Post by BBQ Butcher on Jan 27, 2015 4:30:09 GMT -5
Booya (booyah, boowyaw) descends from the grand culinary tradition of community feeds. Akin to Kentucky Burgoo , Brunswick Stew, and down-home barbecue, midwestern Booya is the perfect dish for political events, church suppers and firehouse dinners. Men generally cook these big meals; they are masters of quantitative culinary unification. Ingredients are local, filling, secret, and delicious. Specialities require hours of attention before achieving serving perfection. All this brewing, bubbling & slow-slathered grilling give people plenty time to talk before sitting down to share their common table. What better recipe for satisfying hungry folks with divergent opinions?
There is some debate regarding the direct culinary lineage of the booyahs served in northern Great Plains states. The French connection is linguistically defensible (bouillion, boulliablase). The Belgium/Flemish/Low Country connection is likewise plausible. Hochepot (hutspot, hodgepodge) is a similar "down home" hearty stew composed of local meats and vegetables.
"Booya. A Minnesota and Wisconsin dish of meats like turtle, oxtail, beef, or chicken, carrots, potatoes and, commonly, rutabagas. Because the dish is usually cooked n enormous batches for large social gathering and church suppers, 'booya' has also come to refer to the outdoor feast itself. Most booyas are held in the fall when the harvest comes in. The origin of the word is unknown, perhaps from the French bouillir, or Canadian French bouillon, 'broth,' although it has been suggested the dish is of Belgian or Bohemian origin."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 35)
"Booya, a stew of chicken and fresh vegetables, can be found in scattered pockets from Minnesota to southern Indiana. Simmered for hours in large pots over outdoor wood fires, booya is served at family reunions, church picnics, community celebrations, and fund-raisers. Wisconsin's chicken booyah (with and added 'h') is said to be Belgian in origin and can also include beef, corn, and beans."
---Oxford Companion to Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 101)
"Hunters in the Michigan woods make a catch-all stew from game which they call booyaw or boolyaw; it is an echo of the state's French past, for it represents an attempt to reproduce the French pronunciation of the word bouillon."
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:NY] 1976 (p. 169)
RECIPE
Wisconsin Booya, from Green Bay Gazette.
Minnesota Booya
"Good booya cooks guard their recipes as zealously as any self-respecting chili contest winner. Everyone has a secret ingredient...that separates his batch from his neighbor's....Pine City Booya. Here's a respectable booya (the recipe makes 15 generous servings that the home cook might find manageable. Ann Burckardt, food editor of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune's Taste section, calls booya a 'highly personalized highly individualized' dish; indeed, her recipe files include versions using cabbage, green pepper and pork, in addition to the beef and chicken. This rendition, submitted by a Pine City, Minn., reader, illustrates the point. For best results, Burckhardt suggests making the booya a day before serving, and heating it over low heat. The burned taste ('part of the secret' associated with booyas cooked out of doors) is missing from this recipe, but Burckhardt adds that 'a little hovering the last hour' might be necessary to prevent the mix from sticking to the bottom of the kettle. Like any good booya, this freezes well, she adds.
1 cup navy beans, soaked overnight
4- to 5-pound stewing chicken
1 pound carrots, cut into chunks
4 lbs celery, sliced
2 large onions, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup barley
16-ounce can whole tomatoes
16-ounce package whole kernel corn
2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/2 ounce pickling spices, wrapped in cheesecloth and tied with string
salt and pepper to taste
allspice to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste.
On cooking day, cook beans about 1 hour, in the largest, deep bottomed kettle you can find, add the beans, chicken and beef; cover with water and simmer, covered, over low heat 2 hours. Remove meat and skim excess fat from the surface. Remove skin from chicken, separate meat from bones and cut up coarsely. Replace meats in stock. Add vegetables, pickling spices and salt to tastes. Simmer, covered, until flavors are well blended, stirring occasionally from the bottom, 1 hour. Season as desired and serve hot."
---"Booya: A Cross Between Soup and Stew, a 24-Hour Potboiling Tradition," [reprinted from the Washington Post], Post-Standard [Syracuse NY], November 25, 1985 (p. B4)