together without jeopardizing Tatiana's independence.

All I can say is that if this is the way the series keeps going, I'm going to be very sad when it ends after the next couple of books. Beyond Possession maintains the same gritty feel as the previous novels, but relaxes the sexual intensity a bit and provides more context for the way forward. The novellas have been a must-not-miss and Beyond Possession is no exception.

The one minor issue with these books is that no one eats. Ever. Novella characters Ford and Mia have tacos, I think. And at one point a pissed off woman serves Dallas a burnt grilled cheese sandwich (he deserves it). But what the O'Kanes do have is whiskey. Lots and lots of whiskey. So this cake containing a full cup of the stuff would present no difficulties.

I came to think of this cake as "fruitcake light" in every way. First of all, it has all the lovely deliciousness of cake soaked in alcohol. Second, it has yummy nuts without all the gross candied fruit. Third, it takes three days to cure in whiskey-wrapped cloth rather than three weeks or three months of daily or weekly basting with alcohol. So even though three days might seem like a long time for a cake, it's a lot less effort and a lot better tasting than a standard fruitcake.

The other nice thing about a dessert like this, especially going into the holidays, is that the three-day lead time means you can get this baked and put away long before guests darken your door. In the chaos of the holiday season, I always figure anything I can make ahead is a win.

Finally, there is absolutely nothing tricky about this recipe. No complex techniques, no expensive ingredients, no weird equipment. Just a bundt cake pan, a large, clean dish towel and some aluminum foil.

Serve with lightly sweetened homemade whipped cream and you've got a boozy special occasion cake that won't take hours and hours out of your busy present-buying, family-visiting schedule. Or if you're an O'Kane, your busy tattoo-getting, rival-smashing schedule. You know, however you like to spend your holiday seasons.

Whiskey-Pecan Cake
Recipe lightly adapted from Whiskey in the Kitchen (out of print)
Makes: 16 servings
Time: 3 days, hands on: 40 minutes

2 cups finely chopped pecans
1 cup whiskey, divided
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
8 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar
whipped cream (optional for serving)

1. Butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Shakes out excess flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine pecans and 1/2 cups whiskey in a small bowl. Let stand.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices into a medium bowl.

4. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and mix very well until mixture is thick and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and mix.

5. Remove from mixer and fold in pecan-whiskey mixture.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula.

7. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out onto cooling rack and cool completely.

8. Soak a cloth in remaining 1/2 cup of whiskey. Wrap cake completely in this cloth and then in foil. Let stand in refrigerator for at least three days before using.

9. To serve, allow cake to come to room temperature for about 3 hours. Dust cake with powdered sugar. Cut approximately inch-thick slices and serve with whipped cream if desired.

Disclosure: I received a copy of Beyond Possession from the author for review purposes.

Beyond Feminism

This week Jackie Horne of Romance Novels for Feminists discussed feminism in Kit Rocha’s Beyond series and found it wanting. If you haven’t read the novels or the RNFF post or both, this post isn’t likely to make much sense and for that I’m sorry. It’s just that after reading all the full-length novels and the accompanying novellas, I have reached a very different conclusion about feminism in the Beyond series than RNFF did. I’ve enjoyed these books immensely and, in fact, I’m going to be doing a post about the latest one, Beyond Possession, fairly soon. 

I'll just wade straight into the deep end here. My one criticism of the series, which isn’t really a feminist critique except in the way that it intersects with current romance publishing reality: I have been increasingly annoyed at the "everyone has the same kink" sexual dynamic just because it seems unlikely and has gotten repetitive. There are slightly different shades of BDSM sex in each story, but with a bias toward male dominants and lots of group sex. And while there is a little bit of switching off dominant roles between women and men, the women generally come out on the submissive side in the end. The thing is, there may be a marketing reason for that. I happen to love femdom romance and time and again I’ve heard about its profitability problem stemming from the idea that femdom is not popular with readers. Whether that’s reality or just perception, the end result is the same. Femdom gets short shrift. But romances aren't manifestos: they need to make money. That said, there are several books left in the series and in fact the most recent novella, Beyond Possession, refers to the heroine as having had a previous relationship with a female dominant. As the women get more freedom and power in the series, which seems to be the case, it will be interesting to see if femdom is a dynamic Rocha feels freer to explore by book 7.

But back to the issue of feminism in the text. Starting the series (Beyond Shame) with Noelle, the repressed Eden woman, is telling, I think. Rocha could have started the series with Lex, an obvious choice given her relationship with Dallas, King of the O’Kanes. But instead we get a glimpse of privileged, hypocritical Eden and how damaging its sexual politics and expectations are through Noelle. The world we live in isn’t Sector 4. It’s Eden—in its repression of female sexuality, materialism and exploitive economic policies. Through Beyond Shame, we also get the lay of the land of Sector 4 before Lex and Dallas work out their power dynamics. Things start changing in Sector 4 after Beyond Control, making one series theme that of the evolution of feminine liberation.

