It's boilo season again!
Friday, November 27, 2009 at 08:07AM Thanksgiving has passed, and with it the unofficial start of boilo season.
For those not part of the Coal Region culture, boilo is a traditional old-world drink, known in Poland as Hot Krup, made with fruit juice, spices and, to give it that special kick, grain alcohol, although those with a soft spot in their hearts for their livers might substitute Four Queens or a similar spirit.
In my book, that's cheating.
Here's the recipe I use, passed down in our family from the late Uncle Art:
- 1/2 gallon orange juice
- 1 quart water
- 1/2 gallon grain alcohol
- 3/4 quart honey
- 1 lemon (with some peel)
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
- 15 cloves
- 2 cinammon sticks
- 3 oranges (with some peel)
Boil all ingredients except the grain, for a few minutes. Strain. Bring to a boil again and strain. After the mixture cools, add the grain. Before drinking bring to almost the point of boiling.
Yes, it is called boilo, but if you boil it, the alcohol will evaporate first and you're an idiot.
BTW, there's a boilo contest set for this evening at Sonny's Tavern, up in Lavelle way.
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Reader Comments (2)
A long time ago when I was young I once had a girlfriend from Minersville, so many weekends I'd end up at a bar up there called Rokus's Tavern (or something like that) to drink and dance to the bands that played there. From my experience of how much booze the guys up there could consume without dying from alcohol poisoning, I'd have to say that recipe would only last one coal cracker one Saturday night.
Just kidding.....or am I?
My recipe involves mashing a good number of juicy oranges into a crock pot. Add a smaller number of lemons along with cinnamon sticks, cloves, a can or two of ginger ale and loads of honey. Cook this in the crock pot for 3-4 hours all the while occasionally stirring and further mashing the contents. Once done, remove the pulp and then mix in a bottle of Seagrams whiskey. Serve it up warm. This amount fills about 6 or 7 mason jars. Oddly enough, despite there being an entire bottle of cheap whiskey in there, it doesn't have a harsh taste. I think the honey has a lot to do with that. Good stuff....