On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 05:49:02 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"Cyli" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 17:22:21 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:



Does anyone else find it odd that so many excellent variations on a
marvelous theme have such ugly names?

Wolfgang
euphony-r-us



Or silly names. Booya comes to mind. Hmmm. Been a while. It's been
a few months. Hard to make booya for just two people, but it freezes
pretty well.

Cyli

Never heard of booya. Had to look it up. Found this:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/804/34890.html

Wolfgang
mmmmmmmm......boiled stuff!

Cool article. It's in the vein of how most people describe it, except
that most mention something like, "...toss in Uncle Charlie's
socks..." somewhere along the line. My actual research of print
material of the better sort has shown it's origin was Czechoslovakian
and was based on venison and duck. Which are best hunted in autumn,
so it's regarded as a harvest festival thing in St. Paul, MN. As far
away as Minneapolis, MN, (the cities border on one another and create
a large megasprawl for those not familiar with MN) it's an
unrecognized thing until you get into a couple of ethnic neighborhoods
there. Many churches and firehouses in St. Paul and its 'burbs have
booya days. The idea of what a proper booya is can vary extensively.
I used to love the North St. Paul firemen's version, where almost
nothing was recognizable, but the taste and fill quality excellent.
In contrast to the 'burb next door, Maplewood, whose firemen's booya
had all recognizable ingredients and tasted (and looked) like a good
vegetable and meat soup. There also used to be a late summer booya
cook off, where each kettle (most of them the very large commercial
steam kettles) had a whole different version.

My learning booya by tasting came from Aunt Lizzie's old iron kettle
which stewed in the backyard from Saturday morning to Sunday noon,
when we all partook of the delight. The family version is based on
beef (sorry, no innards. Ox tails and / or short ribs, well maybe
when reheated some left over roast or steak) and turkey or chicken,
with whatever veggies are around.

Once made, it can be pretty perpetual. I've kept a booya going for two
weeks, frozen it, reheated and it's come out as more than it started.
It's in the nature of pot a feu (sp?), in that when you reheat it, you
toss in any appropriate leftovers that are hanging around in the
'frig. I use a lot of tomato or tomato juice in mine as well as beef
broth, a lot of corn, I try to put at least one diced rutabaga in
there, etc., etc.. Once into leftovers, the stray pork chop that was
hanging around gets popped in, the celery that I don't plan to use
before brown sets in might as well go in and so on. I once kept a log
of my booya making to a cousin in CA who'd asked about it. He said
that the family and friends thought it was hysterical, as I'd included
things like, stir the pot, turn down the heat, have a martini, smell
gas, turn off stove, open windows, stir the pot, restart the stove...
With a gas stove, it's best to turn off the stove and refrigerate the
booya overnight. With the electric stove, I just leave it on the
lowest setting.

Damn. Now I'm hungry. And tonight I had one of my other perpetual
soups / stews. Mulligatawny. Very filling.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
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