As an example, RNFF made reference to the commitment ritual of collaring the women with their lovers’ name. If collaring is intended to serve the same purpose as that of a BDSM slave collar, it’s a symbol not only of obedience on the part of the collared, but protection and responsibility on the part of the owner. Plus my recollection is that most if not all the men take tattoos of their lovers’ names somewhere on their bodies. Those things aside though, after Lex accepts Dallas’ collar, the symbolism evolves. He acknowledges her as his Queen and relies upon her for seeing nuances he misses. Even though all the gang members are under Dallas’ dictatorial rule, she doesn’t give him blind obedience as King or committed partner. Or sometimes even any obedience at all. Lex takes as much responsibility for the protection and well-being of the O’Kanes as Dallas does. The collaring becomes a tradition more like our exchange of rings, but in a milieu that values ink over metal. The O’Kane women do not behave at all like slaves, of the BDSM sort or otherwise, outside the bedroom and I think it's a mistake to equate sexual submissiveness with personal and political submissiveness.

The Beyond world isn't intended to be a feminist utopia from the outset. The concept of a solar flare causing the collapse of society in the series is a relatively recent development: within the lifespan of some of the characters. One thing that happens in societies when resources are restricted is that freedoms that were previously commonplace become more attenuated. I will grant that the absence of any kind of STIs is a bit puzzling. But if we think of the world-building not in the sense of "scientifically-speaking, how could a solar flare cause so much damage?" or “what does the government of Eden look like”, but in the sense of the psychology, sociology, political theory and economics that develop out of an apocalyptic scenario in the Sectors, it’s more revealing. There are no protracted explanations here, but the structures are clear. In Sector 4, government is dictatorial rather than democratic, all work is valued equally (the men don’t receive greater compensation for making liquor runs or bouncing than the women do for dancing or tending bar), the social stigma against sex is lifted, particularly for women, and the most important relationships are ones of friendship and loyalty rather than family group or religious or political affiliation.

As for the restrictions on jobs offered to women the RNFF post mentions, I think it's both deliberate and short-lived. The series is asking what-if questions about how social dynamics might be different given different cultural assumptions, like any good SFF. Rocha set up a universe that's in some ways a mirror image of ours. Women have wrested a lot more freedom in what we can choose to do work-wise in our world, but slut-shaming, rape culture and double standards between the behavior expect of men and women are rampant. And whatever economic freedoms women have gained here, that privilege generally assumes both means and education. Women who don’t have means or education end up waiting tables, tending bar, coerced into sex work, working for maid services, in low-wage retail, etc. The work options for women in the early books of the Beyond series correspond rather neatly to those offered to women in our world. At least, if you take social class into account: those of relatively less social standing and education have fewer opportunities, making the question of work less a feminist question than a question of class. 

So without the stigma of using your body for gainful employment or the danger of being abused for it, what systems might develop? That’s one question being asked here. The women who bartend and wait tables do so under the protection of the O’Kanes. Our waitresses and bartenders make their living from tips, which are resented by some restaurant patrons and controlled by bosses who allocate shifts and tables, sometimes based on favoritism. And restaurants play all kinds of games with wages. The women (and incidentally, men) who dance/perform in the O’Kane club make good money in safety and they’re not being sold for sex by a pimp or rounded up and used for breeding like in the communes (and in a lot of other dystopian literature). This is sex work, but it’s not coerced.  I realize there’s feminist debate about whether that’s a possibility, of course, but the assumption Rocha seems to be working from is that it is possible and that there’s power associated with it: both personal and economic. In book 5, it’s clear that Trix even derives healing from her shows.

Plus, as the series progresses, new options for work open up. The line RNFF quotes about Noelle making herself useful as a bartender, maid or sucking dick (which refers not to prostitution, but to being Jasper’s kept woman) is from Dallas in book 1. Dallas gets a feminist education by Lex in book 2 and then continues being schooled in subsequent books. Noelle is shown taking a tech support/systems engineering role in the novellas. In Eden, she had the same knowledge, but was expected to deploy it in the manner of a posh 1940s housewife: by being a good conversationalist and hostess for her husband. In Sector 4, she's not only sexually liberated, she's useful, which is a revelation for her. By book 4.5, Dallas assigns the new woman Mia to his accountant, not for sex (which is what she was coercively trained for in Sector 2), but for administrative support. The most recent heroine, Tatiana, makes soap and keeps that work when she becomes an O'Kane. Plus from the very beginning, Nessa (a woman) is the distillery manager for the gang, making O’Kane whiskey, the product that has bought nearly every scrap of wealth the gang has, hardly a low status occupation. 

By this most recent novella, Beyond Possession, the women go out on their own, trying to rescue one woman’s business (who isn’t officially an O’Kane yet) from being burned down by Dallas’ political rival. When Dallas chastises the women for putting themselves in danger, Lex stands up to him, insisting that their way of life is just as much under threat from the Sector power games as that of the men. Dallas can dictate all he wants, but in Beyond Possession, the women going out on their own solve not only their own problem, but that of the men by killing Dallas’ political rival. 

My point is that we get to see increased freedom develop over the course of the series based on feminist influence (Lex) on the government (Dallas). The Beyond books aren’t at any level designed to make readers feel happy and comfortable except in their HEAs for the featured couples. They’re gritty, difficult and ask uncomfortable questions about power structures, social class and morality in addition to questions of the capabilities, rights, and responsibilities of men and women. And while they don’t portray an ideal feminist society (or, with the extreme levels of violence, any kind of ideal society), under Dallas and Lex’s influence, it seems to be heading in the direction of full equality. 

Many thanks to Ana Coqui, who helped me clarify my thoughts for this post and contributed many of the specific details from the books that I’ve cited in support of my argument. She also recommended the series to me in the first place, for which I’m very grateful!